If You're In A Relationship, Does Flirting Count As Cheating?

Aug 17, 2018 by apost team

People have been debating this since the dawn of time. Can you flirt with other people when you're in a relationship? How much is too much? Where do you draw the line?

Throughout the entirety of history, people have always had different opinions on what "cheating" means. Do you ever flirt with attractive people when you're not around your partner? Do you like to have playful discussions with attractive people who also aren't your chosen partner? This gray area can often be overblown, usually because there's a misunderstanding of what flirting with another person entails. You should establish what exactly flirting means.

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If you flirt with another person, you're trying to attract them to you by using your social skills and charisma. Even if you don't realize that they're attracted to you, you're still flirting if you chat with someone who is growing continuously more attracted.

However, flirting with someone doesn't necessarily mean that you have intentions of being romantic and intimate with the person. All it means is that you're becoming closer to another person just by being yourself. If there's malice involved in the situation, that's nothing but a coincidence.

Consider, for example, times when you might get really dressed up right before you go on a fancy date night with your current partner. You spend a long time coming up with the best outfit, and you spend even more time on making sure your hairstyle is perfect. Curling irons, straightening irons, makeup, and great bras might all make an appearance.

You want to make the partner fall in love all over again. But all of this effort isn't strictly necessary. Your partner already knows what you look like at your worst and your best. They love you no matter what you wear. So why were you really dressing up? Because you wanted to feel good. Looking good helps you feel good. That's the same sort of emotion you might chase if you engage in innocent flirtation with another person. Attracting other people helps you have a better sense of self-worth, without you needing to be disloyal or unfaithful.

So we've established that flirting on its own isn't guaranteed to be harmful. But you should accept that flirtation won't work for every relationship you ever have. Some people deal with too much insecurity to accept that their partner will flirt with any other parties. When this is the case, it's best to compromise with the partner by coming up with a solution that makes everyone happy. You can find ways of boosting your ego in other places.

What exactly is it that makes flirting feel so awesome? Well, it always makes a person happy to know that they're appealing to another person. People also feel more confident in their ability to have conversations if they realize that their words come with attractive powers. Finally, it helps to boost a person's overall confidence level to know that they're capable of attracting other people. Flirting might occur in a number of different forms. The first level is innocent flirting. This is when you're simply talking to a person, happen to feel a spark of interest between you, and decide to keep going. In this case, you're having fun without any malicious intention.

The second level is physical flirtation. This is the same in spirit as innocent flirting. You're just doing it for fun. But instead of just talking to the person, you add physical connections and gestures. On the third level, you might engage in sensual flirting. Malice starts to make an appearance here. This flirtation might have bad intentions, because you intend to establish a sexual relationship with the person you're flirting with. So is flirting the same as cheating when you're in a relationship? Should you be able to flirt even if you're in a relationship?

There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. It's going to depend greatly on your partner's comfort and your own intentions. There's generally nothing wrong with an innocent flirtation as long as you don't intend for it to go anywhere. But if your partner is really uncomfortable with you flirting, you might need to set up some more comprehensive relationship boundaries. It all depends on you, your partner, and what will make everyone happiest in the end.

What about you? Have you ever flirted in a relationship? Do you get jealous when your partner flirts? Let us know in the comments, and show this to your friends so you can see if they share your opinion!