'Cosmo' Article Recommends Women Cheat on Their Boyfriends, Infuriates Everyone

Some internet scandals are too good to let die, even if it is a little old. As the saying goes, "no publicity is bad publicity." There are exceptions to that rule, however. Like remember all of the tech writers who honestly thought that the iPhone was going to fail when it first was released? Sure, there were plenty of better offerings at the time capable of way more than the iPhone could do, but they didn't have huge capacitive glass-coated touch screens on them.

There are some publications, however, that don't mind re-living the controversy that was stirred up when they first published some articles. I published a pretty scathing list of lame boyfriend hobbies a few years ago when I first started at Distractify, and the amount of ire I received on Facebook for the comments were definitely worth the amount of people who were talking about the article.

So I guess I get where Cosmopolitan is coming from when they publish an article with the following title: "I've Cheated on Every Boyfriend I've Ever Had, and I Don't Regret it." The tag line? "And if you're in your early 20s, this writer recommends you do the same."

Cosmopolitan first shared this story on social media back in 2019. You know, the same year the Notre Dame Cathedral went up in flames and Hong Kong protesters were dying for their right to exist.

While there were other notable news stories that occurred on that specific day — ike photos of a migrant father and his child dying as they tried to cross the Rio Grande, Illinois legalizing the use of recreational marijuana, or Twitter user @saulmalone asking "what the f*** is up Delilah? What the F*** is it like in New York City?" — Twitter was very concerned with Cosmo's post.

There was an outpour of negative responses to the publication's decision to disseminate a story many criticized as being "trashy."

Many people stated that the article displayed a clear double standard when it came to infidelity and different sexes. 

Cosmo reposted an image on its Instagram page featuring the same headline on a blurred photograph. The response was similar, with commenters leaving barf emojis and people rekindling their ire for the post. However, it did seem like Cosmo was intentionally responding to goad certain users into commenting more, or providing responses that people thought were "petty" and "lame."

While there were many individuals who claimed that people who were negatively commenting on the post didn't read the full article, many countered that they had read the article and didn't buy the writer's "justifications" for cheating on their boyfriend.

Some argued that the writer of the article was still just promoting "toxic" behavior and using their adolescence/youth as a crutch for having a terrible personality and outlook on life.

Others argued that if someone just wanted to constantly cheat, then it's better they don't have a significant other or simply find a partner who is also willing to have an open relationship.

And then there were throngs of others who stated that they would be unfollowing Cosmo's Instagram account for good and wouldn't purchase any more of the outlet's content.

While there's a ton of research on the topic of infidelity — with many psychologists indicating that adulterers, even in marriages, may have valid feelings in wanting to seek romance elsewhere — almost everyone agrees that the adverse emotional effects on their significant other is a betrayal of trust to inflict upon someone.

Twitter's got plenty of thoughts about cheating on significant others outside of that Twitter post. Some of them are hilarious, and some of them are just a little too real.

What do you think? Are there plenty of instances when it's completely fine and accepted if someone is cheating on their significant other? Or is a betrayal of trust a betrayal of trust regardless, and people should honor those commitments no matter what?