No offense to the Italian court, but isn't this pretty hypocritical? Isn't Italian infidelity, by both men and women, a very long tradition in Italian culture? Ahh, but the difference apparently, is the wife's honesty and ethical forthrightness, in approaching her husband and announcing her desires. It is okay, with Church, government and Italian husbands, to cheat in secret, but if it becomes known and public, then SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.

The Italian male society does vilify the "cornuto," or a man whose wife is cuckolding him, by sleeping with other men. And, while a man whose wife is cheating is one level of fool, the man whose wife has sex with other men, with the husband's permission, is one whole greater level of ridiculous and laughable fool. The English of the Middle Ages called such a man a "wittol."

A woman interviewed in my book Insatiable Wives talked about the samy hypocrisy in American culture. She said that female friends who were cheating on their husband had their secrets and privacy protected by friends and coworkers, but when it became known that her husband okayed her infidelity, she herself became a pariah. As a result, she and her husband had to develop the odd strategy of pretending to cheat on each other, in order to fit social expectations.

Isn't that ludicrous? Society and the legal system telling husbands and wives that cheating and deception is acceptable, while honesty and ethics in marriage (if it's about a desire to have sex with others) are intolerable by society?

So marriage vows now include the unspoken addendum: "Love, honor and obey (and lie)." And we wonder why we have trouble teaching our children not to lie and cheat and steal?