ABSTRACT
Many Vietnamese men have extramarital relationships, and these relationships signify an important component of Vietnamese masculinity and reinforce male privileges. In addition, these relations often facilitate male bonding as part of everyday social life. While husbands generally claim their behavior is not infidelity, extramarital relations continue to be a public secret. Vietnamese men are facing significant role strain as wives become better educated, more independent, contribute greater amounts to the family income, and object to their husbands’ extramarital relations. This has resulted in differences in extramarital behavior by urban and rural husbands. This chapter presents a typology of extramarital relationships in Vietnam and discusses the gender relations in the context of the Vietnamese social constructions of masculinity, femininity, and male and female sexuality.
