How do you define emotional adultery (or cheating)? What's your opinion on it? Is it bad?
Emotional adultery is basically the same thing as physical adultery except without the sex. You betray your bond with your partner by pursuing an emotionally intimate affair with someone else. Obviously, having an affair - whether it's physical or not - is not good for your marriage/relationship, and if you were really interested in solving your existing relationship problems, an emotional affair would be among the least effective ways of going about it.
Depending on the case, I'm empathetic towards the people involved, and I respect the *restraint* involved in keeping the affair non-physical. But I think these relationships can ultimately be more damaging than purely physical affairs. In a weird way, it's easier to romanticise an unconsummated relationship. It's morally wrong, but also "pure", an awful lot like forbidden love. And in that position, it's easier to skirt around the real emotional problems you may be having and to engage in self-deception.
It's a tough, morally ambiguous situation to be in, which is what makes it great fodder for fiction. You can see why I chose to write about it in the context of Oregairu. But it's certainly not something I'd like to experience in real life in any shape or form.
Depending on the case, I'm empathetic towards the people involved, and I respect the *restraint* involved in keeping the affair non-physical. But I think these relationships can ultimately be more damaging than purely physical affairs. In a weird way, it's easier to romanticise an unconsummated relationship. It's morally wrong, but also "pure", an awful lot like forbidden love. And in that position, it's easier to skirt around the real emotional problems you may be having and to engage in self-deception.
It's a tough, morally ambiguous situation to be in, which is what makes it great fodder for fiction. You can see why I chose to write about it in the context of Oregairu. But it's certainly not something I'd like to experience in real life in any shape or form.
