Is open relationship cheating?

To understand the relationship, one must understand the psychology that goes into it. The structure of ‘man and women’ together has been followed throughout history. The basis of every relationship is to have a companion. With this approach, the relationships can be analyzed. An open relationship is generally when two couples are together and at a certain poi, not they feel that the connectivity between them is lost or they develop the feeling to explore more into their domain. Open relations don’t mean that both partners will have a relationship at the same time but they will have an understanding among them that will not harm their relationship. Generally, these instances are witnessed in the urban spaces which have more notion of modernity compared to the rural lifestyle, but there might also be the possibility of open relationships in rural spaces which will be another interesting area to explore. In this kind of relationship, they generally decide to go for another companion with mutual consent, this mutual consent is essential in the relationship. There seems nothing wrong with this concept but the overall violation of the traditional concept of the relation between ‘man and women’ is compromised with this view. This compromise in the traditional system creates chaos and conflict between society and individuals.

There is a collective notion of traditional values that operates and which contradicts individual freedom. This sense of contradiction prevails in every society and give rise to conflict in societal view on open relationships or any other relationship options that are available in a liberal space. Open relationships can be formed in any association until there is mutual understanding, as it was mentioned earlier. Till the time there is mutual understanding and agreement to the terms of the relationship, it cannot be considered cheating. Cheating in any relationship happens with misunderstanding and secrecy. The concept of cheating is something that mostly goes against the system of law and may bring the personal discourse to the state discourse. The very idea of cheating is rooted in ‘extra-marital affairs. 

The idea of extra-marital affairs is very prominent in society, the court has a long list of these cases, throughout history. This collapses the equilibrium of any relationship. Many such affairs via the male are due to sexual satisfaction and in women’s case, it is sexual satisfaction, financial support, or emotional satisfaction. In an open relationship, the understanding that the partners grow is mainly physical relations. The drive for a new experience in the bodily relationship or attractiveness of another person leads to going out of love. According to an online article by Gigi Engle on ‘Feeld Guides’ mentions that; ‘major open relations can have sexual satisfaction but it prevents the emotional attachments since it will violate the mutual understanding’ (Engle). But this can be read the other way around as well. Open relationships can also be based on emotional relations. Partners who are together for a sexual relationship and has a good understanding among themselves may decide to still be in a sexual relationship and can explore the possibility of an emotional relationship, the terms, and condition for this kind of relationship might be different from the former. For Example, A partner when in a relationship is stable in communion. If they plan of exploring other relations with the consent of each other and don’t want their relationship to be disturbed. They both are emotionally attached and they have to maintain that condition to be in an open relationship. Suppose one of the partners gets emotionally attached to the other person it will be called cheating. This is the basic notion of how one can look into the way Engle places it. Now from a different approach, the partner who is in a relationship for sexual satisfaction and decides to partake in approaches in an emotional relationship or any other can be also categorized as open relations. They are both mutually agreeing on the idea and both are comfortable being in that state. An open relationship is majorly the bond that the initial partner develops and the maintenance of that understanding.   The holding of the collective consciousness, which makes this a taboo sentence, becomes irrelevant in the face of personal consciousness. The conflict is something that cannot be avoided and result in the subject’s alienation of thought from society. An open relationship is something that is driven by many factors associated with it. The collective consciousness constrains and bounds the marriage or relation to limit it from exploration, even if to compromise self-happiness. 

The thin line that holds an open relationship and a failed relationship is the ‘understanding’, which is very mutual in nature. The companion agrees to the understanding and it leads to a happy successful life. Many times, this was witnessed that the understanding breaks and the relationship falls apart, but again there were cases of coming together even after the misunderstanding. So, what is the period of the open relationship? Can it last for your entire life? How long the understanding does hold one person from taking any action? These questions are very anxious to any partner, the inner psyche of the person who is very attached to one person, generally doesn’t like the other enjoying with others except the self. If the other is more comfortable with the others, then it genuine that the self will go discomfort. This is oblivious to vary from person to person, but there is no denial of this statement. For example, when two people are in love, they are enjoying each other’s company. Suddenly they start with a mutual pact and start to see other people. Even if they abide by the conditions of an open relationship they made for each other, it is undeniable for human nature to not feel jealous when someone other them self is more comfortable with the lover. This tendency leads to complications and results in tragedy. The jealousy factor is something that needs to be kept in check always in such relationships. If jealousy is not checked, it may lead to a betrayal of one individual from the other and that leads to failure in an open relationship. 

To conclude, an open relationship is not cheating but with the turn of events, it may lead to cheating. Situations in human life are conditioned by the moments they live in. At some point in time, everyone might agree on open relationships but at the same time there must arise a sense of insecurity; with this insecurity, things turn disastrous. Many cases of murder, divorce, or brutal fights arise because of this uncertainty. The relationship itself is in a very uncertain state since the happy moment now can become very painful when it is looked at as a memory. The idea of memory and the present situation changes with every individual and the relationship becomes more of a temporal space than a permanent hanger. The idea of a relationship that is evolving with the events of technology and attachments are very unique to the viewpoint. The open relationship is a by-product of the use of technology and technology is very much a part of its creation with the help of applications like Tinder and other dating sites. To hold a major grudge in any relationship is a foolish stance since it’s a period where things should be handled with proper understanding. If the understanding is the perfect mixture of chemical bonds, then it might hold the relationship in a different state altogether.