[dcaldwell]

Mind-On, I think you're confused with treating a symptom. But come now, you should know that the veil isn't the reason. Muslim women wear it to proclaim their adherance to Islam, and even that's not a requirement. In addition, the Islamic world traditionally supported polygamous marriages (see the Saudi Royal Family), which could dull the burning need to go outside the marital contract quite nicely. On top of that, have to seen the promiscuity of Iran's underground youth, or the new "temporary marriages", which is essentially open prostitution? It's a problem in your culture too, just not as flagrant has in the West.

Now, Future's Origin is spot on in saying cheating, etc., is a symptom of being unhappy and lack of commitment in the first place. But, it's not so cut and dry. I completely agree that certain social factors that sexualize young people absolutely contribute to an increased level of promiscuity. Marriage has no real definition anymore, as Christians who preech Godly faithfulness divorce at the same rate as non-Cs, and the idea of community is disolving in the face of free market capitalism. Marriage used to be considered a divinely-influenced life-time commitment, but now it's nothing more than another contract masked by a shallow social veil. People see relationships with everyone as more fluid, and that's in large part due to enhanced communications. I don't believe, however, that any religion can or should solve this. If the West wants to retain its capitalistic attitude, the religious morality of olden days is doomed.

Although there are many interwoven issues, one top-level problem is the institutionalization of children, 'cause that's where the whole damn problem starts -- it's where the cycle reincarnates. When parents send their children to daycare at age 1 or 2 for the day, then government schools take the reigns from age 4-17, it's basically teachers and caregivers who raise the kids. Given the much touted "separation of church and state", the schools admonish themselves from a responsibility they have inadvertently inherited. The schools, as a government institution, have ripped out a massive portion of the core learning of childhood, so kids grow up with a moral and ethical hole they feel somehow compelled to fill. To compound it, as girls and boys move into their teenage years, there's no one waiting and willing to teach them what exactly it means to be a responsible adult female or male and member of their community/society. No wonder kids are so confused and imbalanced. After that attrocity, the parents *justify* it by saying they need to pay for the daycare or extra programs, hence the second job, extra shift, or more hours at the office. Once you get sucked into workaholicism, and by conseqence the extra cash, it's difficult to get out because that means living with "less" than your peers (which many consider social suicide). The kids grow up with a large hole whose filling *should* be guided by their absent parental units, so the culture fills it, and the kids learn making lots of money and buying lots of stuff (reenforced by the culture, of course) is equal if not more important that raising chidren. And the cycle continues. I'm not saying this is everyone, but there's certainly been enough of it to create a snowball effect.

My solution is to do nothing -- that is, nothing outside your family. I would suggest the parental units be they hetero-, homo-, married or partners, and their children (adopted or biological) stop worrying about what everyone else is doing and start focusing on making their familial unit stable -- financially, bodily, morally, educationally, etc. Many of a child's greatest heros should be visible within their family or immediate community, and family mentors need to be taught how to encourage and uplift younger generations. When the family is strong, the community is strong, the region is strong, and the state is thus strong. This will ultimately be resolved over the course of many generations, and evolution in consciousness. I think any other short-term fix will prompt backlash and will ultimately fail itself.