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no.


Because its not like a split second decision. You need to do everything that leads up to the sex/whatever so there are plenty of chances to stop and consider what you are doing and how it is a stupid thing to do.

plus it would just be on my mind every time I looked at the person.
 
No.

There's no circumstances whatsoever in which such behaviour is forgivable.
Agree with you on this.

Good relationships are built on trust. Trust is the foundation of the relationship. Once you breach that trust, you cannot ever get it back. The foundation of your relationship is cracked.

Kind of like loosing your virginity. Once it's gone you cannot undo it. ;)
 
No. If one person is unsatisfied with the other in a relationship, then they need to confront the other person and work things out/separate/break up. Only then is it acceptable to see another person.
 
If it was a one-time thing, while drunk and away, and the offender was immediately forthcoming, I could see not breaking up. If it was long-term, I could forgive (maybe), but the relationship would be over.



Of course, I've never even been remotely near being in this situation, so :rolleyes:
 
No, if you don't love me anymore, break up with me(might be harder with kids, but if you do tell your partner before hand, then its will not be as terrible, you fell out of love with someone, doesn't mean you can't be civil or even nice to them), and move on.

I might be upset(if I still love the person) but its be far nice to have the common respect to tell the person/
 
Oh lord- this hang up. Scem0 and I have an agreement. We are both in different cities, Chicago and NYC. We're both free to "do" who we want. The only caveat is- we have to tell each other about every instance in detail. :) So far it's worked great. I look at it this way, if you really want to do someone else, go ahead. I can't stop you. I know you love me and I'm not insecure about that. I get that you might want to spice up your life a bit. That's OK. And if you find somebody you like more, then it wasn't meant to be in the first place. I'm too old to worry about such things. :) Jealousy is a useless emotion.
 
Oh lord- this hang up. Scem0 and I have an agreement. We are both in different cities, Chicago and NYC. We're both free to "do" who we want. The only caveat is- we have to tell each other about every instance in detail. :) So far it's worked great.

So thats not cheating. Its only cheating if you are doing something you have an agreement not to do.

This is one area were mature gay men in particular are different than heterosexual relationships IMO - gay men talk about things and open up the relationship if thats what they want, usually with no hang up, usually heterosexuals do not talk about it and one ends up cheating - I know Im generalizing but this is what I have seen for gay couples that have been together more than a year or two.
 
So thats not cheating. Its only cheating if you are doing something you have an agreement not to do.

This is one area were mature gay men in particular are different than heterosexual relationships IMO - gay men talk about things and open up the relationship if thats what they want, usually with no hang up, usually heterosexuals do not talk about it and one ends up cheating - I know Im generalizing but this is what I have seen for gay couples that have been together more than a year or two.

Yeah, you're right. The social dynamics are different. But it seems to me that heterosexual couples have an almost built-in trap for "cheating". They never discuss monogamy or other such things at all for the most part. It's like an automatic expectation. I think that may be where the problem lies. Does that make sense?
 
But it seems to me that heterosexual couples have an almost built-in trap for "cheating". They never discuss monogamy or other such things at all for the most part. It's like an automatic expectation. I think that may be where the problem lies. Does that make sense?
Isn't this part of the standard marriage vows?

Do you take this person...to love, honor and cherish so long as you both shall live?
 
Isn't this part of the standard marriage vows?

Do you take this person...to love, honor and cherish so long as you both shall live?

Where does it say that you'll only f*** that person? Love, honor and cherish means different things to different people. To me, that means giving them freedom to do what makes them happy.

"If you love someone, set them free..." that kind of thing.
 
Where does it say that you'll only f*** that person? Love, honour and cherish means different things to different people. To me, that means giving them freedom to do what makes them happy.

"If you love someone, set them free..." that kind of thing.
But isn't 'If you love someone, set them free...' something that people like myself believe because we can not get a date.

Yes that is right my self-esteem is so low I really think that. :(
 
Where does it say that you'll only f*** that person? Love, honor and cherish means different things to different people. To me, that means giving them freedom to do what makes them happy.
Sorry, but some of us would view this differently.

BTW, I am glad that your relationship works for you. I've known both gay and non-gay couples who do as you guys do and it falls apart on them after a while. Generally one partner becomes hurt over time. I hope that doesn't happen with you guys because you do seem to make a good couple (like the pic in the other thread).
 
Sorry, but some of us would view this differently.

BTW, I am glad that your relationship works for you. I've known both gay and non-gay couples who do as you guys do and it falls apart on them after a while. Generally one partner becomes hurt over time. I hope that doesn't happen with you guys because you do seem to make a good couple (like the pic in the other thread).

We do make a good couple, thanks! :) And we have to thank MR for that too.
 
