Their are numerous stories, movies etc where someone is cheating on their spouse / lover. We have all seen / read about it. However, I wonder what percentage of relationships actually undergo such ? What would you guess is the percentage of cheating spouses, BF's, GF's ?
My first wife cheated on me while I was at home taking care of our newborn baby! She told me she was going to her mom's house, but that sure wasn't happening. She would leave around 6PM and get back home at 2AM. Then, later, the guy she was seeing, didn't want her anymore. She got mad at him and tore his phone off of the wall. She met the guy thru her brother. This was back in the mid 70's.
Cheating on a spouse and cheating on a lover are--in my opinion--two different things. I have a higher duty as an employee than I do as a contractor. Anyway, I would put the percentage of cheating spouse pretty low,...maybe 10%, if that. Regarding cheating lovers...it's hard to say whether the level of commitment required to accurately call it "cheating" was agreed upon or just assumed. People are funny regarding the assumptions they make about such things. Without the overt commitment that being married denotes, everything else is merely expectations.
Good point. I hadn't thought about the level of commitment. Though I hadn't spelled it out, I was thinking of people who live together... married or not.
I have to agree with you John. There’s a new popular term called “body count” which is in other words, the number of people someone has had sex with. The count doesn’t necessarily discriminate between married, single, homo or hetero but does give one suspect that if the term is so popular then there’s a whole lot of sumpin’ sumpin’ going on. To be truthful, in today’s woke culture, I doubt seriously if having sex with multiple partners whilst having a semi-exclusive steady is even called cheating any longer. On a YouTube interview, several young girls admitted to having body counts of 10 up to around 50 and the guys were way low from 3 up to 9 so if there really is a condition called cheating in today’s new society, it’s mostly being used when playing cards. All that said, I think the percentage of married people running around like fools is fairly low whilst the others, well, the sky seems to be the limit.
I think a formal engagement constitutes a commitment, but other than that, the commitment is usually assumed, which, as @John Brunner said perhaps makes you a "contractor" but even contractors have some kind of written or verbal agreement listing conditions. I have generally looked down on living together, as I believe that a "defined line" versus an informal agreement is better for society and relationships as a whole.
I have no idea what the percentage of cheaters is; somehow I've never given that much thought. I don't believe there's any huge increase since human nature hasn't changed much. What has changed is accessibility, society's general decay in morals, and the breakdown of the family. I also don't believe that there is any difference in cheating on a spouse or a partner; both of those imply a committed relationship. I can't imagine cheating on "a lover" since that implies a loving relationship. At any rate, human frailties don't surprise me but I don't keep tabs on statistics.
Who Cheats On A Lover? A polygamist! I would venture to say a guy with multiple lovers is always cheating on someone.
This is what Charlie McLean had to say about it. Everywhere you look, you can write a book, On the trouble with a woman an' a man. But you cannot impose, you can't stick your nose, Into somethin' that you don't understand. Still you wonder: Who's cheatin' who an' who's bein' true? Who don't even care anymore? It makes you wonder: Who's doin' right by someone tonight, An' whose car is parked next door.
Yes indeed, cheating is an equal opportunity crime but then, the new social order is to have equity in all things.