Sex is for marriage. This is a difficult truth to convey to young people today. It seems to be increasingly countercultural. Of course, it seemed a radical statement during my own youth, growing up as a GenXer amid the purity movement’s pushback against increasing sexual activity among teens. Today, teenagers are actually waiting longer to have sex and are less sexually active than previous generations of adolescents. But among many young adults and adults in general, the notion of sex being reserved only for marriage sounds archaic.

Yet in this week’s featured article, “Why Married Sex is Social Justice,” Bruce Wydick argues from social science to make that very case. “The Christian teaching on sex and marriage is much more than a dated rule that ruins the fun of teenagers and adults,” he writes. “Rather, behind marriage lies a social justice issue related to biological asymmetries between men and women. Keeping sex within the context of a lifetime commitment creates the basis for a healthy relationship between the genders.”

Wydick’s arguments aren’t the typical ones noted in the “sexual purity” conversation—and that’s what makes them very interesting. I think they’d provoke great conversation among parents and their teen or young-adult children, inviting young people to think more deeply about gender dynamics, equity and fairness, the value of long-term commitment, and so on. Sex is God’s beautiful creation—and so is marriage. According to Wydick, “It is wisdom, beauty, and love rolled into a single sacred institution that protects, stabilizes, and nurtures a lifelong relationship.”