Affair
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224661341
2008-07-09T21:24:33Z
Jim.henderson
2255048
[[WP:UNDO|Undid]] revision 224657809 by [[Special:Contributions/77.126.56.74|77.126.56.74]] ([[User talk:77.126.56.74|talk]])
''For other uses, see [[Love Affair]] or [[Scandal]]''
{{Nofootnotes|article|date=June 2007}}
An '''affair''' may refer to a [[forms of nonmonogamy|form of nonmonogamy]], to [[infidelity]] or to [[adultery]]. Where an affair lacks both overt and covert sexual behaviour and yet exhibits intense or enduring emotional intimacy it is called an [[emotional affair]]. 'Affair' may be used as a [[euphemism]] and in some cases to add glamour to an illicit liaison or it may be used to [[slander]].
Affair has the same word origins as affect — an affair implies bonds of [[affection]], but not necessarily so. Some affairs are premeditatively cold, exploitative or designed to extract information or to provide the basis for later blackmail or grounds for divorce.
In the most general sense, affair may be used to connote professional, personal, or public business. These include meetings or other functions, or tasks that need to be completed. For example, one might say, "I have other affairs to attend to at the moment." It may also refer to a particular business or private activity, as in '''family affair''' or '''private affair'''. An affair, in the political sense, typically refers to any kind of involvement in illicit business by any kind of public representatives, such as in the [[Watergate scandal|Watergate affair]]. Like the earlier definition this is not always the case — for example the [[British Government]] has a [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs]], which is a perfectly legitimate (and usually honorable) position.
==Sex and romance==<!-- This section is linked from [[Tess]] -->
{{Close Relationships}}
Some have argued that the widespread occurrence of extramarital affairs is [[polygamy]] by stealth. These are relationships where an illicit [[human sexuality|sexual]], [[Romantic love|romantic]] relationship or a [[romantic friendship]], [[passion (emotion)|passion]]ate attachment occurs alongside a monogamous relationship. Those extramarital affairs that continue in one form or another for decades, even as one of the partners to that affair passes through a marriage, divorce and remarriage. Over that length of time one could consider the affair the primary relationship and the marriages secondary to it — a case of serial polygamy or other [[forms of nonmonogamy]]. The ability to pursue serial affairs or marriages in this way whilst safeguarding the [[conflict of interest]] inherent in the practice, requires considerable skill in deception and [[Negotiation (process)|negotiation]].
[[Deception]] is the "[[covert]] manipulation of perception to alter thoughts, feeling, or beliefs". It points to the degree to which the deceiver may breach fundamental conditions of [[fidelity]], reciprocal [[vulnerability]] and [[Transparency (humanities)|transparency]] assumed as pre-conditions of committed [[intimacy|intimate]] relationships.
Affair is not only used to describe [[cheating]] but may also describe part of an agreement referred to as [[open marriage]], which sanctions some [[extramarital sex|extramarital affairs]] and not others. When one of the non-sanctioned affairs occurs it is described as infidelity and often experienced as a [[betrayal]] both of [[Trust (sociology)|trust]] and [[integrity]].
Affairs are sometimes accompanied by [[scandal]]. When used in this context, "affair" usually implies sexual impropriety, but that is not necessarily the case. For example, in the classic film ''[[An Affair to Remember]]'', the love affair in question might be considered acceptable from some moral standpoints. However, an [[emotional affair]] can be as devastating for the one who is excluded or betrayed by it as if a full sexual [[liaison]] had occurred. By contrast the film [[Dangerous Liaisons]] shows many sides to a culture of illicit affairs between the main characters. It explores the escalating costs of covert and [[immoral]] adventures.
The linkage of sex and [[romantic love|romance]] with affair provides the basis for entertainment in advertising, art, literature, film, plays and in TV soaps. It can fuel crusades against [[monogamy]] or promoting the [[value of monogamy]].
==Famous affairs==
See also ''[[Sex scandal]]''
*[[Affair of the diamond necklace]]
*[[Mary Cunningham|Cunningham-Agee Affair]]
*[[Dreyfus Affair]]
*[[Harden-Eulenburg Affair]]
*[[Sally Hemings|Hemings-Jefferson Affair]]
*[[Lavon Affair]]
*The [[Lewinsky scandal|Lewinsky Scandal]] ([[Bill Clinton]]'s affair with [[Monica Lewinsky]])
*[[Lillehammer affair]]
*[[Frances Stevenson|Stevenson-Lloyd George Affair]]
*[[The Makropulos Affair]] (play and opera)
*[[Profumo Affair]]
*[[Sokal Affair]]
*[[Spiegel scandal|Spiegel Affair]]
*[[Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal|Spitzer Scandal]]
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==References==
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==Further reading==
* [[David P. Schmitt|Schmitt, D. P.]], ''et al.'' (2004). Patterns and universals of mate poaching across 53 nations: The effects of sex, culture, and personality on romantically attracting another person's partner. ''Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86,'' 560-584.
==See also==
{{wiktionary}}
* [[Infidelity]]
* [[Adultery]]
* [[Courtly love]]
* [[Extramarital sex]]
* [[Emotional affair]]
* [[Political scandal]]
* [[Office romance]]
* [[Sex scandal]]
* [[Scandals]]
* [[Family therapy]]
==External links==
<!---Wikipedia is not a link directory. Please read {{WP:EL}} before placing a link here. ------>
*[http://www.foryourmarriage.org/interior_template.asp?id=20398721 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, On marital infidelity and the prospects for healing in the relationship]
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[[Category:Politics by issue]]
[[Category:Sexual fidelity]]
[[Category:Marriage]]
[[Category:Intimate relationships]]
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