The workplace affair needs a new ending
The story of a powerful male leader who sleeps with a subordinate never fails to titillate the masses. There seems to be a pre-existing template for how this narrative normally plays out, particularly in the media. An innocuous artifact, in Petraeus’s case an email, triggers a chain reaction that quickly unravels, forcing the female lead into role of home-wrecker or lady scorned. The male protagonist often comes across as tragically flawed or an egomaniac who lives by his own rules. Since an extra-marital affair in our current social context translates into an error of judgment, the ending inevitably includes public humiliation and resignation. This narrative needs to change.
