Is Getting a Happy Ending Massage Cheating?

Is a happy ending massage cheating, or is it a harmless release that is pleasurable final part to a full body rubdown...having less to do with sex than full physical relaxation?

Anybody who has spent any time in a large city can see that massage parlors offering happy endings are easily found. Coyly worded advertisements, found both online and in the back of alternative weekly newspapers, leave little doubt that the massage parlors offer more than just a therapeutic rubdown.

While statistics are obviously not kept for this sort of thing, there clearly are both single and married men who frequent these establishments.

Leaving the legality and overall morality aside, is a married man cheating if he goes to a massage parlor for a massage followed up by a happy ending?

Many guys I talk to say 'no'. Their rationale is that they don't know the name of the masseuse, will never see her again, and share no emotional intimacy.

I have talked to two married men, one a friend and one a co-worker, who get occasional happy ending massages.

The co-worker told me, "I would never cheat on my wife, but this is a way to get satisfaction in a totally indulgent and relaxing setting."

I asked him if he had shared his wonderful experience with his wife. He laughed and said, "no".

My friend, on the other, well, hand, said, "I love the occasional happy ending massage. Not only does my wife know I get them, she actually got me a gift certificate for one for my birthday!"

I was rather surprised by this, but he said she is very relaxed about the whole thing and in fact finds it a bit of a turn on that he goes and gets an anonymous 'release' by a masseuse. This is not for everybody, I'm sure, but I suspect his wife's attitude towards the whole erotic massage thing is not as rare as one might think.

So is a happy ending massage cheating? It depends. In my opinion, my co-worker is cheating. My friend is not.

Sometimes, in fact most often, 'cheating' is not what one is actually doing, but within what context one is doing it. Mostly, if a married man (or woman) can share fully and accurately what they have done with his or her spouse, and if his or her spouse approves of it, then it's not cheating. If it's something one cannot, or does not, share with his or her spouse, then it is an act of betrayal; all of the justification in the world of what a happy ending massage is or is not cannot cover that fact up.

So, men, if you're married, enjoy your happy ending massage guilt free...but only if your wife knows and approves.