Until the 1950s, "premarital sex" referred to sexual relations between two people prior to marrying each other. During that period, it was the norm in Western societies for men and women to marry by the age of 21 or 22, and there were no considerations that one who had sex would not marry. The term was used instead of fornication, which had negative connotations, and was closely related to the concept and approval of virginity, which is sexual abstinence until marriage.