Consummation

In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the consummation of a marriage, often called simply consummation, is the first officially credited act of sexual intercourse in a heterosexual marriage. The definition usually refers to penile-vaginal sexual penetration, and some religious doctrines hold an additional requirement that no contraception be used.^[1] In this sense, "a marriage is consummated only if the conjugal act performed deposits semen in the vagina".^[2]

The religious, cultural, or legal significance of consummation may arise from theories of marriage as having the purpose of producing legally recognized descendants of the partners, 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 not been consummated. Consummation is also relevant in the case of a common law marriage. The importance of consummation has led to 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.