Internet romances when at least one of the parties is married: infidelity, or not? Sounds like a good topic for a talk show.
One thing that I think might be relevant to the discussion is a study I read, that married men find the marriage is more threatened when their wives engage in purely physical relationships with other man, than when their wives become emotionally committed to other men; vice versa for women, they find the marriage more threatened when their husbands become emotionally committed to other women than when they engage in purely physical relationships with other women.
So it depends on who's complaining.
My sister's husband has been involved in an internet flirtation/romance with a woman who lives a couple of thousand miles away, for more than a year. It really bothers her, and he won't give it up, even though he has never met the woman. He talks to her on the phone, and has sent her a CD and a book, which really, really bothers my sister.
I have known two marriages which were broken up by consummated internet relationships.
Having a crush on someone you meet over the Internet can be more satisfying, intellectually, and emotionally, than having a crush on someone that you meet at work or socially, because writing to each other can be very pleasurable if the other person is a good writer. Those of us who like to post on SI are obviously people who like to write. And we are probably all much handsomer in cyberspace than in real life. |
