Consenting is the rule

I cheat to defeat my opponent
Then I say I never meant
To do him any harm
And I pour on the charm
But seemingly in vain
He won't forgive me for his pain


Cheating
is having the cake
and eating it too
To have the rules
apply to others
But not apply to you

'Being in a relationship' implies some sense of fidelity to one's partner - that's what makes it different from 'sleeping around for kicks'. Unless, of course, both partners opt for an 'open relationship'. If just one does, then that's cheating. But If both partners sleep around, are they both cheating? I say yes. They're breaking the rules the rest of us follow - how dare they? I mean, here we all are, struggling to be faithful, diligently walking the line, feeling guilty if we even think of straying, and there they are, hopping into bed with whomever takes their fancy at the time with total impunity. Is this fair? Why should they have all the fun? If, in fact, they are having more fun than the rest of us. As far as I know, no studies have been conducted on this important topic.

But I digress. Many people would say there can be no cheating in an open relationship, since there's no expectation of sexual fidelity. But for a relationship to mean anything there must be some rules. Even if your partner doesn't mind you sleeping with other people, she might mind it if you went away with other people for weeks on end while leaving her to keep house. You can take it from me. So, long story short, if you don't want to hurt people, you'd better know what the rules are, make sure they're fair to both of you, and then never break them. The trick is to learn just far you can bend them before they break .

- Paul