Kaya Van Roost, Miranda Horn, and Alissa Koski, Child Marriage or Statutory Rape? A Comparison of Law and Practice Across the United States. Journal of Adolescent Health, Mar 2022.

“Purpose: In many U.S. states, children can legally marry at an earlier age than they can legally consent to sex, leading to situations in which sex between spouses may be a criminal act. Some states exempt sex between married persons from their definition of statutory rape, which may create perverse incentives for child marriage. We estimated the number of child marriages that violated statutory rape laws across the United States since January 1, 2000.

Methods: We created a longitudinal database of statutory rape laws in place from 2000 to 2020 in each state. Using data from marriage certificates filed in 44 states and Washington, DC, we compared the age of married spouses with the text of state-specific statutory rape laws in place at the time the marriages occurred.

Results: Child marriages violated statutory rape laws in 14 states. The proportion of child marriages that violated statutory rape laws varied from 1% to over 50%. In 33 states, some or all statutory rape laws exempted sex between married couples from the definition of crimes. In these states, the proportion of child marriages that would have been crimes, without these exemptions, varied from less than 1% to over 80%.

Conclusions: Our results highlight the blurred legal and conceptual boundaries between child marriage and sexual violence. The simultaneous legality of child marriage and marital exemptions to statutory rape laws provide legal loopholes for sexual acts with children that would otherwise be considered crimes. Marital exemptions to statutory rape laws may also incentivize a substantial portion of child marriages.”

Alaina Democopoulos, ‘I Was Handed to a Complete Stranger’: The Survivors Fighting to End Child Marriage in 37 States — and the People Who Want to Keep It Legal. The Guardian, Jul 9, 2024.

Cary Tennis, My Narcissistic Wife is Ruining My Life. Salon, Jan 25, 2012.

Noah Kristula-Green, Gays Against Polyamory. The Daily Beast, May 30, 2012.

Alice Dreger, Where Masturbation and Homosexuality Do Not Exist. The Atlantic, Dec 4, 2012.

Hanna Rosin, Most Gay Couples Aren't Monogamous. Slate, Jun 26, 2013.

Derek Thompson, How America's Marriage Crisis Makes Income Inequality So Much Worse. The Atlantic, Oct 2, 2013.

Michael Carey, Is Polyamory a Choice?  Slate, Oct 16, 2013.

Couple Has an Open Marriage So Complicated, It's Hard to Keep Track. Huffington Post and ABC News video, Nov 26, 2013.

Erasmus, Free to Cohabit: Mormons and Polygamy.  The Economist, Dec 18, 2013.

Jonathan Turley, The 'Sister Wives' Lawsuit and the End of Morality Laws.  Washington Post, Dec 20, 2013.

Sharon K. Farber, In Hookups, Inequality Still Reigns.  Psychology Today, Dec 26, 2013.

Wait But Why, How to Pick Your Life Partner.  blog, Feb 2014.

Economist, Sex, Brains, and Inequality: How Sexual Equality Increases the Gap Between Rich and Poor Households. Economist, Feb 6, 2014.

Laura Gottlieb, Does a More Equal Marriage Mean Less Sex?  New York Times Magazine, Feb 6, 2014.

Leonid Bershidsky, Want a Lasting Relationship? Give Up Sex. Bloomberg, Mar 13, 2014.

Rollie Williams, The Tradition of Engagement Rings is Barely a Tradition at All. Upworthy.

Emily Yoffe, Poly, Pregnant, and Proud. Slate, Mar 17, 2014.

Christopher Ingraham, Divorce is Actually On the Rise, and It's the Baby Boomer's Fault. Washington Post, Mar 27, 2014.

Hanna Rosin, Why We Cheat: Spouses in Happy Marriages Have Affairs; What Are We All Looking For?  Slate, Mar 27, 2014.

Amy Moors, et.al., Attached to Monogamy? Avoidance Predicts Willingness to Engage . But Not Actual Engagement. in Consensual Non-Monogamy.  Univ of Michigan, Mar 31, 2014.

Zhana Vrangalova, Strictly Casual: What Research Tells Us About the Whos, Whys, and Hows of Hookups. Psychology Today, Apr 14, 2014.

Mark D. White, Does Sexless Marriage Justify Adultery?  Psychology Today, Apr 15, 2014.

Lisa Haisha, Is It Time To Change Our Views Of Adultery and Marriage?  Huffington Post, May 5, 2014.

William Saletan, Kenya's Polygamy Problem.  Slate, May 5, 2014.

Charles J. Orlando, I Went Undercover at Ashley Madison to Find Out Why Women Cheat.  The Daily Dot, May 15, 2014.

Steven W. Thrasher, Master Bedroom, Extra Closet: The Truth About Gay Marriage. Gawker, Jun 19, 2013.

Judd Legum, Major New Study Finds Kids Raised By Same-Sex Couples Are ‘Healthier And Happier’. Think Progress, Jul 5, 2014.

