Is infidelity immoral and if so should society be involved or is it a strictly personal matter?

[mids2019]

Infidelity seems to be one of the few areas in life where psychological harm can be brought to bear against another. In some societies infidelity is viewed as a criminal act or at least viewed negatively.

In liberal societies infidelity is a strictly personal matter and society does not act as a stakeholder in the relationship with no civil penalty for unfaithfulness.

Do you think this is the right balance or should infidelity be thought if as a moral wrong by others? We take a dim view of people parking badly but as a society do we hav we to he same default respinse to infideliity?

However if courts are neutral on this and you put up a very good argument I don't think we can imply that because something is not illegal or open to legal recourse it necessarily makes it moral
I don't think anyone has said it's ok and moral to cheat.

Many people are disagreeing with the courts and state getting involved in the romantic affairs of citizens without due thought for the consequences.

@ReneBumsWombats it's not about control though. If the other party was actually aware of the cheater cheating then they'd have the right to choose to leave. That's the opposite of being controlling, its purely about having the right to choose removed by the actions of the other party. They have their bodily autonomy. But what happened to your own.

But the point wasn't about choosing to leave, which you always have the option to do at any point. It was about getting awarded damages because someone had sex when you didn't permit it. However distressing that is for you, you don't own them and you don't get damages for it.

There are whole hosts of emotional hurt that aren't classed as illegal.

I could stop talking to a friend after being incredibly close to her for 30 years, leaving her wondering what she had done wrong and thus unable to form future friendships: not illegal.

I could refuse to sleep with my spouse for twenty years, leaving him the incredibly difficulty choice of whether he wants an active sex life or to live at home with his children, killing his self-esteem or alienating him from his kids: not illegal.

I could ignore a person at the school gates and turn my back on them every time they tried to talk to me, loudly organizing parties to which they are not invited: not illegal.

I could refuse to answer any communication from my mother, leaving her not knowing whether I was dead or alive, worrying her every day and keeping her up anxiously afraid that I was gone: not illegal.

Emotional hurt is not sufficient grounds for legislation.

Consensual infidelity is usually, though not always, immoral. At best it's amoral. But I think it's absolutely bonkers to try to legislate it.