Infidelity in relationships is generally termed as cheating. There are mainly two types of cheating; emotional infidelity and sexual infidelity. It has long been presumed that only men were involved in the act of cheating, however, recent studies have shown that women cheat nearly as much as men.
There is a school of thought that says if a woman cheats, it is more likely to signal an end to her primary relationship than if a man cheats. This may, in fact, be the case, because it has come to be universally understood that men and women tend to think and feel differently about sex and relationships.
Depending on the individual and to a large part the gender and type of cheating (emotional or sexual) cheating could be viewed as a potential deal-breaker. This is as a result of the widely contradicting views on cheating held by both men and women. When it comes down to the real definition of cheating, men and women hold somewhat different viewpoints.
This varying and contradicting views on infidelity become more apparent with regard to emotional infidelity. However, both genders do seem to agree on one common fact; Nobody likes being the victim of infidelity. Emotional infidelity can be defined as a relationship between a person and someone other than their spouse (or lover) that affects the level of intimacy, emotional distance and overall dynamic balance in the marriage or relationship.
Women tend to really appreciate the magnitude and intensity that emotional affairs embody, to an extent that many women don't believe men could forgive them for emotional infidelity such as dancing intimately or flirting at a party. However, men are more likely to forgive emotional infidelity, this could be because they don't view it as cheating.
Men are generally able to compartmentalize sex and intimate connections. Sex is just sex for men, and this could be accomplished without any iota of intimacy. However, for most women, this is not possible. Women tend to get sex and emotional connection intermingled in ways that make compartmentalization more difficult.
This may potentially be a source of misunderstanding, conflict, and miscommunication in couples. Given the above dynamics on sexual infidelity; men tend to be more threatened by the idea of physical cheating (sexual infidelity). This is because when women cheat there is usually an element of romance, intimacy, connection, or love. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to cheat to satisfy sexual urges, with fewer thoughts of intimacy.
Eventually, it comes down to moving on from infidelity and forgiving the cheating party. Generally, men find it very difficult to move on from sexual infidelity as opposed to women. Various factors could explain this bitter truth; men cheat without necessarily reflecting on the status of their relationships- sex is just sex, on the other hand, women cheat because their primary relationship isn't going well and their sex acts are heavily vested in intimacy and emotions.
Secondly, this reaction is an innate expression of genetics and evolution. When women cheat, there's a danger of spawning offsprings that do not belong to the male. Hence this definitely fuels the rage that men experience whenever their woman strays sexually.