Attitudes Towards Premarital Sex in India: Traditionalism and Cultural Change

Abstract

Every society changes with time. With prosperity and improvement in economic conditions, values change. Traditional values that a society carries attenuate and modernity replaces age-old notions. The present article inspects the sixth wave of the World Values Survey examining changing perceptions of Indian respondents towards sex before marriage. It is observed that premarital sex in India is becoming more common but still not widespread. The ordered logit regression analysis reveals that whereas religious minded, single and left-leaning respondents are more traditional, respondents belonging to higher class or lower education level are more permissive about premarital sex. The article concludes that with the increase in permissiveness towards premarital sex and the possibility of unprotected, risky sexual behaviour, suitable policies should be adopted to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections.