Cheating Without Sex

How guilty would you feel if you cheated on your partner? The answer has a lot to do with the type of infidelity, and your gender

How guilty would you feel if you cheated on your partner? The answer has a lot to do with the type of infidelity, and your gender. Men feel guiltier following sexual infidelity, while women feel guiltier after emotional transgression, a new study finds. Researchers told 130 participants in Toronto to think of a past, current or hoped-for relationship. They then asked them to imagine they’d become interested in someone else, and presented six dilemmas—with one emotional and one sexual option for each. Women said they would feel guiltier after falling in love, rather than having sex; men said they would feel guiltier having sex without emotion rather than love without sex, even with a one-night stand. The study also finds that while both think it would be harder for their partner to forgive sexual, as opposed to emotional, infidelity, women—not men—say they’d be likely to leave if they found out their partner was sleeping with someone else.