The treatises on marriage, published in early modern France (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries), lead to social representations. This study deals with the social image of sexuality. At the end of the Middle Ages, St Augustine’s theory declined (condemnation of pleasure, marriage perpetuates the original sin). A strong liberal trend in the minority restores sexual pleasure at the beginning of seventeenth century. At the same time, grace sacramental doctrine erased sin in marriage. In the seventeenth century, treaties on marriage were less concerned about sexual practices than in emotional relationship between husband and wife. Various factors improved the image of marriage. It has been good for women, but the social status of good husbands had been settled whereas the gap between both sexual moralities started becoming weaker. Women took advantage of this evolution, which was at the origin of modern families based on an emotional foundation. This evolution was essential to understand sentimental evolution in the eighteenth century.