What constitutes cheating? For some couples, texting someone secretly is infidelity, no questions asked. For others, their partners can make love to someone entirely outside of the relationship, and it’s not considered cheating because they communicated about it. These are undoubtedly extreme views, but they go to show that there’s no singular definition of cheating.
For most of us, cheating requires both nefarious intent and action. Thinking about cheating on your husband isn’t cheating; you have to take action for it to be cheating. But if a random man kisses you on the street, it’s not cheating, even though out of context, it could look like cheating; the nefarious intent wasn’t harnessed by the person who was kissed against their will. This is the definition of cheating that I adhere to. It doesn’t matter if the cheating was premeditated or in the heat of the moment. If you «didn’t mean to cheat,» but you did, the action is what matters.