The cheating game

It seems lately that women cheat more than men! Don't believe me? Sure everybody knows that most men regard affairs as a game - they're just having fun. But is it possible that women have beat them at their own game?

Yes, it seems lately that women cheat more than ever - emotionally. Sure, men do it too but it is women who apparently initiate these love affairs. They transform innocent friendships into pre-doomed love-affairs with a smile, a comment, a touch... Or even more cunning - a planned intoxication to let loose on that someone in the corner of their eye.

The workplace it seems is the new playing field and the Internet, the bedroom. With the ever developing new technologies, came the freedom to cheat. Fidelity is now considered old-fashioned and overrated. What is flirting eh?

Emotional cheating masquerades as love but is it a substitute for love? (Only those of us gifted with beauty or looks can play that game I suppose.) Indescribable feelings, uncontrollable lustful chemicals rushing through the brain and body with clouded minds of repeated words and phrases uttered by that unforgettable poetic lover - illusions of love that fade quicker than the mist created from lovemaking on the windows of a car. It doesn't last! But, does love last? And when it doesn't last, was it still love or lust? Deceit and false hope are at the heart of cheating. Women, unlike men get very attached and end up hurt.

I discussed this with girlfriends a few days ago and their reactions were not one of surprise but rather one of agreement followed by guilty confessions that they'd 'had a few' of these emotional affairs themselves. Without encouragement or elicitation, one of my friends even continued by saying that emotional involvements were perhaps the most dangerous affairs of them all, in that there are strings attached by secrets and the communication of feelings. (Men can't communicate in their current relationships but they can with other women - assholes!).
Yes, emotional affairs are more open and sexually charged with fanciful promises. Sometimes, the promise of something is better than the gift itself. The fantasy is priceless - especially for women. Sometimes, the chase is the sweetest thing. The feeling of love can give the most incredible high. Invincibility! Nothing else matters.

Speaking for myself at least, I won't deny that women are emotional creatures and it's no secret that they long for love. Like plants or flowers thirsting for water they thirst for attention and some would do absolutely anything to get it.

But all this got me thinking... why has the ratio of women cheating increased? Speaking again for myself and from personal experiences, I say it's perhaps because they like it. Just like men, women also get a high from flirting. Sure, some may say that flirting is just the tip of the iceberg in such cases but it could also be all it is. Women are not as vulnerable as they once were. They are smarter and believe it or not, learn from their mistakes. Fool us once, shame on you, fool us twice, shame on us. Women might have gotten hurt from this kind of stuff, once upon a time but perhaps not anymore.

Another reason might also perhaps be because they can, and it is safer than physical affairs in some respects. It might also be because cheating and flirting have become too common. It has become like second nature to some of us. A woman aware of her beauty and charms may think that a man is flirting with her simply by looking at her. On his part, it may have been an accidental glance or she might have just been in his line of sight but her ego is boosted ten folds by the mere glance. She can then do either one of two things - get aggravated by it, (thinking- asshole!) or stare back and start flirting. The same principle applies to Internet chat rooms. Someone says hello or shows interest and a woman either does one of two things- feels aggravated from his comment, his looks and profile details or likes what she sees, reads his profile and starts chatting. It's too easy!

For the record, women just like men, can compartmentalise relationships. There is ample evidence pointing to the negative change in women's attitude regarding fidelity and commitment resulting in the increase in cheating. Men may have invented the game but women are learning fast and taking over. Watch out men - it seems two can play that game.