Love + Sex

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

9 Reasons People Cheat

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Getty Images

Why do I find it so easy not to cheat?

Maybe I'm not very attractive,
so my options are limited. Maybe I'm too jaded to go for the cheating opportunities. Maybe I still have some mental wounds lingering from when my dad temporarily moved out because he had met another woman. Maybe I'm too afraid that I've reached my sin quotient and one more big sin will keep me out of heaven.

Cheating is not a caught in the moment thing if you are really into your significant other, you miss them when you are not with them, you don't look for a way to hurt or deceive them.

I am just now patching up a friendship with someone I was seeing while they had a boyfriend (that may make me a cheater). At different points she told me that she had broken up with her boyfriend, that they were back together, and that he was boring and I was fun. It was total confusion.

I told her she wasn't being fair to herself, me, or him.

Finally, she said, "you just don't understand, there are things you don't know." Thing is she's been cheating on him for a couple of years with different guys, and he keeps taking her back.

So, are cheaters born cheaters, or do certain situations cause people to cheat? Probably a little bit of both. Here are some situations that make people cheat:

1. Bored
I'd say this is the most common reason that people cheat.It's tough to keep that edge throughout a relationship. Things start off grand and then level off and then you both realize that it's still real life. When you meet someone else, that inaugural excitement of a new relationship kicks back in.

2. Dependence
At first glance, cheating seems like independent behavior. It could be interpreted as doing what you want, when you want. But I would argue that cheating is a dependent behavior. A cheater is dependent because they are not strong enough to break up with their significant other in order to get with the new person.

3. Confusion
Sometimes life or a particular situation can get to you. When the perfect storm of confusion is going on in your head, you make mistakes.

4. Because They Let You
If any girl ever cheated on me, I'd break up with her immediately. Forgiving a cheater is putting up with it, and starts a vicious cycle. That person who cheated may lose respect for you and might continue to cheat-because they know they can get away with it, because you'll continue to take them back.

5. Nurturing
If someone is mistreating you, then your first instinct is to get away from him or her. But sometimes it's not that simple-maybe you are raising kids together. If you feel trapped in a bad relationship, it's only natural that you will run to the open arms of a person who treats you well.

6. Revenge
This is quite simple- an eye for an eye. Cheat on them if they cheat on you. If they continuously hurt you or abuse you in some way, you do it to get them back.

7. Confirmation of Attractiveness
Sometimes when you're in a long relationship, or if your significant other is taking you for granted, you begin to wonder if you're still attractive. Perhaps, because you were out on the dating circuit, you felt more attractive when you were single. If you have an affair, you've proven that a new person can be attracted to you.

8. The Thrill
Some people just enjoy the thrill of cheating: running around secretly, risking getting caught, andcreating thrilling moments with a forbidden romance.

9. They Don't Consider It Cheating, Even Though You Might
Relationships have that grey area, usually right before you become exclusive. He thinks date #4 is when you're "together," and you think date #2 is when you're "together." If you haven't talked about exclusivity, someone may think they are well within their rights to see other people, even though the other person in the relationship may not.

I don't understand why people don't break up as soon as they have an urge to cheat. Is it natural to have temptation, or is temptation a sign that the relationship is losing its fire? What reasons would you add to this list, and do you disagree with any? If you've ever cheated, why did you do it? Could you forgive a cheater? If you are single, but seeing a person who is in a committed relationship, does that make you a cheater?


Posted by Rich


Related from Marie Claire:

50 Cheap Date Ideas
How to Spot Your Soul Mate
Diary of a Hook Up From heck
5 Ways You're Sabotaging Your Relationship
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From the Community…

Comments 2,641-2,650 of 2,670
  • laura's Avatar
    Posted by laura Tue Jun 2, 2009 11:02am PDT

    I've been in my relationship for over 20 years. I know it's a long time! We have 3 children and had never been married. I don't think we will ever get married because he cheats on me and I believe if were together this long a piece of paper isn't gonna mean anything. He likes to cheat with our friends and family members so maybe he thinks they won't say anything to me. But, I always seem to find out in the long run.I think i'm insecure with myself because since my three children I have gained weight and I guess I don't have the will power to lose weight. He keeps telling me to lose weight but I don't think it will make any difference if I do or not. He cheated on me back when I had me first child and I was skinny then, so I figure why lose weight for him. When I want to lose weight it will be for myself. I do love him because we have three children together, but I don't think I will ever trust him again. It's just too hard! I do think about cheating on him just to get back at him, but wouldn't that make me just as bad as him?

