Jack & Jill Politics

Thank God We Don’t Do This Anymore…but  a 21st Century Version might make a comeback

If you get caught cheating on your significant other/spouse/partner, being ordered to do something like this guy did in my neck of the woods might cure you of the desire to creep. (Hat Tip, Ruth McCann, Washington Post)

Behold: Hester Prynne in the age of network television. The scarlet letter, or something like it, emblazoned on the chest. The private sin dragged forth for public judgment. The hours in the stocks. And the media.

“I cheated. This is my punishment.” Thus read the hand-lettered, chest-to-knee-length sign worn by a man sporting jeans, a baby-blue short-sleeved dress shirt and a hangdog face as he stood on the side of the eight-lane Leesburg Pike near Tysons Corner on Wednesday morning. Thursday morning, he was back.

The man identified himself as “William Taylor” of Centreville when the first journalist, from Fox 5, interviewed him Wednesday on a grassy verge outside a shopping complex, where he has been observed during rush-hour traffic since Monday.

Now think about this – even though I’ve written about cheating and the power of outside poon – the risks that are involved; just suppose that if spouses actually sue their cheating partners for, well, cheating on them and a judge issues the choice of punishment – which would be JAIL or wearing a sandwich board that says “I CHEATED” like Hester Prynne had to do in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” (which was a raw deal because the preacher she cheated with kept his brand undercover and no one knew til the end), if you get caught, which one would you choose?

And, for the record, in case you haven’t heard, South Carolina’s “Romeo” governor, Mark Sandford, is now facing possible impeachment for lying about hiking on the Appalachian Trail, when he was in Argentina getting his swerve on:

House Republicans will discuss whether to impeach Gov. Mark Sanford when they meet in Myrtle Beach this weekend.

Lawmakers, once reluctant to discuss removing Sanford, will weigh what it would take to force the Republican governor out and how the process would work.

Republicans expect the meeting — an annual gathering to discuss agenda, issues and politics, and to play golf — will be dominated by discussion of Sanford’s future — and what role the House will play in it.

Now, in all honesty, this guy (Taylor) may be trying to save his marriage and may be genuinely sorry he cheated on his wife; if so, give him half a prop for prostrating himself this way.  The issue of cheating is between the couple involved and the third party brought into the marriage or relationship, and for the most part, should be handled out of public view unless the person involved is a hypocritical elected wingnut who’s always ready to throw the book at one of his colleagues, but wants mercy when HE gets caught. 

I don’t know how to handle the issue of cheating except to leave the relationship  because the trust is broken and nothing my ex-boyfriends could say would restore that trust (believe me, CPL has been cheated on A LOT).  I didn’t spend time trying to understand why homeboy sneaked around on me, and I quit blaming myself ten years ago – most of my relationships busted up because I wasn’t ready to get my swerve on.  I didn’t believe I knew the guys I dated well enough to go to that level of intimacy in a relationship.

I know all too well the humiliation of attending public gatherings with your man and some skank grinning in your face with the “I phucked your man” look on her face.  I suffered it in college too many times to count.  While my mama would say “to hell with that sap sucker and it won’t be long before he kicks that slut to the curb cause he got what he wanted from her…” nothing, and I mean, NOTHING, can eliminate the pain and humilation one feels when they learn their partner has cheated on them.

So, homeboy is standing on Route 123 in Tyson’s Corner, VA wearing this sign saying he cheated.  From what I read in the article, his wife tells him how long to stay on the corner with the sign and when to call it a day and leave.  While she may be getting some satisfaction from him doing such penance, sooner or later, that’s going to get stale, and she will have to think of something else to punish him.  She might do well to just leave and take his shyt, or get counseling and see if she can stay in the marriage.

In any case, what this action does say is that cheating spouses aren’t going to take it anymore.  They’re not going to suffer in silence and be noble about this shyt.  They’re going to take action. 

Do we really want to return to the Hester Prynne days of public humiliation for infidelity? The more I think about this, the more I really don’t KNOW…..