Transcript 3

Hello, everyone~ I’m Claire, and our topic is should extramarital affairs be accepted? And I am the one who stand on supporting side.

Ok~~~ To brainwash all of you to stand on my side, I will show you three parts. And between them, there will be a “Candy Time.” During every “Candy Time,” there is a question for you…all of you, and anyone who answers the question will get candy. Ok! It sounds amazing, right? Amazing! Amazing! Yes, let’s get started!!

First, stop stigmatizing adultery. And that means don’t give adultery discrimination! So, what is adultery discrimination? Ok! First Candy Time!!!!!!! Umm… Please give me an adjective to describe adultery!!! Anyone? Ok! Ok! For Taiwanese, they usually pick “immoral”. And that is discrimination, umm…But there is a strong case to tell you that not every adultery is immoral. Assume your husband or wife had a car accident and has been paralyzed. He is too afraid to lose you so he keeps watch over you like always asking you where you are going, and whom you are going to meet umm…and of course, demands your loyalty of sex. But when time flies, in these years you spare no efforts to take care of him, but he cannot satisfy your sexual needs and even is so oppressive and controlling and you feel uncomfortable. So, you finally commit adultery. Should we call it this case immoral? You are the wife and I think you have done all you should do being a wife. And adultery just a way you use to pursue your freedom and happiness.

And next, decriminalizing adultery. Laws against adultery impose discrimination and violence on women should be abolished. For example, in Philippines. OK! Another Candy Time! Let’s find out where Philippines is!!! There are option A B C So, oh! Raise your hand! No~ OK! Tony! Yes! It’s B! Umm…ok! In Philippines, adultery is defined as “Adultery is committed by any married woman who shall have sexual intercourse with a man not her husband.” You see that?! The subject only refers to females. It is obvious that this law shows inequality in gender. And the word “adultery” should not refer to specific sex. Everyone is likely to engage in adultery.

What’s more, in Pakistan. In Pakistan, “laws require a woman making an accusation of rape to provide extremely strong evidence to avoid being charged with adultery herself.” This really does violence to women since “a conviction for rape is only possible with evidence from no fewer than four witnesses.”

And last country, in Jordan. Ok! No Candy Time! There are honor killings. And honor killing is“he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery and kills, wounds, or injures one of them, is exempted from any penalty.” That means men can kill or injure women only for maintaining their dignity and reputations. It ‘s really unreasonable. Because life should be the basic human rights, but it seems that in Jordan, honor is the priority.

Ok! Last part, I want to say there is no perfect marriage. And when people find that there is…there are problems appear in their marriage, they tend to resort to ways like marriage consulting or more talking or praying to God like oh! God please let my husband or wife come back to me. Umm… But if these ways really work, why divorce rate gets higher and higher? So, it’s obvious these ways don’t’ umm…do not work. Umm…So, instead of getting divorced, making an agreement with your spouse like umm… on the basis of bringing up the children together and maintaining family's atmosphere, each other can commit adultery can develop your own relationship with other man or women…umm… woman. And in this way, these are the advantages you will get.

First, your kids. If you don’t get divorced, then you can accompany them. You can avoid them going astray in their teenage years. And in their growing process, you will get happiness or something you never expect. Umm…second, financial problems. It is very hard for a single parent to support a family. Especially, a woman after she got married, she quits her job for her husband and her kids, and it’s hard for her to go back to workplace again. But if choose adultery, and umm… then there is nothing to change. You can…you can just keep working and keep your life as usual. Last, hostility and hatred in the society. Hostility and hatred toward single parent and their children still exist. For adults, they may be labelled as being abusive or having some bad habits that fail their marriages. And for children, it is very likely that they may be mocked by peers or umm… or bullying! Umm… or bullying only having one parent. Like you will be mocked like oh you only have dad. But if you choose adultery, you don’t have to worry about it.

