An outside observer may not be able to distinguish an illicit affair from ethical non monogamy.
You work with Alex and know he’s married to Bob. Got a wedding ring and everything. One day you see Alex kiss Chris on the sidewalk outside the office. One might conclude that Alex is having an affair with Chris, and poor Bob is going to be devastated. But that makes some big assumptions about their relationships. They could be poly and Alex and Chris are also partners.
That said, I feel like basic people cheating is more common than people doing ethical non monogamy, but I don’t have stats for that on hand. Ethical non monogamy isn’t super rare, but many people aren’t super open about it. Random folks can be unkind about it, and also wildly misinformed.
There are plenty of religious people that lump all sex outside of marriage into the same bucket. The two categories are “sanctioned by god,” and “not sanctioned by god”.
How does one interpret “extramarital affairs” as “minding their own business outside of marriage”?
An outside observer may not be able to distinguish an illicit affair from ethical non monogamy.
You work with Alex and know he’s married to Bob. Got a wedding ring and everything. One day you see Alex kiss Chris on the sidewalk outside the office. One might conclude that Alex is having an affair with Chris, and poor Bob is going to be devastated. But that makes some big assumptions about their relationships. They could be poly and Alex and Chris are also partners.
That said, I feel like basic people cheating is more common than people doing ethical non monogamy, but I don’t have stats for that on hand. Ethical non monogamy isn’t super rare, but many people aren’t super open about it. Random folks can be unkind about it, and also wildly misinformed.
“An affair without being wed”
I see how it can be interpreted that way.
Can’t have extramarital affairs without being married though. That’s kinda what it means. Outside of (an existing) marriage.
There are plenty of religious people that lump all sex outside of marriage into the same bucket. The two categories are “sanctioned by god,” and “not sanctioned by god”.