In Stephen LaFata's Nov. 14 letter to the editor, "Premarital sex is adultery," he writes that anyone having premarital sex is committing adultery against his or her future spouse.
I just wanted to clarify that this is not the case; adultery occurs when a married person has sex with someone other than his or her spouse. Marriage is an agreement to be monogamous partners, but it is not in fact, retroactive.
LaFata also asserted that anyone who has sex with anyone prior to their future spouse has completely sabotaged their marriage. "Why don't you just sign those divorce statements now?" Plenty of second marriages and marriages between non-virgin are successful. Having a prior sexual partner does not guarantee marital failure in the least. Even adultery occurring within a marriage does not guarantee total failure as some couples choose to work it out.
LaFata also uses the term "promiscuity" to describe having more than one sexual partner in a lifetime. Promiscuity and serial monogamy are not the same thing. Having a sequence of sexual partners up to marriage is not the same as having promiscuous sex, nor is it the same thing as committing adultery.
LaFata's letter was moralistic, condemning, misinformed and sexist in its wording. Next time he writes publically, I hope that he stops trying to disguise his personal morals as truths.
Elizabeth Shockley
Trinity '06
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