bloomsxchneet replied to your post:
emotional wounds aren’t the only legitimate negative consequence of cheating; some people value playing it safe with their health
I don’t doubt this. But no one objects to cheating only because of health risks, and to frame the immorality of cheating as arising solely (or even primarily) from the health risks is therefore absurd.
Interestingly, when I first started poly-ing I had a couple friends who had really negative reactions. And they tried very hard to justify their negative reactions in terms of health and safety stuff.
But it was pretty clear that that wasn’t the “real” problem—they were trying to explain to themselves why it as bad, and that was the first idea they came up with.
Their instincts aren’t entirely wrong. There are issues of sex/gender demand imbalances, risks of financially unstable childbirth, emotions that can run high including jealousy (which evolved for a reason), lower exit cost creating a greater risk of being abandoned if a more desirable partner comes along… Poly isn’t only a high risk activity in terms of direct physical health.