Olga Khazan, Multiple Lovers, No Jealousy.  The Atlantic, Jul 21, 2014.

Randi Gunther, Why Great Husbands Are Being Abandoned.  Huffington Post, Aug 13, 2014.

Tom Jacobs, Poached Partners Make Unreliable Mates.  Pacific Standard, Aug 15, 2014.

Matt Barber, You May Have Heard That The Divorce Rate In The Church Is 50%… Get Ready To Be Shocked.  Western Journalism, Aug 21, 2014.

Tara Parker-Pope, The Decisive Marriage.  New York Times, Aug 25, 2014.

Justin Huggler, Incest a 'Fundamental Right', German Committee Says.  UK Telegraph, Sep 24, 2014.

Randy Olson, What Makes for a Stable Marriage.  Randal Olson, Oct 10, 2014. interesting correlations

Kelly M. Flanagan, The 9 Most Overlooked Threats to a Marriage.  Huffington Post, Oct 13, 2014.

Michelle Cottle, The Adultery Arms Race.  The Atlantic, Nov 2014. how technology makes cheating easier, but maybe reconciliation too

Claire Cain Miller, The Divorce Surge is Over, but the Myth Lives On.  New York Times, Dec 2, 2014.

Ross Douthat, The Imitation of Marriage.  New York Times, Dec 13, 2014. about working-class marriage trends

Emily Badger, The Unbelievable Rise of Single Motherhood in America Over the Last 50 Years. Washington Post, Dec 18, 2014.

Mandy Len Catron, To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This.  New York Times, Jan 11, 2015.

Esther Perel, Rethinking Infidelity: A Talk for Anyone Who Has Ever Loved.  TED talks, Mar 2015.

Moment of Truth, Girl Ruins Her Marriage on Game Show.  video, Mar 30, 2015.

Tracy Clark-Flory, "We Do Have a Very Good Sex Life": Gay Men with Straight Wives Are Coming Out — As Happily Married.  Salon, Apr 19, 2015.

Elizabeth Corey and Mary Campbell, Two Sisters, Two Views of Marriage.  The Atlantic, May 10, 2015.

Polly Phillips, Why I Let My Husband Pay Me a Wife Bonus.  Telegraph UK, May 23, 2015.

Richard A. Friedman, Infidelity Lurks in Your Genes.  New York Times, May 24, 2015.

Claude S. Fischer, Same-Sex Marriage Yes, Adultery No: Trends in American Opinion.  Boston Review, Jun 26, 2015.

Jane Greenway Carr, What It Means That Marriage is Contract.  Time, Jul 8, 2015.

Aaron Ben-Zeev, Why Nothing is More Exciting Than a Calm Romance.  Psychology Today, Jul 8, 2015.

Katherine Rosman, Is There Such Thing as Ethical Cheating?  New York Times, Jul 26, 2015.

Rachel Kramer Bussel, The Allure of Ashley Madison: I Understand How Easy It Could Be to Have an Emotional Affair.  Salon, Jul 27, 2015.

Elisabeth A. Sheff, Why Monogamy Isn't: The Death of Compulsory Monogamy and Viewing Monogamy as Only a Social Good.  Psychology Today, Aug 9, 2015.

Melissa Dahl, So, Your Partner Found Out About Your Ashley Madison Account.  New York Magazine, Aug 21, 2015.

Allison P. Davis, SNL's "Meet Your Second Wife" Is Too Real.  New York Magazine, Dec 20, 2015.

R. Scott Gornto, This is Why People Really Have Affairs.  Psychology Today, Dec 29, 2015. noting biochemical factors

Paul Louis Metzger, What’s Up with Monogamy? Reflections and Resolutions in a Time of Transition.  Patheos, Dec 30, 2015.

Laura Willard, 24 Relationship Comics That Illustrate the Beauty in Mundane Moments.  Upworthy, Jan 12, 2016.

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, Christian Teacher Fired for Not Divorcing Husband Wins in British Court.  Christianity Today, Jul 5, 2016.

Emily Feng and Charlotte Wang, China’s Cheating Husbands Fuel an Industry of ‘Mistress Dispellers’.  New York Times, Jul 29, 2016.

Shannon Sims, The Paradise Where Everyone's Divorced.  Ozy, Mar 21, 2016.

Barbara J. King, A Cultural Moment For Polyamory.  NPR, Mar 23, 2017.

Chris Baynes, More Than 200,000 Children Married in US Over the Last 15 Years.  UK Independent, Jul 8, 2017.  This is a conundrum for both the left and the right; why do some white evangelicals defend this practice in the name of religious liberty?  See Fraidy Reiss, Banning Why Can 12-Year-Olds Still Get Married in the United States?  Washington Post, Feb 10, 2017. and Joanne Sweeney, Banning Child Marriage in America: An Uphill Fight Against Evangelical Pressure.  Salon, Mar 11, 2018.  Spotlights Kentucky.