Research Paper

Abstract

Extramarital affairs are usually seen as wrong or immoral since no one can accept being cheated by his/her spouse. After exploring them, I have found that they have been given discrimination all along. However, in fact, adultery exists for its own positive and meaningful reasons. It also can pull someone out of the abyss of emptiness which is caused by an unhappy childhood. When it comes to laws against adultery, decriminalizing it has been a controversial issue. It should be conducted since laws against adultery in several countries impose discrimination and violence on women. In conclusion, this paper is done from different aspects of adultery in order to give you a fresh look on it.

Should Extramarital Affairs Be Accepted?

Most people cannot recognize extramarital affairs because no one wants to share his or her spouse with someone else. Since they signify being unfaithful to one’s partner, they are usually considered to be immoral or even culpable. But as far as I am concerned, extramarital affairs are provided with something positive and meaningful. So, my point is people should not completely exclude infidelity; instead, we should accept the truth that it is really needed in our society. 

  Let us face it: there is no perfect marriage. Originally, “in love” feelings do not last forever. And when they disappear, we should realize that loving feeling takes a lot of work, so we must start working at a relationship right away. However, when someone asks, "why can't you just get a divorce?" There are a couple of reasons for not doing so. First, the kids. Being hurt by the closest people in the world, they will move on someday but be affected by it forever. Second, livelihood. It is not easy for a woman, who quits her job after getting married to make her career. What’s more, there is still discrimination towards single parent and the children. It causes them to lose self-confidence and thus influences their future development.  

The reasons above make extramarital affairs needed. For those who have too much concern to get divorced, infidelity is a good means to save the situation. It can be a warning for your spouse to face the problems in the marriage. For example, by doing this, you can show what the family will be like when you are not part of it, which implies your importance. And if you have already known your partner cheating on you, by doing this, you are taking revenge on him or her. Furthermore, there are several advantages of extramarital affairs. People who engage in infidelity, start learning how to dress up and tend to be more appealing and charming. This helps them retrieve self-confidence and self-worth which they lose from unhappy marriages. 

Stop Stigmatizing Adultery

  When it comes to adultery, people tend to think of it as wrong or immoral, and directly ignore exceptions. Here, Yin-Bin Ning (2002) told you that “a stereotype without regard to individual differences, considering adultery as a depraved behavior, is discrimination toward it. And, discrimination in itself is definitely wrong!” The adjective “immoral” usually comes after breaking the promises for marriage. However, we should realize that every marriage works in its own way. And every couple can reach different agreements and have their own arrangements for life. “In different marriages, loyalty of sex or lying may not matter anymore.” So, followings are some examples provided by Ning, for proving that adultery deserves a different comment.

There is a kind of marriage called “open marriage.” It refers to a marriage in which the partners agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded as infidelity. In an open marriage, the partners have no promise to keep the loyalty of sex. So, in this way, they will not break the promise because there is even no one. And certainly, we cannot regard this kind of adultery as immoral.

What’s more, even though there is a promise for the loyalty of sex in some marriage, when adultery happens, we still cannot directly call it immoral. For example, there is man who had a car accident and has been paralyzed. He was too afraid to lose his wife, so he strongly required her loyalty of sex. When time flies, his wife has spared no efforts to take care of the other for years, she finally committed adultery because her spouse couldn't satisfy her sexual needs. In this case, should we call it immoral? The wife has done what she should and could do. However, she is just like all of us, being a human and has physical needs. She deserves a better life, and adultery is just a way she used to pursue her own happiness.

General speaking, hostility toward adultery is seen as a useful way to protect marriage. But, if it is really useful, then why is adultery widespread, and does divorce rate get higher and higher? So, it is still question that whether discrimination toward adultery can protect marriages. However, I would like to restate that adultery can be an alternative way to save one’s marriage and also oneself from possible problems happening in the future. In conclusion, adultery deserves a different comment other than “immoral.” And even, we cannot ignore its positive effects. “Not every adultery is the same,” which means not every adultery is immoral!

Adultery Is an Alternative Way to Save Yourself

  There is no perfect marriage. Woo Sean (2006) suggested that when people find something wrong in their marriages, they tend to resort to ways like "marriage consulting, more talking or tolerance, and praying to God." However, as we see divorced rate gets higher and higher, it is obvious that the normal and moral ways do not work. So, the author holds the point that adultery is necessary and exists as an unconventional way for those who are in the dilemma of choosing not to get a divorce but having no solution to resolve the current situation.

