How far is too far when getting back at a cheating partner?

It’s pointless at this stage to fixate on how common cheating is, or the absurd amount of effort and secrecy it takes to keep up that kind of life.

Cheating is an unwanted reality which, unfortunately, can’t easily be cleansed off the fabric of society, as highly desirable as that might be.

We once published a Twitter user’s story detailing the catastrophe a man faced when his fiancée caught him cheating and refused to say anything about it until months after their marriage was sealed.

Reading the full story will give you a better insight into what really happened, and the conversations prompted by it.

How far is too far when getting back at a cheating partner? [Credit: Mocha Girls Pit Stop] Sex toys and sexual satisfaction for women in relationshipa [Credit Mocha Girls Pit Stop] Pulse Nigeria

Forgiveness and communication of feelings and emotions are obvious topics to be drawn out from there, of course.

But then, the story also makes one wonder: how do you deal with cheating partners?

How do you get back at them for the emotional anguish and bitter disappointment caused by their lying tongues and inability to stay faithful, committed and exclusive to you as they promised to be?

We’ve heard stories of women who go on cheating campaigns of their own as response to their philandering boyfriends and husbands.

Some slash tyres, smash windscreens, rear screens and dent every possible part of the men's cars. There’s also the one about a certain lady who burnt a foot of all the pairs of shoes her cheating boyfriend had.

“Girls Trip” actress, Tiffany Haddish also shared during AN interview on the "Breakfast Club" that in order to get back at guy who played her, she pooped in his favourite shoes and tricked him into stepping into the shoes shortly afterwards!

Tiffany Haddish said she pooped in a guy's favourite shoes when she found out he was playing her [Credit - Getty] Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

That stinks, literally, but you really can’t blame her, as many people have different reactions to being cheated on and anyone who intentionally cheats and breaks the heart of someone they claim to love doesn’t really deserve much pity.

Should you even be getting back at someone who cheats on you?

Well, forgiveness is a great, advisable virtue but it'll be unwise and naive to expect everyone to forgive, move on and just let things go. Hell no! Not every girl is just going to cry, throw few lame punches and walk away, leaving a cheating, inconsiderate boyfriend or husband for God to judge.

For some people, the idea of letting things go involves letting out steam in one crazy form or another, and if that madness is directed at a partner who pushed them to those extremes, then fair’s just fair.

However, at what point do we draw the line in these instances, and when can one be said to have crossed the line of what’s acceptable as commensurate retaliation when a partner cheats and makes you feel like a fool?

Anything short of a criminal offence might be acceptable in dealing with a partner [Credit: Binhu] What if you catch a partner cheating [Credit: Binhu] Pulse Nigeria

Obviously criminal actions might have no justification here, and being moved to commit a felony because of a partner's unfaithfulness will not excuse you from the punishment meted out by law for such offence.

Every other thing is pretty much open to debate.

In the story referred to at the beginning of this article, the babe caught her boyfriend cheating thrice and said nothing about it. In fact she returned on one of those days to have sex with the guy. Then few months after, the guy proposed and she said yes.

They had a traditional marriage and from all indications, a lavish wedding ceremony, and still she said nothing until the marriage was signed and sealed. It then turned out that her body felt repulsed every time he initiated sex with her.

ALSO READ: Whether you're having sex or not, you should talk about it in your relationship

She would later confess to why she did not consummate the marriage, but that was only after pressure was mounted on her, months into the holy matrimony.

What if she has been cheating and you find out [Credit: Black Excellence] What if she has been cheating and you find out [Credit: Black Excellence] Pulse Nigeria

The lady in question claims she wasn’t particularly out to get back at her husband. Her hope had been that marriage to him would make it easy to forgive and move past the whole issue without having to breathe a word about it.

Reactions to this story have majorly been to castigate the lady as being vindictive, petty, wicked, horrible and other similar stuff and it’s really hard to not see her in that light.

It is pretty arguable that she served him a measure of disappointment mightily disproportionate to the one he served her, and that she intended it all all along.

But then, there really isn’t a measurement for the amount of pain she’d have gone through, seeing him sleep around and cheat serially the way he did.

There’s also no way to measure the sadness and frustration she probably felt, being unable to consummate the marriage and enjoy the pleasures of sex like every other married woman. [Mind you, she was already exposed to this fun and sweetness of sex before she married.]

Cheating does not always have to be the end of relationships [Credit -Shutterstock] ece-auto-gen

So while one might be moved to make a hasty call on who is right and wrong here, it should be seen as an unregulated case of action and reaction. When you are tempted to call out the woman for fighting dirty, try to also wonder why the guy did her dirty.

Why didn’t he stay away from all those other girls when he decided to get serious with her?

It'd be pleasant if everyone could stick with their partners and shun side chicks and side guys but by all indications, this will probably never happen.

So maybe it’s about time people began to prepare for the effects of cheating.

If you’re going to be that person who breaks trust and cheats on their partner, then be ready to face whatever comes out of it and you’re not permitted to cry foul when your pained partner pays you back in a heavier coin than yours.

You can’t determine how your partner reacts or what they choose as payback when they catch you cheating because when it comes to matters of the heart, there aren’t rules guiding reciprocity.

What you see is what you get.