Sometimes the social rules that modern, western society lives by can have grey areas and blurred limits, especially in relationships and affairs involving a man and a woman. Let’s have a look at some of the reasons why it’s believed to be more acceptable for a man to cheat on his wife or girlfriend than the other way round.
Social acceptance of the man straying in a relationship quite likely stems from the Victorian era, when the man was seen as the head of the household and the breadwinner. The woman’s place was in the home and her jobs were housekeeper, cook, cleaner, child bearer and raiser. The woman depended entirely on her husband for the roof over her head and financial security. This gave the man all of the power in the relationship and it was often abused.
In those early days, if a married man felt like conducting an affair with another woman he could do so almost with impunity. He knew all too well that his wife could do very little about it. There were few laws to protect her and those were rarely ever brought to bear. There were no victim support groups or social workers. Her family and friends would often turn their backs on her if she were to threaten her own security by defying her husband’s will. It wasn’t even considered cheating.
It was because of this lack of support for the woman that the man could and often did physically beat her or threaten to throw her out on the street if she voiced an objection to his behaviour. It was, in most social circles accepted as the norm.
Although nowadays this behaviour has been vehemently opposed and vilified by most honest and morally conscious people and made quite illegal, it still occurs behind closed doors. In our modern, so-called civilised societies there are still many men who feel it is their right to restrict, control and physically and mentally abuse their wives or partners despite what the law says. These types of abusive men will go ahead and cheat on their partners by having affairs, or sleeping around if they choose. They know their partners are unlikely to report them to the authorities for the abuse. They are too afraid of the consequences. They also know that their partners will not dare to cheat on them for the same reasons.
In a truly loving, caring and sharing relationship, neither partner is likely to cheat because they are both committed to each other and have no need to find solace in an external affair. Sadly however, such relationships are in the minority. While in less perfect relationships both men and women are equally likely to have an affair if the opportunity presents itself, our flawed modern society still sees it as less morally wrong for the man as for the woman.
Although times have changed considerably since those dark, almost socially lawless days of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the social restrictions placed on a woman back then still exist to some extent today. Perhaps this explains why some still feel it is more acceptable for a man to cheat and have an affair than a woman.