Some may just get a divorce to get away from misery. But here are three main concerns for persuading you not doing so. And if you are taking this option, in other words, you will not be trapped in these concerns; instead, you can avoid tragedies happening in the future and get something which you never expect.

First, kids. Undoubtedly, a broken family brings a child an everlasting harm to his/her heart, which definitely influences the development of his/her future. Children go astray in teenage years, are mostly grown up in a broken family where they never get enough love since they were little, and thus seek attentions from peers who may do something illegal like taking drugs. If you decide to leave your children, it is very likely that some day when they commit a crime, you learn it from television but cannot do anything since being alienated from them. But on the contrary, through their growing process, you learn from them and also get the happiness which is invaluable.

Second, financial problems. Most families in Taiwan are with two incomes. So, when getting divorced, single-parents cannot afford the cost of living and children's tuition. And for those women who quit jobs to take care of husbands and kids, it is hard for them to go back to workplace for being unfamiliar with professional skills. So, if you stay, then you don't have to worry about the kids are poorly fed or you cannot afford them to go to cram schools or colleges. It is a chronically physical and mental suffering which you never want to be stuck in.        

Last but not least, hostility and hatred toward divorced couples and their children in our society. For adults, they may be labelled as being abusive or having some bad habits that fail their marriages. For children, it is very likely they may be mocked by peers only having one parent. This kind of gossip or mischief seems not a big deal but actually makes both adults and children lose self-confidence.

So, compared with getting divorced, maybe adultery is a better choice. When a couple use adultery to save their marriage, reaching a consensus is needed. Like an agreement that on the basis of bringing up the children together and maintaining family's atmosphere, each other can develop his/her own relationship. Although adultery is risky and considered immoral, it is useful to keep possible regret or affliction at bay for you.

Adultery Pulls You Out of the Abyss of Emptiness

  Adultery may retrieve yourself mentally and face emptiness in the bottom of heart, which is caused by the unhappy growing process. There are all kinds of factors leading to the sense of loss in childhood, but the main cause is that we have piles of unmet needs. “These unsatisfied demands are believed to bring feelings like frustration, harm, and emotional pain which compose emptiness,” as suggested by Weil & Winter (1994). They show that people turn to adultery to fill the emptiness deep in mind, which is induced by something wrong in the childhood.

   Here is an example from the book. (Page # 158) Ian is the only but unexpected child in his family. He desires to be loved, cared, and depended on because he never really understands his father and even is not close to his mother. Though he got married, he never tells his wife about his desire deep in mind. Ian committed adultery finally, but he has learned to express his needs afterwards and she has learned to listen to. In this case, we see that getting little love makes Ian’s heart full of emptiness. When he feels it again, he is not a little boy anymore who can just endure loneliness, but a grow-up who can find consolation to relieve the intolerable pain. Should he be blamed for cheating on his wife? The author tells you that Ian should be forgiven. Because normal ways like talking did not work in the relationship between him and his parents, he had to resort to an unconventional way like adultery this time to save the marriage. And we see it really worked since adultery made this couple face their problems and successfully dealt with them.

So, should adultery be criticized? In view of the vows, the person who commits adultery should be blamed because he/she did break the promise. But look at the traits of emptiness. They included “Everyone feels it”, “It comes from not keeping some relationships” and “It comes from not knowing self or losing self because of someone.” (Page #200) The second trait indicates that instead of eating much food, drinking a lot, taking medicine or overworking, people tend to build up another relationship to find consolation for their loss or unsatisfied needs in the former or present relationship. And also, the third trait shows Ian's problems. Getting not enough love from his parents makes him dare not to express his needs in fear of no response. This causes him to lose himself and gradually not know what he really desires. Here, through adultery, Ian has been saved and thus changed his marriage since then. In conclusion, although adultery must be considered immoral or shameful, it still exists as a useful way to retrieve yourself even though in the first place, you just want to fill the emptiness by it.

