Sexting; how long would you stand by your man?

Last week, people who follow American politics got a laugh out of the fact that yet again, Anthony Weiner, former US Representative and current Mayoral candidate for New York City, was on television apologising for his impulse for sexting. For people who do not know what sexting is, where do you live?! The definition of sexting is pretty much engaging in sexual conversations through text messaging but also loosely applied to emails and facebook messages. In Weiner’s case, there were even pictures exchanged. I am all for sexting between a couple or two single people but it crosses a line when someone in a relationship does it with another party. Some people have argued that sexting is not cheating while those who argue otherwise base on the fact that you are engaging in a certain type of behaviour outside of your relationship. If I ever caught my boyfriend/husband sexting with someone else, I would be extremely hurt because I would wonder why he would have to exchange messages and pictures with a woman far away when he has me right next to him. As for Weiner, women watching the news conference were left dumbfounded over the fact that his wife Ms. Huma Abedin, an intelligent and beautiful woman and not to mention Hilary Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff while at the State Department, would stand by her husband for not one sexting scandal but also a second. For the uninitiated, the reason Weiner actually had to leave the US Congress was he was caught in a sexting scandal back in 2011 and now in 2013, he is back with the same issue. Most television commentators, especially women, were just surprised Abedin would forgive her husband so publicly. No one can judge why Abedin made the decision she has made more than once or married a man she knew had a fetish for online relationships but I think some of us are simply asking Weiner not to put his wife through this public disgrace. No one deserves to have their choices and relationship analysed by the media and public. So 21st century women, do you consider sexting cheating? Would you stand by your husband if he was in a similar situation?