In addressing the question of “What causes unfaithfulness?”, the leaders in Uganda have a radically different perspective than Western nations. In Uganda, the cause of unfaithfulness in women is their lack of circumcision. It is a common belief that women who have not had their genitals mutilated are more likely to be unfaithful.
Although I find the practice repulsive, it is encourging that people all over the world are asking questions about infidelity and affairs. Marital fidelity is valued around the world. The solutions to marital infidelity range from tribal genital mutilation such as seen in Uganda to places like Japan where it is seen as an exciting secret. The attitude in Japan is that it is the men who are unfaithful and are expected to be. This is very different from the mindset of Uganda. An exceptionally different take is one being proposed in England where a writer (Pat Sikes) is encouraging people to rethink the student-teacher infidelity issue. She sees such relationships as the natural outcome of being exposed to the highly sexual environment that exists in the schools. So in her case, it is the environment that leads to affairs. So we have the lack of circumcision, human nature and sexual environments each proposed as the reason for unfaithfulness. Which of these is the answer to the practice of infidelity remains to be seen.
The solutions of each of these nations is vastly different. What they do agree on is that cheating, infidelity or adultery is a problem.
Best Regards,
Jeffrey Murrah