Laws against Adultery Impose Discrimination and Violence on Women

Laws are made to restrict people’s behaviors. So, there are laws against adultery, whose intent is to show its incompatibility with the society and also validity of a marriage contract. However, in several countries, punishing people who commit adultery by severe penalties turns out offending against human rights and imposing conspicuous discrimination and violence on women. These laws deviate from their original purposes and bring about social problems which for a long time, human beings have tried so hard to deal with. Therefore, after reading the reference composed by Frances Raday (2012) in “Oxford Human Rights Hub”, I go to search the details of these laws in “Wikipedia” which are displayed in the following paragraphs.

In Article 333 of the Criminal Law in Philippines, adultery is defined as“Adultery is committed by any married woman who shall have sexual intercourse with a man not her husband．．．”The subject in the text only refers to females. This law shows inequality in gender. Although men in Philippines are convict of a related act of concubinage, the word “adultery” should not refer to specific sex. Everyone is likely to engage in adultery. And also, “in some Islam countries where the law prohibits adultery for men as well as women, men are permitted to take more than one wife and also to enter into temporary marriages.” Here, we see the laws have defects. They provide men with privileges to avoid being punished. A man won’t be criminalized if he marries to his mistress in time before being found he has committed adultery.

In Pakistan, “the Hudood Ordinance requires a woman making an accusation of rape to provide extremely strong evidence to avoid being charged with adultery herself.” However, this unreasonable request does brutal violence on women since “a conviction for rape is only possible with evidence from no fewer than four witnesses.” Moreover, “honor killings” exist legally in Jordan. In Article 340 of the Penal Code of Jordan states that “he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery and kills, wounds, or injures one of them, is exempted from any penalty." That means men can kill or injure women only for maintaining their dignity and reputations. Life is the basic human rights, but it works differently in Jordan: honor is the priority.

Laws are made to keep social order instead of creating problems and arousing controversies. It is time for following developed countries' steps: decriminalizing adultery. Abolishing these laws cannot fully protect women. However, it is for sure that if they are not abandoned, women are meant to be injured.

Conclusion

Exploring adultery comprehensively can make you have different opinions about it. You may find that not every adultery is immoral. What’s more, everyone should go further to accept the truth that adultery is really needed in our society. So, stop condemning adultery just because you have only known part of it. Extramarital affairs definitely should be accepted for their positive and meaningful reasons.

References

Woo, Sean. (April, 2006). The Necessity of Adultery. Retrieved from http://woosean. pixnet.net/blog/post/ 23604229-%E5%A9%9A%E5%A4%96%E6%83%85%E7%9A% 84%E5%BF%85%E8%A6%81%E6%80%A7

Weil, B.E & Winter, R (June, 1994). Adultery: The Forgivable Sin

Frances Raday. (2012, November 2). Decriminalizing adultery: Eliminating discrimination and violence against women. Oxford Human Rights Hub. Retrieved from http://ohrh. law.ox.ac.uk/?p=475

Ying-Bin, Ning. (May, 2002). Is Adultery Immoral? Retrieved from http://intermargins.net/ repression/deviant/ Marriage/adultery/articles/2002Jan-Jun/20020513a.htm

Reflection 2

  During the teacher-student conference this time, Professor Liang corrected the faults on our PPTs, gave us suggestions and also told us that we are the first group presenting our issue problem on January 16^th. Our issue problem is more serious than other groups’, so presenting it first will shock the exchange students and make them think that it is a really formal presentation. And the last group will be Eva and her partner Vicky. They will end the whole class with their funny and interesting way of presenting, which definitely will make us laugh out loud.

  After reading the peer responses, I found that most listeners love the way I used to interact with them: asking them to read sentences for me. Since it really works for drawing audience’s attention, I have decided to keep it. And, the outline page was also praised by the classmates. It is said that it made them quite understand the main topics, which I will also keep it. Other negative responses are for my design of PPTs. It is considered that there are few pictures on them. So, in order to catch audience’s eyes, I have made many changes, which Candy Time (a game time) is included. It is sure that someone who raises his/her hand to join the game will get candies. And, the followings are the descriptions for how I am going to present the issue.