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  • Jeremy's Avatar
    Posted by Jeremy Mon Jun 15, 2009 11:39pm PDT

    Maybe guys cheat on girls because they are stupid and deserve it. Maybe because they send messages to every friend he has on myspace to dig for dirt. Maybe because of the constant questions about his past. Maybe just out of spite for the constant harassment.

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  • Jeremy's Avatar
    Posted by Jeremy Mon Jun 15, 2009 11:42pm PDT

    Well, crap. I only posted a comment on this so she would see it. But it's on the last page. She has this page saved in her favorites. Obsessed! I guess I'll go next door and bang my neighbor.

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  • Destina's Avatar
    Posted by Destina Tue Sep 15, 2009 1:38am PDT

    ITS NOT CHEATING UNLESS U ENJOY IT N DO IT TWICE

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  • WhatAreYouThinking's Avatar
    Posted by WhatAreYouThinking Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:11pm PDT

    I cheated during my first marriage. I was in love with my husband but he didn't have a healthy sexual attitude, I did, and I was always feeling deprived and lonely and rejected. The marriage went from bad to worse, finally I learned that he had sexually abused a little child and then I divorced him. At the time I didn't understand nor know what was going on. I did get him to a psychiatrist but I think I needed help more than he did as a result of finding out that my husband had molested a child. I didn't cheat when I was in other relationships, or marriage, then, the marriage that I have now is the opposite way around. I got older, fat, and hated my body and my self, and sex. My husband seemed to want sex all the time and it wasn't fulfilling to me at all, the opposite, thanks to the horrible image I had of myself. So my husband finally went out looking for sex anywhere he could find it and got mixed up with a Doozie. I don't think he got much sex from her either. The betrayal of trust is bad, so bad. I became more ill, more obese, and finally I had the gastro by pass. I lost almost as much as I needed to lose but then had ugly rolls of fat and skin hanging everywhere. I was tired all the time and felt as sexy as a lawnmower. Then I lost a little more weight and had the excess skin removal operations and I was on my way back to Ok.

    As luck would have it, I had a serious accident to my foot that required surgery, a long recovery, and fused jointsin my ankle. Of course, I gained back some of that horrible weight I went through so much to lose. Now I feel ugly and fat again, desperate to lose enough to be normal at least, and my husband wants sex all the time literally. In the morning when he gets home, in the afternoon when he wakes up, before he goes to work again, and it does't end. He wants to sleep with his hand on my croutch or boobs and is aways grabbing me there. I get so damn mad, am that's all I am ? Two boobs and a hole to stick it in ? Meanwhile, there is so much else that needs doing in our lives to make it comfortable - like mow the lawn, do the laundry, go shopping for groceries, not just stay in bed and screw then sleep then screw again. We aren't on our honey moon, we've been married for over 23 years and this is ridiculous. When we go to the beach, he does it in the water - all the time. I don't really have any sexual feelings anymore, it happens as we grow up, we aren't trying to breed and it seems that nothing would get done at all if I didn't just say - no. I think know that just the excessiveness of it is a turn off, that every time I go to lay down, he wants sex. He gets angry if I don't but says little. So now what ? Sex several times a day or he's angry or goes out to look for sex in the street ? I love him and care for him but I just don't want sex anymore. I am so uncomfortable and heavy again and disgusted and yes, trying to lose the weight of course. The extra weight makes me tired, mentally and physically both, and weary from my long life of a battle with obesity . He sent me this thing, why people cheat, I'm not sure why, but I decided to post an honest comment. When I was younger, I was happy to have sex all the time and didn't, now, I don't want sex and am married to an abnormally sexually active men. Go figure.

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  • donnette's Avatar
    Posted by donnette Sat Oct 3, 2009 8:16pm PDT

    I DONT UNDERSTAND Y PEOPLE CHEAT, 2 ME ITS A WAIST OF TIME... CAUSE FROM THE MOMENT U ASK A GIRL OR A BOY OUT THAT MEAN U GIVING UR SELF 2 THEM, ALSO TRUSTING THEM W, YAH HEART AND SOUL.. SUM PEOPLE ARE JUST NOT CONTENTED W, WAT THEY HAVE, LIKE THEY WANT U N MANY OTHERS BUT AT THE SAME TIME THEY DONT WANT 2 LOSE U..I HAVE BE CHEATED ON AND DEADASS IT AINT A GOOD FEELING, CAUSE THE FIRST THING U WANNA NOE IS WAT U DO 2 DESERVED THIS..

    GUYS SUCK DEADASS, SUM OF THEM DONT NOE WAT THEY HAVE UNTIL ITS GONE..

    ^^SIGN DA GUYANESEBADAS^^

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  • philomena's Avatar
    Posted by philomena Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:13am PDT

    i want to cheat and see how it is

    Report Abuse
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