IS IT CHEATING- OPEN RELATIONSHIPS!?!?

I was watching this True Life episode (yes, that is my show- i love documentaries- and NOT just MTV ones, real ones too) which was about these people who were bisexual and wanted relationships with both a man and a woman at the same time. You guys may have seen it, it was the one with A.D in it from "From G's to Gents". Well, one girl took the cake in my opinion. She was married while dating this other chick. Her husband divorced her because he probably couldn't handle the thought of her being with another woman while he was off in the military. Well, she made a statement that went something like, "the next man I date will have to accept me being with another woman". This is where I began to think about open relationships. I began to wonder why people engaged in them and what emotional toll it could take on someone.

I have never and will never be a fan of open relationships but there are many people who are. Some say that they are perfectly capable of handling their significant other being with someone else. When most people think of these "relationships", the first thing that comes to their mind is, "how can you let your man/woman sleep with someone else and you know about it?" I dont blame them because this is the way I looked at it. But then comes the reality that there is not only sexual aspects of this relationship but emotional ones too. Im NOT talking about relationships where your man or woman is cheatin on you and you either dont know about it or know about it and are praying she/he stops. Im talkin about relationships where you KNOW of this person and it is ok with you. Is the emotional relationship any worse or less worse than the sexual one?

Why do we define cheating as soley the sexual connection that took place. In my opinion, I believe that an emotional one is much worse than a sexual one. A sexual one is based off that, just sex. And while this is still a big thing, imagine if feelings were involved? This is where the line is completely crossed. When there is just sex, then it can get boring or it can get lead to the person realizing their heart is with their actual spouse. When someone develops feelings for someone then that is where it can get dangerous because that emotional connection is stronger than anything. This is where that person wants to be with that person, spend time outside of sex with that person, thinks about leaving YOU for that person. An emotional affair is just and sometimes even more painful than a physical one.But some may think otherwise.

So what happens when these emotional connections become intertwined in a 3-way relationship? I find it hard to believe that someone will not get jealous or love is never divulged towards one more than the other. How is it that people can be ok with someone they love being emotionally tied to someone while being sexually satisfied with that person as well? I mean, we are jealous by nature. Its hard to deny that. I mean, take it like this: what do you do or how do you feel when you are at a beach and your significant other does a prolonged glance at someone else (OF THE SAME SEX--for you smart-a**es lol)? Now imagine them kissing and touching and laughing and spending time together in and outside of the bedroom. Now, imagine you being aware of this and sometimes in the picture when they are engaged in this behavior. Can you handle that?

Many would see this as cheating, but is it? Is it only cheating if you are not aware of the infidelity? Or is it still not cheating if you are ok with it? I mean, this is where cheating becomes tricky because there are different opinions and situations (which i will touch on in other posts) where some may think it was cheating and others may not. I can not understand how some people can be ok with allowing someone they love to be with someone else. I know that everyone is different and all that but it is almost like saying that you are not worthy enough to have all of that person. You are not, solely, good enough for that person to give their whole heart to. You are not enough for that person to want to be with for the rest of their lives. And you are ok with this. That seems backwards to me. I feel these people are manipulating those who are weak minded and desperate for some sort of love and affection that they will take it at any costs. They want to have their fun and sleep with other people, basically have their cake and eat it too, and want you to be perfectly ok with it. That, to me, is so selfish and hurtful to the person they are claiming to love. I dont believe that there is a "the one", I believe that you maneuver in and out of relationships in life and you are genuinely in love with some of those people. However, I do not believe that you can truly be in-love (NOTE: im not sayin LOVE, im saying IN-LOVE..there is a difference) someone and be open to having emotional and sexual ties to someone else.

So, is this cheating?