Cheating is one of worst things you can do to your partner, it destroys relationships.
There is 30-60% chance for men and 20-50% chance for women, that infidelity will occur over the course of marriage.
70% of couples choose to rebuild the relationship after infidelity.
The stats there are a few percent off what is in the The Encyclopedia of Human Relations Vol. 1 where it says that only 75% of couples choose to work on their relationship after infedelity. Cheating leads them to marriage or couples counselling (which was needed anyway), and allows them to rebuild their relationship from the ground up.
Sometimes cheating can crumble the relationship dynamic and status quo that wasn't working in the first place, so that it can be built back even stronger. Some couples thrive after infidelity.
People here are acting like cheating is the worst possible thing on the planet, and these people deserve what they are getting. There are a large number of reasons why a person would cheat and a lot of data shows many couples stay together afterward.
And why is it that sexual infidelity is seen so harshly, yet people are more comfortable with emotional infidelity?
Would you be mad that your husband/wife does not confide in you anymore, does not trust you with their secrets or desires, does not talk about their dreams, their feelings, their future... no more chit chat about their daily life, what makes them happy or sad, because they are telling another person. But as soon as it comes down to fucking, everyone gets upset.
A study at the University of Washington took 134 couples, and 19 of those couples had cheated.
If you got cheated on, I'm sorry that it happened to you. You can hate your partner after they cheat, if you think they did it because they are unhappy with you, but resentment is like swallowing poison and waiting for the other person to die.
And a lot of the time, at the core, cheating is not even about the other person! It's not that their partner doesn't satisfy them, it's that the person cheating wants to re-invent themselves.
Why do we have this image in our minds that true love is having 1 person who fulfills every need and desire you possible have? Is it because it's romantic to have one true love?
How many people have said they go on Tinder or dating website just to "see if they have still got it". They want the rush of knowing they are desired. They are only a few steps away from crossing over that line into cheating. They toe the line, they think about people desiring them, is that as bad as cheating? Or are you okay with your partner imagining cheating as long as they don't physically do it?
Were humans built as a species to be monogamous for life? No.
Is cheating quite common? It seems to be. But no one talks about it, and no one would dare say they do it, because look at the fucking shit show here. People are hating on cheaters, saying it's morally wrong. By whose moral standards? Yours? Because that is not relevant to them.
Do couples stay together most of the time and rebuild their relationship? Studies and statistics say yes.
Some people need to get off their high horse. We don't all live by the same standards and internal moral code. People should not be vilified for what they choose to do in their own life, and their own private relationships.