Funny thing is I keep having dreams about cheating on my girlfriend, or being apart from her and with another girl. I could never do it myself, I'm prone to panic attacks and general don't like getting in trouble as it can kick them off.
Caroline would never cheat on me but if she did I'd probably never be able to forgive her. Just as I'd expect her to not forgive me as I'd be having killer palpitations on the ground :) She's too nice a girl to ever do anything like that which is probably why it would hurt more since I'd never be expecting it.
 
Oh lord- this hang up. Scem0 and I have an agreement. We are both in different cities, Chicago and NYC. We're both free to "do" who we want. The only caveat is- we have to tell each other about every instance in detail. :) So far it's worked great. I look at it this way, if you really want to do someone else, go ahead. I can't stop you. I know you love me and I'm not insecure about that. I get that you might want to spice up your life a bit. That's OK. And if you find somebody you like more, then it wasn't meant to be in the first place. I'm too old to worry about such things. :) Jealousy is a useless emotion.

Yeah, this makes a lot of sense to me. To me, it's the deception more than the act itself that hurts.

Personally I've been out of relationships for a long time, and I'm not sure I can/want to be completely faithful; and I don't think I'd expect it from my partner either. As long as we're with each other because we want to be, and not out of guilt or commitment, it's ok by me.

I once went on a date through a dating website where one of the first questions she asked was "Are you faithful?". I probably should have had the sense to say yes, but I'm nothing if not honest and told her probably not - I didn't have any intention of cheating but I certainly couldn't promise that I wouldn't either. I half expected her to finish her drink, get an "escape" phone call and leave, but to be honest I think she appreciated the honesty and we had quite a nice date.

Having said that, if one partner thinks both are being faithful and the other has other ideas.. I reckon they're both better off being apart.
 
If you have an open relationship thats one thing.

Cheating is usually subversive to the relationship.

I've never witnessed anyone that "forgave" their partner walk away unchanged. There is always that though in the back of their mind every time their spouse goes out. The constant phone calls and checking up, etc., don't really make for a great relationship long-term.

I've seen it go one of two ways if they decide to make it work. The person that did the cheating becomes horribly beaten down emotionally and is just a walking soul, or the relationship ends in an open arrangement, which may or may not last depending on the couple.
 
no way. i could never forgive. or i could forgive, but never forget. so i would not stay another minute with that person.

i'm not a dumb person, and i would think about what would have gone through her mind, and clearly it couldn't have been good.

luckily i've never had to deal with this......at least not yet
 
I was the "OTHER MAN" in my wife's first marriage. I am a home wrecker. There, I said it. There was something missing between her and her first husband that I apparently provided. They were married for 20 yrs or so. We have been together for about 12 yrs now and just got married last August.

We have a positive relationship with her ex and his new wife. The kids and I get along just great, but that took a couple of years.

All that being said, and regardless of how hypocritical it may sound, but I think we would be done. I would forgive her, but not forget about it. I do think about how we first got together and the sneaking around. I'm not especially proud of it, but it did finally work out in the end for all. I believe she would feel the same way about me if I cheated.

Neither one of us is so inclined to cheat at this point in our lives, though.
 
Girl lied to me and cheated

Well here's my story:

I met this woman from myspace around August 5 and everything seemed fine. She told me she was getting out of a relationship with this guy who totally disrespected her. They have been together for 4 ½ years and he was a cheater. She was once married prior to meeting him and committed adultery on her husband so he divorced her and met this other guy.

She told me she was tired of him and wanted to move on with her life and that liked me. The first time she lied to me about not having no contact with her ex of 4 and a half years. I was hurt because she looked right into my eyes so convincingly and said she had not contacted him via text but I had a strange feeling that she had but I wanted proof so I went through her mobile phone and saw that she had in fact talked to him because her phone had his number as an incoming call which was answered. The next day I asked her about it before I confronted her with the truth of what I had already knew and she said she did not talk to him. I asked here three times and told her that my feelings are telling me that she had done so. After 10 minutes of asking her to be honest she kept to her story so then when I provided my proof from the mobile phone call then she came clean. So she lied and would have continued to lie until I showed her my proof.

I broke up with her for three weeks. I changed my number and email. She sent my sister an email explaining to her what happened and wanted my sister to talk to me about giving her another chance so my sister came through along with my mother and told me that no one's perfect and I should give her another chance so I did. So then things seemed fine but again I had a gut feeling that something was still not right. She told me that she would never lie to me again so I believed her so about a couple of weeks of us being back together another strange feeling came over me about something was not right. She changed her number so that he would not call her again but I was like that doesn't mean nothing cuz you could still contact you or him contact you in other ways.

So one night she was at my place and I confronted her again about my gut feeling that she was holding something from me. I asked and she admitted that he called her at her moms house and they talked. I asked her why didn't she tell me about this and she stated that she was afraid to tell me in fear of how I might take it. Again I was upset and I then asked her if she saw him and she told me no and that that she would never lie to me again and proceeded to say that after our last break up she promised me never to lie to me again about her ex contacting her.