    In order to persuade audience to stand on my side, I consider this presentation as a process of brainwashing. At first, I need to eliminate their bad impressions on adultery, and then infuse them with positive effects of it. And, that is why I moved forward the section “stop stigmatizing adultery” as the first part. While asking them “what is adultery discrimination?”, I will pick one or two listeners, asking them to give me an adjective to describe adultery in “candy time.” And then, go on to show them a powerful case to make them believe that not all adultery is wrong or immoral.   

  And then, here comes the section “decriminalizing adultery.” In this section, laws against adultery in Philippines, Pakistan, and Jordan will be introduced. Before showing the content of the laws, I will ask them to play a matching game in Candy Time. They will know where the country is before being introduced the laws. Although Candy Time seems to be a treat for children, I think it is a good way to draw audience’s attention and also to destroy a boring and embarrassing atmosphere.

In last section, “using adultery to save yourself” will be displayed. There will be three advantages to be introduced if choosing not to get divorced but resorting to adultery. It is more persuasive to make people accept positive effects of adultery after eliminating their bad impression on it. And that is the reason that I put it into the last part. A conclusion will still be displayed. It will not be a long but a short and powerful one. 

Transcript 2

Hello everyone! I am Claire, and our topic is should extramarital affairs be accepted? And, I’m the one who stand on the supporting side. So, why do I support adultery? I am going to explain two points. First, decriminalizing adultery. I will tell you the reason that laws against adultery should be abolished and also introduce you some inappropriate laws. And the second part, stop stigmatizing adultery. For this part, I will show you a case to make you change your impression on adultery.

And laws against adultery should be abolished because in several countries, umm…they are impose decriminalization and violence on women. For example, in Philippines, adultery is defined as( ok, I will.. Phoebe! Can you red this for me?) ” Adultery is committed by any married woman who shall have sexual intercourse with a man not her husband…”(Phoebe speaks) Yes!  You see that?!  The subject only refers to females. It is obvious that this law shows inequality in gender. And the word “adultery” should not refer to specific sex. Everyone is likely to engage in adultery.

And also, in some Islam countries where laws ban, umm… men and women committing adultery, but! ( Umm… Ivy, can you read this for me?) men are permitted to take more than one wife and also to enter into temporary marriages. (Ivy speaks)Yes! Here, we see the law has defects. It provides men with privileges to avoid being punished. A man who umm… won’t be criminalized if he marries to his mistress in time before being found he has committed adultery.

And, in Pakistan, laws require (Robert! Can you read this for me?) a woman making an accusation of rape to provide extremely strong evidence to avoid being charged with adultery herself. (Robert speaks) This does violence on women because umm…continue! “a conviction for rape is only possible with evidence from no fewer than four witnesses.” (Robert speaks) umm! That means a woman who committed adultery has to find a man to ….make love with her and find more than four witnesses to prove it.

And last In Jordan, there are honor killings. And honor killing is, umm… Cassie, can you read this for me? “he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery and kills, wounds, or injures one of them, is exempted from any penalty.” (Cassie speaks) And this means men can kill or injure women only for maintaining their dignity and reputations. Don’t you think that is unreasonable? Yes, I think it is unreasonable. Because life is the basic human rights, and, umm…but it seems that in Jordan honor is the priority.

Compared with developed countries, umm… there is no country criminalizing adultery in Europe. And in United States, there are 22 states out of 50 criminalizing adultery. And here, I want to make a clarification. Umm… I never say abolishing these laws can fully protect women. But I am pretty sure if they are not abandoned, women are meant to be injured.

And the last part, stop stigmatizing adultery! And that means don’t give adultery discrimination!

So, what is adultery discrimination? Let me ask Phoebe! If I…if I ask you to give me an adjective to describe adultery, which one do you choose? And adjective. (Phoebe speaks) Umm… Ridiculous, umm… ridiculous. Ok, Knot! Which one? (Knot speaks) Satisfied. (laughter) Ok! Robert? Which one do you choose? (Robert speaks) Unacceptble. Yes, it’s close to immoral, right? (laughter) So, when people are asked to give an adjective to describe adultery, they usually pick ‘immoral’ And that is discrimination. But there is a strong case to tell you that you can’t do so!

