Society, infidelity and divorce

Effect of infidelity on marriage breakdown
High profile affairs such as that between the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker-Bowles whilst the prince was still married to Princess Diana can still make the headlines news ten years after Diana’s death and infidelity is one of the most commonly cited reasons for getting divorced..

Images of women as sexual objects are still common place forty years on from the sexual revolution and men are still sold the idea through marketing and advertising that the good life includes access to hordes of women who will fulfil their sexual fantasies and unfortunately there are plenty of women who are only too willing to go along with this kind of thinking.

Celebrity culture 
The more salacious of the newspapers and the large numbers of magazines devoted to celebrity culture direct people's interest towards the relationships of those in the public eye in a way which would have been unthinkable twenty years ago but sadly, it is what sells copy. Woe betide the footballer or politician who thinks they can get away with a bit of extra marital sex or not be noticed falling out of a nightclub wrapped around a buxom blonde and while we may purse our lips disapprovingly, more and more men and women are being unfaithful to wives and husbands.

Sex
Despite society’s liberal attitudes towards sex most people still find it a difficult subject to discuss openly and honestly and as teenagers are conditioned into hiding sexual activity from parents whilst engaging in it. This secrecy is an important factor for illicit affairs because it provides protection and falsely, as it often turns out, leads men and women to believe that they won’t get found out.

Affairs are so commonplace within marriage that it is probably unwise to think that they come about simply because of factors or problems within the union itself. Societal factors are so significant and so pervasive that they must be taken into consideration when discussing why married men and women succumb to adultery and the knock on effect of divorce.