I'm not sure what bald, fat men have to do with it, but Avishai is bald and he looks damn hot. I would be tempted to cheat by him!
I don't really agree that kissing and hugging are cheating. Here's why. I kiss and hug my friends (male and female) all the time as a form of greeting and goodbye. So, if it's something that is socially acceptable in all platonic relationships, can we suddenly call it cheating just because we are attracted to the person we are kissing or hugging? Doesn't make sense. Also. I don't agree that doing anything to betray, hurt, or disrespect your spouse is cheating. Those are all such subjective things. Some people feel hurt, disrespected and betrayed over the most trivial things. That is their choice and sometimes purely based on their own imaginations.
Cheating has to be based on some sort of concrete behaviour that we can actually define. Since the thing that distinguishes marriage and romantic relationships from all our other close, personal, loving relationships is the sexual component, I think cheating has to involve a sexual component. Flirting, hugging, kissing, meeting alone, etc may be foreplay to cheating but they are not cheating. Touching breasts and genitals with sexual intent, is definitely cheating. I've heard of emotional cheating but again, that is so subjective as to be undefinable. That's not to say that flirting, hugging, kissing, spending time with or confiding in someone other than our partner is not hurtful or harmful to the relationship, but that is something that each couple has to work out the boundaries of for themselves through communication and compromise.
A little flirting doesn't bother me, having lunch with someone from work wouldn't bother me, hugging and kissing in greeting wouldn't bother me, but spending time a lot of time doing those things with another unnecessarily when my partner could be doing them with me would certainly raise some red flags with me that cheating may be on the mind. Fantasies of cheating are also not cheating. If if were, everyone would be guilty!
I don't think it is always an indicator of the health of a relationship either. My husband and I have been married for 25 years. Neither of us has ever cheated. The relationship is not good, though. I have been unhappy for close to 15 of them. I stayed because I was a JW and for my son. Now that I'm no longer a JW and my son is almost grown, I am considering leaving. I am not the kind of person who can lie or sleep with someone and then go back and climb in to bed with my husband. For myself, it is more of a personal, moral choice. Still, as unhappy and lonely as I am now, if I had an opportunity to have a sexual relationship with someone I cared for, I would be very vulnerable to that. Not saying that is OK, just that I'm human and have needs. I think that is quite different than being a serial player who just acts out of concern for themselves and their own selfish gratification without concern for their partners. I don't have a lot of concern for my partner anymore (which is why I want to leave). I'm not planning to cheat, but I admit that right now there isn't anything about the relationship that would keep me from cheating other than my own choice not to. Probably a good indicator its time to call it quits.
Cog