Larvatus Prodeo

If you are caught cheating on the spouse, don’t expect any sympathy from your fellow Australians. Adultery has emerged as the No. 1 social sin in a study of what we consider acceptable behaviour.

More than half of those surveyed told University of NSW researchers they would think less of a person who had strayed than someone who had dobbed their husband into police or conducted abortions.

But the disapproval figures are mild when compared with what we perceive as community attitudes. Indeed, the study shows we like to think of ourselves as far more tolerant than others when it comes to homosexuality, drugs and marital infidelity.

Michael Pelly writing in the Sydney Morning Herald in October last year about a study on community attitudes. 

The No. 1 taboo was adultery, with 54 per cent saying they personally would think less of someone dubbed a philanderer. Next was the drunken office flirt (44 per cent), followed by the promiscuous single woman (35 per cent), police informer (33 per cent) and the occasional marijuana smoker (31 per cent).

The lowest disapproval rating was for the young woman who had a single sexual relationship before she got married. At 12 per cent it was well under the 29 per cent average for the 10 categories.

However, when it came to guessing the attitudes of others, the disapproval average rose to 69 per cent. The figure for sex before marriage rose to 54 per cent, but the widest gap was for the HIV-positive man (14 per cent and 76 per cent).

The study was to be used to assess the efficacy of tests for defamation where juries are asked to put aside their own opinions and consider the opinions of others. The study’s findings indicated we generally overestimate the level of intolerance in society, thinking ourselves more tolerant than others. 

There was one exception:

For plaintiffs, the ideal jury would be comprised of practising Christians. They are more inclined to find certain behaviour unacceptable and to believe others think the same. "In fact, all those who said they belonged to a religion were significantly more likely to feel antipathy."

I am pleased to know that somebody loves people like me.

I didn’t look for further details about the study’s methodology and applications. I just want to say that I read the community attitudes on adultery this way:

Adultery happens, that’s OK, as long as it doesn’t happen to me. Because we don’t want to be seen as unhip, uptight or uncool by admitting that it’s wrong and that we hate it.

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