For those who struggle to maintain this delicate balance between opposites, it is easy to see why infidelity offers an enticing proposition. The structure of the affair is anything but institutionalized, a sure pathway to freedom and independence. It is, as Sims and Meana put it, a zone of “liminality”—an abdication of rules and responsibilities, an active pursuit of pleasure, a transcendence of the limits of reality. There is certainly no risk of the overfamiliarity that comes from sharing a bathroom for decades. Mystery, novelty, and the unknown are built in. And the role of lover is
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