Flirting Versus Cheating
5 Ways to Know When You’ve Crossed the Line
Here are five main differences between flirting and cheating. As long as you stay away from emotional cheating, flirting is harmless and fun.
Is flirting harmless? Yes, if you know the difference between emotional cheating and flirting. Here are several signs of emotional cheating, a few signs of harmless flirting, and 5 ways to know when you’ve crossed the line into emotional infidelity.
Signs of Emotional Cheating:
- You often have long lunches or extended drinks after work with colleagues of the opposite sex - and you don't often talk about business.
- You discuss your work problems thoroughly at work with colleagues of the opposite sex, leaving nothing to talk about with your spouse.
- You share jokes and gossip with friends or colleagues of the opposite sex, not with your partner.
- You spend as much time buying the right gift for a friend or colleague of the opposite sex as you do for your spouse.
- You share intimate issues with friends of the opposite sex, not your partner.
“When a spouse places his or her primary emotional needs in the hands of someone outside the marriage, it breaks the bond of marriage just as adultery does,” says Gary Neuman, author of Emotional Infidelity: How to Avoid it. “An emotional affair can be just as dangerous to a marriage [as a sexual affair], and often a more complicated situation to remedy.”
Flirting is not harmless if it leads to emotional infidelity.
Signs of Harmless Flirting:
- You can tease or talk to friends or colleagues of the opposite sex in front of your partner.
- You don’t make sexual innuendos or promises to others.
- You make eye contact for short periods of time (in other words, you don’t stare meaningfully into someone’s eyes for long moments).
- You laugh at jokes, tease, or nudge your flirting partner in nonsexual, unsuggestive ways.
- You don’t lie to your partner about who you eat lunch or dinner with.
- You treat everyone the same way. You don’t reserve certain squeezes or moments for a particular person.
Flirting Versus Cheating: 5 Ways to Know You’ve Crossed the Line
- Your partner isn’t comfortable with your actions. If your significant other feels hurt, betrayed or angry because of your flirting, then you need to reevaluate your understanding of flirting versus cheating.
- Friends or colleagues misinterpret your actions. If they think you’re leading someone on or crossing into emotional cheating, then you probably are. Pay attention to what the people around you say with regard to flirting versus cheating.
- Your flirting partner misunderstands your signals. If your flirting partner thinks you want more than to share a joke or friendly hug, then you don’t know the flirting versus cheating difference. If your flirting partner makes a pass at you, then you’ve gone too far.
- Your flirting partner contacts you regularly. If the person you flirt with calls you at home often or visits your work regularly, you may have blurred the flirting versus cheating line. If your flirting partner is a colleague of the opposite sex and you’re getting strong sexy vibes, then your flirting isn’t harmless.
- You’re flirting for the wrong reasons. If you’re flirting to manipulate another’s feelings, attract people, get a job, or increase your self esteem, then you may have crossed the line into emotional cheating (or just flirting for the wrong reasons). Flirting harmlessly doesn’t usually have strings attached, nor is it manipulative.
If you found Flirting Versus Cheating: 5 Ways to Know When You’ve Crossed the Line interesting, try:
- Avoiding Emotional Infidelity
- How Emotional Cheating Starts
- 7 Signs of Addictive Relationships
- Three Stages of Love
The copyright of the article Flirting Versus Cheating in Child Psychology is owned by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen. Permission to republish Flirting Versus Cheating must be granted by the author in writing.