Assume that your husband or wife had a car accident and has been paralyzed. He is too afraid to lose you, so he demands your loyalty of sex. And when time flies, these years you spare no efforts to take care of him in these years, but he cannot satisfy your sexual needs. So finally,umm…you commit adultery! Should we call it immoral? No! I think the wife has done all she can do. And adultery just a way she pursue her own happiness. Thank you!

Q&A:

[Lin Kuo]: I want to make comment. I think rather than to abolish law against adultery, furthermore, why we shouldn’t dismantle the marriage institution? Because marriage institution…umm…I want to response to Claire, you say, if you want sexual liberty, why do you just out of the marriage? But, many legal rights is attached to the identity, and our marriage system is descriminalize…is descriminate the person who enter…who are not enter this system. So, and marriage…marriage and family…marriage, family and nation is conspired with each other, and act in a way to exploitation of labor. Not(only) labors from works (but also) and from domestic worker.

[Me]: Ok….Thank you!

[Vivien]: I want to ask Claire. You support abortion…adultery. Do you have any premise for committing adultery?

[Me]: Usually it happens when a couple’s marriage is not happy. And when it comes to adultery’s positive effects, the couple wants to solve problems, but they don’t want to get divorced, so they choose adultery.

[Vivien]: And why they don’t just get divorced?

[Me]: Because there are so many reasons like kids. If you get divorced, you cannot… cannot expect…you cannot imagine your kids will be, like in the future, your kids may take drugs or become so… bad, and you can get controlled of them. So, it you don’t get divorced, you can take care of them. That is one of the reasons. There are so many many reasons.

[Cassie]: I want to ask Claire about your point of view because… oh! I want to, first of all, express that your way to interact with audience is very good. Because more attention on your presentation. But it seems that your resources are kind of limited to some religions or countries so I want to ask you about what’s your opinion about adultery in Taiwan because in Taiwan, some of the adulteries seem to not relate to religions or adultery problems, just like a person want to have other relationship.

[Me]: I have seen a news recently, umm…. A news that the minister of culture 文化部長龍應台 She has talked about, umm… when she talked to foreigners, she felt embarrassed because… when they are talking about the laws of adultery. And I think decriminalizing adultery laws is a trend. Umm… in these developed countries because they focus on individual thinking. Maybe for their government, adultery is just individual business.

(Revised) Annotation 4: Stop stigmatizing adultery

  When it comes to adultery, people tend to think of it as wrong or immoral, and directly ignore exceptions. Here, the author Yin-Bin Ning told you that “a stereotype without regard to individual differences, considering adultery as a depraved behavior, is discrimination toward it. And, discrimination in itself is definitely wrong!” The adjective “immoral” usually comes after breaking the promises for marriage. However, we should realize that every marriage works in its own way. And every couple can reach different agreements and have their own arrangements for life. “In different marriages, loyalty of sex or lying may not matter anymore.” So, followings are some examples provided by Ning, for proving that adultery deserves a different comment.

  There is a kind of marriage called “open marriage.” It refers to a marriage in which the partners agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded as infidelity. In an open marriage, the partners have no promise to keep the loyalty of sex. So, in this way, they will not break the promise because there is even no one. And certainly, we cannot regard this kind of adultery as immoral.

  What’s more, even though there is a promise for the loyalty of sex in some marriage, when adultery happens, we still cannot directly call it immoral. For example, there is man who had a car accident and has been paralyzed. He was too afraid to lose his wife, so he strongly required her loyalty of sex. When time flies, his wife has spared no efforts to take care of the other for years, she finally committed adultery because her spouse couldn't satisfy her sexual needs. In this case, should we call it immoral? The wife has done what she should and could do. However, she is just like all of us, being a human and has physical needs. She deserves a better life, and adultery just a way she used to pursue her own happiness.

