Should adultery be illegal?

Post Reply New Topic

That presupposes that the cause of adultery is unhappiness. Two people may be perfectly happy in their marriage but still have a sexual incompatibility. Some couples are perfectly happy to have one spouse maintain a sexual relationship on the side in order that their greater sexual needs to not become an imposition on the other spouse.

Even where the adultery is an affront to the other spouse, your approach negates the possibility of reconciliation within the marriage. Some spouses, when confronted with the fact of adultery, are prepared to forgive, and even to countenance its continuation, for the sake of things that they consider to be more important.

Making adultery illegal takes the freedom away from spouses to decide for themselves how best to maintain their relationships.

Well, the government have made a business of underaged teenage sexual intercourse and so I don't see a reason why they have absolutely no right to make laws regarding this. Also, it sickens me that there are websites out there that encourages spouses to cheat. The gov't should DEFINITELY ban those websites.

I dont see it like that. I see it as an opportunity to give power to the victim of adultery. That person decides if it is adultery and can use the power of the law which stands on their side. Similar to any other domestic abuse if a person gets hit by their partner its upto them to decide if its bad enough to involve the law.

Yes, more laws are what we need
Would it be a crime or a misdemeanor?

Either way I think it would be ridiculous to make adultery illegal.

Well, right, an issue is that some marriages are open in one or more ways.

If adultery were to be illegal which I don't believe it should, what would the punishment be? A Scarlet "A" to be worn on your chest for the rest of your life?

The parties should also be allowed to specify contractual penalties.

There are different classes of crimes but yes, I'm afraid that this is the way things go. The adulterer should've thought twice before going to bed with that outsider.

Dito.

Actual sexual behavior is so far out of what is considered proper social norms that the ham fisted idiocies of the legal system is best kept away. The atrocities of legal control of the human behavior that should be private interpersonal affairs is hair raising enough without laws passed by the morons that inhabit legislatures thoroughly messing things even more. Lawyers, of course, are always seeking ways to pad their incomes.

That is a good point, Not to mention, it would really cog up the legal system considering how often adultery is committed. It would just put unnecessary attention on issue that are greater influence to our safety.

“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” (Oscar Wilde)

This could be quoted here daily.

Laws are meant to ensure public safety, not to satisfy one's wish for revenge or to force one's moral values on everybody else.

Considering that a marriage is typically between two consenting adults (at least where I'm from), I would imagine that the law can't really intervene. After all, a relationship is a personal affair; people might leave their spouses for genuinely good reasons or their relationships are just very complex. It's not always as simple as one spouse being a douche and leaving their totally innocent partner. Yes, when people mess up their marriages, it is irresponsible (especially when they have children) but you can't force people to stay in a relationship. Also, the law is about protecting people's rights, so for them to force marriages to stay together is actually taking away people's rights, which is abhorrent, in my opinion.

I think that adultery is often a bad thing (if not a terrible thing) but there are plenty of services for married couples to get help. However, if they don't love each other anymore and/or they don't want to stay with one another/have to leave each other, then the law cannot do anything about it. This is something that two consenting adults need to sort out between themselves. The only time the law should ever get involved is when a separation/divorce ensues.

I say DO force them to stay together. Marriages that suffer to the point of divorce are arrived through irresponsibility. But in most situations, there are consequences for being irresponsible. You two made it in life to the point you'll seal it with a sacred as well as a legal vow. If you made the wrong choice, too bad. Figure out how to fix it and work your sh!+ out.

If someone's life is in danger--OK... I understand that intervention is required. But in the case of someone with a criminal history, my opinion is that you should take enough time to get to know each other before the wedding day to be sure you can, with good conscience, live with that person. If you knowingly play with fire, though, you're gonna get burnt, in which case you deserve what's coming to you.

I think that would encourage people to SERIOUSLY consider their decisions regarding their life partners. I once almost married a girl I'd dated for about 6 years. My epiphany came when I realized after this much time she wasn't going to change. She'd always been a b!+ch and there was no reason to think marrying her would change any of that. Now, the girl I DID marry has issues all her own, but at least those were issues I could live with. As to the first girl, think Amber Portwood, maybe not QUITE that bad. Look, we all make mistakes. I understand that. But if you're going to get married, make sure you're with someone as determined to be with you and accept your faults just as much as you are with that person--and I mean TOTAL commitment. More people are saying that marriage is obsolete. I think if more people adopted a more serious attitude towards marriage along with the right attitude towards their partners, DIVORCE would become obsolete.

Oh, and in our house, we don't even joke about the D-word--we don't even use it in casual conversation. If you think that's being silly, understand that my wife is a paralegal for an attorney who handles divorce cases. My wife is VERY good at what she does and could easily represent herself pro se in her own divorce proceedings if she wanted to. Yeah...

The criminal law does not exist to allow people to settle scores. The victim of adultery is free to use the fact of adultery as a perfected ground for divorce. More than that is not required.

To equate adultery with abuse makes a mockery of those people who are abused by their spouses. No amount of indignity, shame and hurt from the discovery of adultery can compare with the emotional and physical damage caused by abuse.

Some people here are saying that if the spouse that got cheated on doesn't like it, then they can just get a divorce. However, the issue here is not about how easily the spouse that got cheated on can get away from the situation. It is about dishonesty and lack of integrity.

If you don't feel love towards your spouse, be honest about it. It is a cowardly act to just live a double life where you sleep with others then come home and say "I love you" and sleep with your spouse.

The following is an interesting video. Although this has a religious slant to it, you don't need to believe in any particular religion/faith to listen to what this guy is talking about. maybe you think he's just talking BS, thats your opinion, but just watch.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct2XmVtvuA8[/youtube]