secondary virginity
n. The state or condition achieved by a sexually active person who abstains from sex for a period of time, especially prior to getting married.
Other Forms
Examples
2002
Since July 26, three months to the day before she will say, "I do," she has been abstaining from sex with her live-in fiance, David Crawford, and plans to continue until after they are married. . . . These days, a period of "secondary virginity," as it is sometimes called, is increasingly the norm for many brides-to-be across the South, an accommodation to the modern reality of premarital sex and the traditional disapproval of it in the Bible Belt.
—Elizabeth Hayt, “It's Never Too Late To Be a Virgin,” The New York Times, August 04, 2002
1985 (earliest)
She said the healthiest procedure for not-yet-married Christian couples is to relish their desire for each other, to hold the line at passionate kissing, and to avoid situations where they might cross that line. . . . ''They need to know that there is 'secondary virginity'."
—Karen Abbott, “Waiting for sex challenges couples,” Denver Rocky Mountain News, August 29, 1985
Notes
The apparent popularity of this phrase is a bit puzzling, mostly because of the linguistic baggage that comes with the "secondary" adjective. It not only gives the phrase a strong bureaucratic smell, but it brings the whole concept down a notch or two since the word is used to describe something of lesser importance or value. I see how that fits the idea, but an alternative such as new virginity (which has made a few appearances over the years; so have neo-virginity, born-again virginity, and retroactive virginity) sounds snappier and more slogan-friendly.