Matt Walsh

That's not how the affairs usually work.

It starts with intimacy.

And intimacy can be like, we have an intimate conversation.

We have an intimate relationship that is not at first physical.

We're close friends.

Closeness, intimacy, that's what we're talking about.

You should not have that as a married person with a member of the opposite sex, period.

At all.

You're at the very least on the way.

You're on the path.

And to be on the path is basically to be already there, right?

Flirting as a married person, obviously cheating.

If you're a married woman flirting with another man, that you're already there.

Same goes for men.

Any form of intimacy, any form of personal intimate connection with a person of the opposite sex who is not your spouse is cheating.

Or it puts you so directly on the path to cheating that it essentially already is.

And, you know, if you're married, so you say this, and when I say this kind of thing, I hear from some people who are married who, to them, it sounds almost absurd.

Like, it's almost, it's unworkable for them.

They can't imagine not having those kinds of intimate connections with members of the opposite sex, even though they're married.

And if that's the case for you, if these guidelines sound too strict, then all that tells me is that you're a cheater.