I was disappointed and told her that she concealed information from me but she stated that at least she didn't lie this time. I broke up with her again for bout two days and she came crying, calling my sister begging her to help her get me back so I took her back. Then finally another wave of feeling came over me informing me that something was not right so again I confronted her about my feeling and she denied every thing I was feeling but I told her about my spiritual guides never lie to me and that Karma would come back upon her of her deceit so after 20 minutes of telling her about my feeling, she then told me more.

She proceeded to tell me that she has never been challenged like that before so she admitted that first, while we were separated for three weeks that she had indeed sleep with him again which at first she told me she had not. Then about three weeks ago while we were actually together when I thought things were fine she then told me she slept with him again! I was crusted, hurt, felt betrayed, played....you name it...hell I even cried. I asked her why did she lie to me again and why did you sleep with this guy after we were back together again when things appeared to be fine between us. She replied that she was scared.

So all in all, she lied to me at least 4 times and cheated on me twice or once if you don't include when we were broken up for three weeks. (but based on her history she could be lying about that and had more encounters with this guy)....When we were broken up during that time I wanted to test her feelings for me because she stated that she had no desire to be with no one that soon after our separation but turns out she lied and was with him so in a way I may can look at it like we weren't together so okay you slept with him but if you loved me like you said you did then the thought of sleeping with the same dude that caused our break up in the first place shouldn’t have even crossed your mind if you so much loved me as she claimed. As for me, since I laid eyes on this woman I have never cheated in any way…..I also wanted to see if I had matured on a spiritual level and not let sex dominate my life and I think I did passed the test.

Then when we were back together she slept with him again and never told me. My spirit told me something was wrong because I do meditate and am very close to my spiritual side and they never mislead me. I tried to forgive her. We did talk over the weekend and we did make love and went to the movies and I tried to forgive her because the bible teaches us about love and forgiveness. But I don't think God would want us to be with someone who lies to us and cheat especially when the other party was totally faithful.

Now she thinks she's pregnant and wants to have my child since we both don't have any. Thoughts crossed my mind that what if she’s trying to get pregnant by me and tell the other guy it’s his since he can’t have any more children in order to keep him because after all, it seems pretty clear that she still have feeling for this man plus he has 4 children. I think she loves to be played or be called “the other woman” perhaps due to self-esteem issues or less power or whatever.

When he say jump, she be like “how high” kind of thing plus if I had of known she has been still sleeping this dude then there is no way I would have agreed to conceive a child by her but the fact that she cheated and lied to me is too much to handle. So a few days later I told her that in order for me to feel better then I am going to have an encounter with another woman so that she could feel how much she hurt me then if she can forgive me as she wants me to forgive her then perhaps we could move on.

But after several hours of thinking I don't think revenge is the way to go. So my mind is made up to just leave her and wish her the best because it is not Gods will for me to be with someone that lies and cheat even though she swear on a stack of bibles that she would never do it again but her expressions on her face including tears were the same when she lied to me in the beginning so how do I know the difference?

This woman is a nice woman and I respect her but now all trust is totally gone and if that's the case I'm not going to be apart of her life any longer. My sister is very upset with her as well because my sister felt compassion for her and went out on a limb to convince me to give her another chance but when she cheated on me while we were together, my sister feel as I do...deceived and betrayed! My sister does braids and my sister hooked her up for free but I did give my sister $50 just for the kind gesture. But my sister told me that she has lost allot of respect for this woman for getting her involved and hurting her brother (me).

So that's the whole story. I'm a good man, honest and faithful because God has taught me about karma and what goes around comes around. I'm kind of hurt I admit because I did fall for this woman pretty fast but my spirit is strong and I shall get passed this. Didn't mean to write a book but just wanted to vent....So for any of you who are dealing with a cheating lover it is your choice to continue to put yourself through the mental imagery of wondering if he or she is up their old tricks again.

You all are welcome to email me if you so desire: taos_one@yahoo.com
 
Once the trust is gone, it's goooooone and it never fully returns. It would be instant death to any relationship I would be part of. So no, it's never okay to cheat.

My fiancée was cheated on and otherwise treated poorly in some of her previous relationships. Unfortunately, those built-up insecurities and emotional baggage get transferred over to our relationship. How many times do I have to tell her that I won't be swayed by some random pretty face that walks by? That's the only bad thing about our relationship, but it does weigh on me because I know I'm 100% trustworthy and it just doesn't feel very good to not be fully trusted by someone you share your life with.

Forgiveness is another issue: we should forgive people for the bad things they do to us, but only in hindsight. I've had to excise a few people from my life who treated me poorly and weren't going to change, but I did eventually forgive them in my own mind.
 
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