  In general speaking, hostility toward adultery is seen as a useful way to protect marriage. But, if it is really useful, then why is adultery widespread, and does divorce rate get higher and higher? So, it is still question that whether discrimination toward adultery can protect marriages. However, I have discussed in Annotation 1 that adultery can be an alternative way to save one’s marriage and also oneself from possible problems happening in the future. In conclusion, adultery deserves a different comment other than “immoral.” And even, we cannot ignore its positive effects. “Not every adultery is the same,” which means not every adultery is immoral!

Reference:

Ying-Bin Ning (May, 2002). 通姦不道德嗎? 自由時報

Retrieved from: http://intermargins.net/repression/deviant/Marriage/adultery/articles/2002Jan-Jun/20020513a.htm

Peer Response 5

1. [陳奕臻]:
1.The first sentence "think of it as wrong or immoral". It should be "think of it as wrong or immorality"
2.The second paragraph "we cannot regard this kind of adultery as immoral". It should be "we cannot regard this kind of adultery as immorality"

First, you didn't have terrible grammar like me. It's great XDD 
Second, although I didn't agree with your idea, this article is good and has a strong standpoint. Our basic physical needs is indeed important, and restrained by the moralities.

[Me]:
I think "immoral" is acceptable because "being" can be ignored.
And thank for your compliment anyway. :)

2. [蘇俞臻]:
I agree that the open marriage is not immoral, but it's because couples themselves had reach agreements before they commit adultery. However, many cheated people do not reach an agreement with their spouses. They just want to pursue excitement. Would you still think that the adultery committed by that kind of people should not be called immoral? Just as you say, they are exceptions, so it's better for you tell readers that it's under specific situation.
And in your last paragraph, what do you mean for "hostility toward adultery is seen as a useful way to protect marriage." I think it's a little strange to say that "hostility" can protect marriage, because it's a kind of feeling. Maybe you can say "the crime of adultery can protect marriage" would be better.

 [Me]:
So, that still means not every adultery is immoral!
Thank for your comments anyway :)

Annotation 4: Stop stigmatizing adultery

  When it comes to adultery, people tend to think of it as wrong or immoral, and directly ignore exceptions. Here, the author Yin-Bin Ning told you that “a stereotype without regard to individual differences, considering adultery as a depraved behavior, is discrimination toward it. And, discrimination in itself is definitely wrong.” The adjective “immoral” usually comes after breaking the promises for marriage, which include the loyalty of sex. However, we should realize that every marriage works in its own way. And every couple can reach different agreements and have their own arrangements for life. “In different marriages, loyalty of sex or lying may not matter anymore.” So, followings are some examples provided by Ning, for adultery to deserve a different moral comment.

  There is a kind of marriage called “open marriage.” It refers to a marriage in which the partners agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded as infidelity. In an open marriage, the partners have no promise to keep the loyalty of sex. So, in this way, they will not break the promise because there is no one. And certainly, we cannot regard this kind of adultery as immoral.

  What’s more, even though there is a promise for the loyalty of sex in some marriage, when adultery happens, we still cannot directly call it immoral. For example, one partner is paralyzed or seriously ill and he or she is worried about his/her partner may leave him/her, so the loyalty of sex is strongly requested. When time flies, one partner has spared no efforts to take care of the other for years, he/she finally commits adultery because his/her spouse cannot satisfy the sexual needs. In this case, should we call it immoral? We are human beings and have basic physical needs. If we have been responsible for being a good wife/husband to take care our spouse, we deserve the right to have a better life and pursue happiness.

  In general speaking, hostility toward adultery is seen as a useful way to protect marriage. If it is really useful, then why is adultery widespread and does divorce rate get higher and higher? So, it is still question that whether discrimination toward adultery can protect marriages. However, I have discussed in Annotation 1 that adultery can be an alternative way to save one’s marriage and also oneself from possible problems happening in the future. In conclusion, adultery deserves a different comment other than “immoral.” And even, we cannot ignore its positive effects. “Not every adultery is the same,” and that means not every adultery is immoral!

Reference:

Ying-Bin Ning (May, 2002). 通姦不道德嗎? 自由時報

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