Zaria Gorvett, The Polygamous Town Facing Genetic Disaster.  BBC, Jul 26, 2017. fundamentalist Mormon impact

Monica Gabriel Marshall, Divorce Lawyers Say This Is Why Marriages Are Falling Apart. Verily Magazine, Jul 28, 2017. “In an informal meeting survey in 2002, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers questioned 350 divorce attorneys and found that roughly 60 percent reported that internet porn played a significant role in the divorces, with excessive interest in online porn contributing to more than half of such cases. It’s not just lawyers who are picking up on the trend. In 2005, Dr. Jill Manning, a licensed marriage and family therapist specializing in sexual addiction, pornography, or betrayal trauma, brought her research on porn and its connection to divorce before the Senate. According to Manning’s research, 56 percent of divorce cases involve one party having an obsessive interest in pornographic websites.”

Heidi Priebe, Why It's So Hard to Win You Over, Based on Your Meyers Briggs Type.  Salon, Aug 6, 2017. entertaining typology

Victor Tan Chen, America, Home of the Transactional Marriage.  The Atlantic, Aug 20, 2017. The country’s exceptionally thin safety net prompts residents—especially those with less-steady employment—to view partnership in more economic terms.

Esther Perel, Why Happy People Cheat: A Good Marriage Is No Guarantee Against Infidelity.  The Atlantic, Oct 2017.

Emerging Trends, First Evidence That Online Dating Is Changing the Nature of Society.  MIT Technology Review, Oct 10, 2017.

Tim Marcin, Nearly 20 Percent of Americans Think Interracial Marriage is Morally Wrong.  Newsweek, Mar 14, 2018.

Joe Pinsker, The Not-So-Great Reason Why Divorce Rates Are Declining.  The Atlantic, Sep 25, 2018. What’s changed isn’t marriage, but the types of people who are likeliest to get married

Olga Khazan, Fewer Sex Partners Means a Happier Marriage.  The Atlantic, Oct 22, 2018. subtitled "People who have had sex with fewer people seem to be more satisfied after they tie the knot. Is there hope for promiscuous romantics?"

Stephanie Kramer, U.S. Has World’s Highest Rate of Children Living in Single-Parent Households.  Pew Research Center, Dec 12, 2019.

Molly Savard, Peeking Behind the Veil.  Slate, Dec 30, 2019. “Because I consider myself a dedicated radical queer, marriage was supposed to be my nemesis. Then I discovered queer wedding Instagram.”

Amy Grappell, Two Couples Tried a Group Marriage. It Didn’t Work.  The Atlantic, Feb 13, 2020. “in the end, ego trumped idealism, and the relationships unraveled”

Samuel Perry on Twitter. Twitter, Sep 16, 2021. The “premise that women have erotic capital & men won’t commit if they can get sexual activity for free is unsupported” even though Christians, especially James Dobson, have promoted it.  However, it does appear to delay men’s marital age.

Charles Blow, The Married Will Soon Be the Minority.  New York Times, Oct 20, 2021.

Steven Bartlett, The Sex Expert: "Casual Sex Is Almost Always Dangerous For Women!" - Louise Perry. Diary of a CEO, Jun 20, 2024. Not a Christian perspective per se, but fairly validating of Christian norms around sex and marriage. Perry draws from scientific and anthropological studies.

Amanda Marcotte, Tradwives, Incels and Cat Ladies: The Year MAGA Broke Heterosexuality. Salon, Dec 28, 2024. “Republicans idealize "traditional" marriage, but their actions make the straight life a bad prospect.”

Gina Cherelus, Is One Sided Monogamy Just Cheating? New York Times, Mar 25, 2026. “Inside the Manosphere, a new Netflix documentary, has fueled discussions about the relationship style.” The degree of fatherlessness or father-hurt among the men who most peddle the manosphere is especially notable.

Tammy LaGorce, Why Marriage, for So Many, Is Less Appealing Than Ever. New York Times, Mar 29, 2026. “From Gen Z to Gen X, a pause in the march to the altar, or a decision to skip it altogether, is becoming more common.”

Kathryn Post, As Polyamory Gains Visibility, Monogamy Faces a Vote in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Religion News Service, Jun 4, 2026. “A separate proposal calls for a broader theological framework on human relationships.”

These are the images used in artistic physical displays. They are survey questions and conversation starters that are topically and thematically organized. They demonstrate how Jesus is relevant to each topic or theme. You can also just view the images on your device. If you would like, see all our Conversation Stations; below are the ones that relate to the topic of Sex.

Is a Good Friend Hard to Find? (instructions and conversation tree)

Find Your Heart's Desire? (and instructions and theology of desire)

Your Body: Does it Have a Purpose? (and instructions) 

Rate Your Last Relationship