ADULTERY

This page was last updated on Thursday, 10 November 2005.

Projection (psychological) is the attribution of one’s own guilty conduct toward another. When a spouse falsely accuses the other spouse of adultery, chances are that the accusing spouse is attributing his or her own sense of guilt toward the other spouse. Adultery is a common component in false allegations of domestic violence. In some states, adultery is grounds for divorce and can be a criminal offense.

Old definition of adultery - Many states have a simple definition of adultery. Adultery is the voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse.

California Codes - I examined the California Codes web site and noted two entries for adultery but their search engine only identified one entry. So, I used another search method and it revealed only one entry. This entry is presented below.

This not the definition of adultery, it is the definition of incest.  California codes do not adequately define the degrees of consanguinity.  However, California codes do mention second and third degrees of consanguinity that can be lineal or collateral.  Lineal consanguinity refers to those who have a direct female or male line of ancestry. 

Table of Consanguinity showing the degrees of relationships - The number in the boxes show the degree of relationship.  Place the name of the person that you want to establish relationship in the yellow box.  The labeled boxes will list the relationship and the degree of distance from that person.

New definition of adultery - I propose that adultery be defined as follows: Adultery is the mutual  voluntary contact between a married person and a person who is not their spouse for the purpose of arousing or satisfying sexual desire.

In civil unions, adultery is definable as the mutual voluntary contact between a person joined in civil union and a person who is not a part of that civil union for the purpose of arousing or satisfying sexual desire.

New definition of Child Sexual Abuse - Child sexual abuse is a voluntary contact between a person who attained the age of consent and a person who has not attained the age of consent.  It is a separate crime.  A person who has not attained the age of consent, by definition, cannot consent to voluntary contact for the purpose of arousing or satisfying sexual desire.

Many states define the age of consent differently. The lowest age of consent is 14, the most common is 16, and a few states set it at 18.  Marriage, civil union, and have lifelong implications and most young adults are not prepared to accept the responsibility that goes with these activities. I would prefer that every state set the age of consent to be at least 18 but no higher than 21 except in matters of mental incompetence or incapacity.

New definition of Seduction and Adultery - When a person conceals their status as a spouse or their status as a person joined by civil union to another who is not their spouse or partner in a civil union for the purpose of arousing or satisfying sexual desire, it is the crime of seduction and adultery.

Statistics on Adultery - It is difficult to find verifiable statistics on adultery. DNA testing has revealed that 15 percent of birth certificates identify the wrong man as the father of a child. About 30 percent of DNA paternity tests do not confirm the identity of the purported father of a child. Since DNA paternity testing also includes unmarried females and unmarried males, it cannot be an accurate measure of adultery.

I approve of abortion when pregnancy endangers the life of the mother, when the fetus is dead or cannot survive pregnancy, when the fetus suffers from inoperable malformation, or when the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest.  Each year, about 1.33 million abortions occur. Two-thirds of all abortions are performed on women who have never married. The source (Time Almanac 2003) did not report on the percentage or number of abortions performed on married women. So abortion statistics are not reliable indicators of adultery for married women and not do say anything about adultery.

However, with a sample pool of 37,000 persons, 15% of wives reported cheating on their spouse in Oprah Magazine, 2004. The Oprah Winfrey show is broadcasted in the afternoon. I suspect that the percentage for men could be slightly higher but I would not be surprised if it is slightly lower

Personal Rights - Every person, married or not married, has the right to refuse sexual contact. If the offending party ignores this refusal or forces sexual contact, then the offending party has committed the crime of rape.

Though the use of phone sex, sexually explicit Internet chat rooms, and sexually explicit Internet pornography is not technically adultery, it is a corruption of the marital bounds we hold so dearly between a husband a wife. It is also corruptive within a civil union.

Deadly or Sexually Transmitted Diseases - Should adultery result in the offending party contracting a deadly or a sexually transmitted disease then the innocent spouse or member of a civil union has the absolute right to terminate the marriage or civil union.  When the offending spouse or member of a civil union infects the innocent party with a deadly or sexually transmitted disease, it is criminal battery and may be regarded as sexual battery, attempted murder, or worse.

Other Personal Accounts - Frequently in adulterous relationships, the adulterous spouse will make a false allegation of spousal battery to remove the innocent spouse from their home. This allows the adulterous correspondent to move in. As a result, the innocent spouse loses most or all of his or her property.  When a spouse falsely accuses an innocent spouse of adultery, chances are that the accusing spouse is attributing his or her own sense of guilt toward the other spouse.

What is Consanguinity? - Consanguinity is the relationship among different persons descending the same ancestor. Though traditionally this was a blood relationship, where the blood of the same ancestor flows through the veins of all their descendants. DNA testing is the preferred method of confirming adultery, paternity, maternity, and consanguinity.

Consanguinity is of two kinds: lineal and collateral. Lineal consanguinity is a relation that exists among persons, where one is descended from the other, as between the child and a parent and goes upwards in a direct ascending line and between the grandparent and the parent and child in downwards direct in a direct descending line. Every generation in this direct course makes a degree of lineal consanguinity either in the ascending or descending genealogical line.

Collateral consanguinity is a relationship that does exist among persons who descend from a single common ancestor and this is the product of the same ancestral origins but not in a direct line of female or male decent. Suppose a married woman gives birth to a child. Later, her husband dies or this couple terminates the marriage through divorce. The woman remarries and gives birth to another child. The children are related through only one common ancestor, their mother.

Years ago, a person might say that such children are half-brothers or half-sisters. I dislike these demeaning terms because children not half of anything, they are whole.  Sometimes a parent remarries and sometimes a parent dies.  This is not the fault of a child.

I found an interesting chapter called Ancient Israel in a book titled The Story of Numbers - How Mathematics Has Shaped Civilization by John McLeish. In a subsection of this chapter called The Widow Remarries: whose child is it? The author explains that a certain widow, exercising her right under Jewish law, marries her brother-in-law on the death of her husband. The new husband  complied  the law of levirate that was designed that a deceased male leave a family to carry on his name. The was no need for a ceremony. The widow gave birth to a child. The problem was then, who was the father of the child? This is not the whole story and I am not lying by omission but rather trying to rekindle the truth through reverence and curiosity.  The identification code for the paperback edition is: ISBN 0-449-90938-7.

Edward S. Nunes