Is Cheating All About Sex?

This is part 3 of the TLG Cheating Myths series. Previous parts: Part 1, Part 2.

Check out the previous part in the series where I answered the myth that men is cheating more than women. Read about it here. For this part we will discuss a myth that is still very much alive. Is cheating all about sex? Even faced with that question raises an interesting dilemma. Is it only cheating if sex is involved? There are a lot of opinions about that one and I’m sure you got yours. To define cheating seems an impossible task as it is very subjective and touchy matter. For example for some people, if you just look at another person it’s like emotional cheating. Some draw the line at hugs and kisses and some don’t see it as cheating unless there is actual sex, and that includes oral sex (sorry Bill!). But for this article we assume that sex has to be involved somehow at least sexual emotions and feelings because at some stage the “cheating” will evolve to that and most people think that it’s all about the sex, but is it really?

Sexual attraction is of course part of the affair, there is no denying that, but according to expert Tracey Cox, there are far more to it than that. Ask yourself why that sexual attraction is there in the first place. Shouldn’t it be all towards your wife, husband or partner? On general basis statistics say that more men have sex-based affairs while women have more emotional affairs. Those statistics doesn’t say the whole truth however. According to Tracey Cox, there is an emotional part missing from your relationship that makes you go and have sex with someone else. Of course nothing can make you go have sex with someone else, but there are contributing reasons. For example she or he might be missing the person they once fell in love with for the first time. It happens in marriage that people change, almost exclusively, and for some, the changes are too hard to commit to.

Sometimes you don’t really know why the changes affect you that much or even what changes they are. What you can be sure of is that it’s on the emotional plane something is missing. Sometimes it can even be for the wrong reasons like the partner being too perfect or in other word, too boring. In Part 2 I mentioned that women do it for the excitement which is also something to consider. The fact is that cheating is definitely more than just sex.

To answer the myth: No it is not all about sex, far from it.

In Part 4 we will answer the question: Does cheating mean that you don’t love your partner?