Fornication
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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- sexual intercourse, especially on the part of an unmarried person.
- In law, the act of such illicit sexual intercourse between a man and a woman which does not by law amount to adultery.
Fornication, or simple fornication, is a term which refers to consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other, basically a hit and run.. In contrast adultery is consensual sex where one or both of the partners are married to someone else.
The origin of the word derives from Latin. The word fornix means "an archway" or "vault" (in Rome, prostitutes could be solicited there). More directly, fornicatio means "done in the archway"; thus a euphemism for prostitution.
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Religions
- For a broad overview, see Religion and sexuality.
Christianity
In the New Testament, fornication is the word used to translate the Greek word porneia into English. In Ancient Greek, the word porneia meant "sexual immorality" or "sexual perversions". It was often used as a blanket term to encompass all sexual activity and even sexual thoughts that were considered unrighteous. Early Christians understood this word to encompass activities such as: prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, incest, and bestiality. Modern fundamentalist Christians tend to prefer the modern meaning of the word as premarital sex, or will even choose to broaden the term to also include actvities such as masturbation and pornography. Progressive Christians tend to limit the interpretation of the word to illegal sexual activities such as incest, prostitution, and pedophilia.
Laws
The laws on fornication have historically been tied with religion and the legal and political traditions within the particular jurisdiction. In the common law countries (England, USA, Canada, Australia, etc.), the Courts were never interested in punishing subjects for purely private moral deviations - even incest - although sodomy was an exception. What laws did exist were purely statutory. In many other countries, however, there have been attempts to secularize constitutions, and laws differ greatly from country to country. Most Western countries and some secular Muslim countries like Turkey and Azerbaijan have no laws against fornication if both parties are above the age of consent.
Illegality
In a handful of countries, most identifying with Islam, fornication is a criminal offence.
See also
