Does Flirting “Count” as Cheating?

Posted by Brian Tyler on February 15, 2008 
Filed Under In the news

In lecture on Wednesday, Dr. Gravlee asked a question about sexual fidelity: Are you being unfaithful if you fantasize about someone other than your partner? Your collective reaction to this question was the loudest so far this semester! Well, what about flirting?

CNN.com recently ran a story examining workplace flirtations. The story suggests that flirting on the job can be good for business, but it also describes a new term for people in platonic work “relationships”: work-spouses.

It’s hardly a unique situation. The career information Web site Vault.com reports that in a 2007 office-romance survey of 575 employees, 23 percent said they had a “work husband” or a “work wife.”

As with real spouses, work spouses turn to each other for mental and emotional support, perhaps share inside jokes or even bicker like married couples. But that’s where the line is drawn.

What does flirting accomplish and why do we do it? If you are in a relationship with someone, do you think that flirting with someone else constitutes “cheating”? What if it was your partner who was flirting with someone else? Have you ever had a workplace relationship similar to those described in the story? Would you feel comfortable with your significant other having, or referring to, their own work-spouse?

Comments

One Response to “Does Flirting “Count” as Cheating?”

  1. Brent on February 17th, 2008 12:12 am

    Over the past few summers, I’ve worked as a summer camp counselor in Orlando and been one of the few male counselors in the camp. Each year I’d bond with one of my female co-workers, and we’d take our groups together all the time, leading us to build a bond. Like the post said, we talked, shared problems, turned to each other, and had inside jokes, but never did I think I was flirting or cheating on my girlfriend. I think people just form bonds as friends, and the fact that they may be of the opposite sex leads people to jump to this “work-spouse” thing.

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