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BYU Studies Quarterly

BYU Studies Quarterly

Keywords

Mormon studies, book review, sexuality, marriage, American culture, spirituality

Abstract

MARK REGNERUS, JEREMY UECKER. Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think about Marrying. New York City: Oxford University Press, 2011.

DONNA FREITAS. Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America's College Campuses. New York City: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Mark Regnerus (University of Texas) and Jeremy Uecker (Baylor University), both professors of sociology, have previously collaborated on a host of academic papers focused on the dating, marital, and sexual lives of young adults. Regnerus has previously published a book entitled Forbidden Fruit (Oxford University Press, 2007), which explores the sexual lives of American teenagers. In Premarital Sex in America, Regnerus and Uecker move forward in the life course by examining sexuality during young adulthood.

Premarital Sex in America purports to be a book about the varied aspects of how young adults think and act regarding sex. The subtitle is a bit of a misnomer, because the book is more focused on sex than marriage. To their credit, the authors claim early on that the book "explicates the sexual ideas, habits, and relationships of heterosexual emerging adults." The lone chapter dealing with marriage directly (chapter 6) feels almost like an afterthought among so many discussions of sexual behavior, hooking up, and birth control.

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