338 articles
Polygyny in Islam
Polygyny in Islam (taʿaddud al-zawjāt): a Muslim man may marry up to four wives under Quran 4:3, conditional on justice and financial support; modern states regulate it variously, from Tunisia's prohibition to court-permission systems.
Premarital sex
Premarital sex is sexual activity before marriage. Surveys show wide global variation (median 46% of 40 countries call it unacceptable), rising US acceptance, and lower reported rates among religious and Muslim-majority populations.
Priesthood in the Catholic Church
Priesthood in the Catholic Church: the ordained ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons within one sacrament of Holy Orders, conferred by bishops through the laying on of hands, reserved to baptized men, and distinguished from Protestant ministry and Orthodox married-clergy practice.
Princess Chrysí of Greece and Denmark
Princess Chrysí of Greece and Denmark (Chrysi Vardinogianni), Greek shipping heiress, daughter of Giorgos Vardinogiannis; married Prince Nikolaos de Grèce on 7 February 2025 in Athens, wearing the Antique Corsage tiara.
Princess Lilian, Duchess of Halland
Princess Lilian, Duchess of Halland, born Lilian May Davies, was a Welsh-born member of the Swedish royal family who married Prince Bertil in 1976 after decades together.
Prohibited degree of kinship
A prohibited degree of kinship, also called a prohibited degree of relationship, is a family relationship, by blood or marriage, within which marriage is legally or religiously barred.
Protestant views of marriage
Protestant views of marriage are the teachings of Protestant churches on what marriage is and when it may be dissolved, beginning with the Reformation rejection of marriage as a sacrament, which opened divorce and remarriage.
Public display of affection
Public display of affection (PDA) is a romantic or sexual gesture, such as handholding, hugging, or kissing, in public settings. Acceptability varies by culture, religion, and law, and relates to relationship satisfaction.
Punjabi wedding traditions
Punjabi wedding traditions (viah, ਵਿਆਹ) are the week-long sequence of Punjabi marriage customs: roka, maiyan, mehndi, jaggo, chooda, baraat, milni, doli, capped by the Sikh Anand Karaj, Hindu pheras, or Muslim nikah.
Puppy love
Puppy love, also called adolescent romance or calf-love, is an intense but often short-lived romantic attachment of young people. Distinguished by dismissive adult framing, early-19th-century English origin, and research showing real developmental significance.
Purity ring
Purity ring, also called chastity or promise ring: a ring worn to signal an abstinence-until-marriage pledge, originating in 1990s US evangelical True Love Waits and Silver Ring Thing movements, with peer-reviewed research questioning pledge effectiveness.
Quiverfull
Quiverfull is an American evangelical Protestant movement whose members reject all birth control, seek many children per Psalm 127, and practice homeschooling and male headship; rooted in Mary Pride's 1985 The Way Home and the Hesses' 1990 A Full Quiver.
Rachel Jackson
Rachel Jackson (c. 1767–1828), born Rachel Donelson, wife of President Andrew Jackson. Her unresolved divorce from Lewis Robards fueled the 1828 campaign attacks; she died of a heart attack before his inauguration.
Ramabai Bhimrao Ambedkar (रमाबाई भीमराव आंबेडकर)
Ramabai Bhimrao Ambedkar (रमाबाई भीमराव आंबेडकर) was the first wife of B. R. Ambedkar and is remembered in the Ambedkarite movement as a figure of sacrifice.
Rebecca Musser
Rebecca Musser (Rebecca Wall), former FLDS member and 19th wife of Rulon Jeffs, testified over 20 times against Warren Jeffs, aided the YFZ Ranch evidence work, and wrote The Witness Wore Red (2013).
Recognition of same-sex unions in Liechtenstein
Recognition of same-sex unions in Liechtenstein: registered partnerships since September 1, 2011 (68.8% referendum approval) and same-sex marriage under the amended Marriage Act from January 1, 2025, making Liechtenstein the last German-speaking country with marriage for all.
Recognition of same-sex unions in the Czech Republic
Same-sex unions in the Czech Republic (registrované partnerství, now partnerství) are recognized via registered partnership from 2006 and a Civil Code partnership from 1 January 2025, largely equal to marriage but without same-sex marriage itself.
Romance (love)
Romance (love) is the intense attraction to a specific preferred partner, studied scientifically as distinct from sex drive and attachment. Sources cover its neurochemistry, cross-cultural universality, measurement, and relationship outcomes.
Romance scam
Romance scam, also called romance fraud or pig butchering when investment-based: fraud using a fake online identity to build a romantic relationship and extract money; emerged around 2007-2008, with advance-fee and crypto-investment variants.
Royal intermarriage
Royal intermarriage, also known as dynastic marriage, is the practice of rulers marrying members of other ruling dynasties for political ends such as alliances, inheritances, and peace; it declined after World War I.
Rulon Jeffs
Rulon Timpson Jeffs (1909–2002), Mormon fundamentalist prophet who led the FLDS Church from 1986 until 2002; father and predecessor of Warren Jeffs, and centralizer who incorporated the sect and abolished its council.
Sadie Hawkins Day
Sadie Hawkins Day, an invented holiday from Al Capp's Li'l Abner comic strip (first appearance November 15, 1937), in which Dogpatch women chase and marry bachelors; it spawned real girls-ask-boys Sadie Hawkins dances.
Sakiko Kanase (金勢さき子)
Sakiko Kanase (金勢さき子), also Saliku Maesaroh or Suō Sakiko, was a Japanese model and hostess who became Sukarno's companion or wife and died in Jakarta in 1959, weeks after Ratna Sari Dewi arrived; birth and death dates differ across sources.
Saptapadi (सप्तपदी)
Saptapadi (सप्तपदी), the seven steps before the sacred fire, is the completing rite of the Hindu wedding; under Section 7 of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 the marriage binds at the seventh step, though not mandatory for all Hindu marriages.
Sati (सती) (practice)
Sati (सती) is the Hindu funeral practice of burning or burying a widow with her husband's body; prohibited by Bentinck's Regulation XVII in 1829 and criminalized, with its glorification, by India's Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987.
Sealing (Mormonism)
Sealing (Mormonism): LDS temple ordinance binding spouses, children, and generations for eternity, based on Joseph Smith's 1843 revelation, including proxy sealings for the dead, adoption sealings ended in 1894, and divorce cancellation rules.
Seduction
Seduction is persuading someone to sexual activity; also a US legal tort and felony (1848–1935 heart balm era), an eighteenth-century literary genre, and the modern pick-up artist industry criticized for weak evidence.
Sex at Dawn
Sex at Dawn (2010) by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá argues human ancestors were promiscuous, bonobo-like foragers and that monogamy arose with agriculture; a bestseller popularly, it drew strong academic criticism, notably Lynn Saxon's 2012 rebuttal Sex at Dusk.
Sexless marriage
Sexless marriage: a marriage with little or no sex, often defined as fewer than 10 occasions per year. Key facts: US estimates around 20 percent sexless, desire discrepancy is the leading clinical driver, and treatment combines medical workup with couples therapy.
Sexting
Sexting, from 'sex' and 'texting', is sending or receiving sexually explicit messages, photos, or videos by phone or internet. Key facts: youth prevalence 14.8% sending, 27.4% receiving; nonconsensual forwarding 12.0%; links to image-based sexual abuse and laws against it.