The consummation of a marriage, or simply consummation, is the first officially credited act of sexual intercourse following marriage. In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the definition usually refers to penile–vaginal penetration (i.e., heterosexual), and some religious doctrines hold an additional requirement prohibiting Birth control.
The religious, cultural, or legal significance of consummation may arise from theories of marriage as having the purpose of producing legally recognized descendants of both Intimate partner, or of providing sanction to their sexual acts together, or both, and its absence may amount to treating a marriage ceremony as falling short of completing the state of being married, or as creating a marriage which may later be repudiated. Thus, in some legal systems, a marriage may be annulled if it has Sexless marriage. Consummation is also relevant in the case of a common-law marriage. The historical importance of consummation has resulted in the development of various bedding rituals.
In addition to these formal and literal usages, the term also exists in informal and less precise usage to refer to a sexual landmark in relationships of varying intensity and duration.
Legislation
Civil marriage
The relevance of consummation in a
civil marriage varies by jurisdiction. For example, under section 12 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, a refusal or inability to consummate a marriage is a ground of annulment in England and Wales,
[ Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (c. 18), s. 12 ] but this only applies to heterosexual marriage because Paragraph 4 of schedule 4 of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 specifically excludes non-consummation as a ground for the annulment of a same-sex marriage.
Other
common law jurisdictions, such as
Australia, have abolished the legal concept of consummation.
[ Note: in Australia non-consummation as ground of annulment was abolished in 1975; see Dickey, A. (2007) Family Law (5th Ed) Also in 1975, Australia introduced no-fault divorce, so specific grounds of divorce such as adultery, cruelty, desertion, have all been abolished.]
In some countries, such as Egypt, Syria,
Common law marriage
In the case of common law marriage, consummation may be a required component in the creation of the marriage itself.
Religious marriage
According to traditional Christian theological interpretations, "It is intended by God for the husband to be the one to break his wife's
hymen", which when perforated during intercourse creates a blood covenant that seals the bond of holy matrimony between husband and wife.
Consummation is particularly relevant in a Catholic marriage. Within the
Catholicism, if a matrimonial celebration takes place (ratification) but the spouses have not yet engaged in intercourse (consummation), then the marriage is said to be a marriage
ratum sed non consummatum. Such a marriage, regardless of the reason for non-consummation, can be dissolved by the
pope.
Additionally, an inability or an intentional refusal to consummate the marriage is probable grounds for an annulment. Catholic canon law defines a marriage as consummated when the "spouses have performed between themselves in a human fashion a conjugal act which is suitable in itself for the procreation of offspring, to which marriage is ordered by its nature and by which the spouses become one flesh".
[canon 1061 §1] Thus some theologians, such as
John Hardon, state that intercourse with
contraception does not consummate a marriage.
Virginity
In many traditions, consummation is an important act because it suggests the bride's
virginity; the
Hymen is erroneously taken as definitive confirmation that the woman was a virgin.
[ Marriage Customs of the World: From Henna to Honeymoons, by George Monger, pp 82-84]
Controversies
In the
family law defining
civil marriage in some jurisdictions, particularly those where the civil
remain influenced by
religion (albeit they are officially secular), non-consummation of a marriage may be a ground for
annulment (an annulment is different from a
divorce because it usually acts retrospectively). This stipulation has been in recent years heavily criticized on a wide variety of grounds, ranging from the mixing of religious doctrine into secular law, to being degrading to women given its negative historical connotations of ownership of the wife.
[ Family Law: Text, Cases, and Materials, by Sonia Harris-Short, Joanna Miles, pp. 96-99] It has been argued that the purpose of this ground is not clear: it is neither procreation (the act need not end in pregnancy, and neither is there a need of the
possibility of it, given the fact the consummation is legally valid even if one or both parties is sterile), neither is it the expectation of sexual satisfaction in marriage (one single act of sexual intercourse is sufficient, even if the spouse following the consummation says they will never again engage in intercourse).
[ Body Lore and Laws Essays on Law and the Human Body, edited by: Andrew Bainham, Shelley Day Sclater, Martin Richards, pp 171- 182] Andrew Bainham argues that this law (in England and Wales) is outdated and must be abolished "in a modern society committed to equality and human rights in personal relationships".
[ Body Lore and Laws Essays on Law and the Human Body, edited by: Andrew Bainham, Shelley Day Sclater, Martin Richards, pp 175]
In a 2001 report, the Law Society of Ireland's Law Reform advocated abolishing the concept of a voidable marriage altogether (since divorce had been introduced in 1996) and criticized the consummation ground, writing the following:
Another concern is sexual violence, especially since in most countries the criminalization of marital rape is recent, having occurred from the 1970s onwards; the maintaining in law of the concept of consummation is argued to foster cultural and societal attitudes and understandings of marriage that make it more difficult to acknowledge these violations; and to be a remainder of an oppressive tradition.
See also
External links
