**TL;DR: _Not_ confessing to a one-night stand prioritises your feelings and choices over your partner’s** I think that if you cheat on your partner in a monogamous relationship, you are obligated to tell them about it, even if it is just a “one-time” thing. If you are in a committed relationship with one person, you have agreed to certain terms and conditions just as you would in a contract. If you steal money at work, even if you only do it once, you are breaching the terms of your employment contract - I apply this principle to relationships too. If my partner had a one-night stand, I would consider it cheating and a breach of our relationship. I would want and expect them to tell me about their infidelity so that I am given autonomy. By confessing to a one-night stand, an unfaithful partner gives their faithful partner the power of choice: whether to end the relationship as a result of this breach of trust, or to work on repairing the relationship together. If you hide your infidelity from your partner, you take this autonomy away from them – by acting as if nothing has happened, you dictate your partner’s choice in order to continue your relationship. I believe that both partners in a relationship have a right to make their own choices. Choosing not to confess to a one-night stand means that the unfaithful partner prioritises their own autonomy and feelings over their partner’s: this is a selfish act. Some people argue that [confessing to a one-night stand causes unnecessary pain](https://www.you.co.uk/when-to-tell-your-partner-youve-cheated/) to the faithful partner, as this potentially meaningless one-time event has the capacity to ruin an otherwise happy relationship. However, [a study by the University of Denver](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-017-1018-1) has found that someone who has cheated once in a relationship is three times as likely to cheat again. I think that confessing to a one-night stand immediately not only allows your partner the freedom to react how they see fit, but also gives you both the opportunity to address the problems in your relationship and prevent further infidelity and harm.

I think if otherwise happy and it has occurred, while on a break from the real world, which the cheater is confident certain they will not repeat, then I think it is selfish to confess to a one off encounter. For instance, it can happen if you go on holiday that you get carried away by the atmosphere and drink to find yourself waking up with someone you don't know. Once you know you have that weakness, then you need to avoid, getting yourself in a similar situation. However it happens more than once you have a problem and need to confess the problem to your partner.

**TL;DR** - **In a hyper-masculine environment, confessing to a one-night stand is selfish bragging** It is a sad reality that bragging of sexual exploits remains an aspect of male behaviour, although it must be stressed that this does not occur amongst all groups of men. A particular element of this is bragging about one-night stands as it serves to build social capital amongst others in the group. In fine, social status can be directly linked to the number of sexual partners. To that end, admitting to a one-night is selfish if it is done with intention of increasing one's own social status.

**Tl;dr: It depends on the circumstance of the individual if the act is selfish or not.** I can see both sides of the argument here. I think that if you're in a committed relationship, then confessing to a one night stand is definitely the right thing to do. If you're in this situation, and you do otherwise, the only person you're really protecting is yourself, and the act of not telling your partner is the selfish action here. However, if you aren't in a relationship, and you just confess to a one night stand to gain social respect, or to boost your ego, then I think that it is selfish. By doing this, you are disrespecting the other person involved and treating them as a number, rather than a person.

**TLDR unclear phrasing** The term “one night stand” does not imply infidelity or chastity or relationship status, merely a single-occasion sexual fling. ‘Confessing’ then doesn’t apply; am I going to *shamefully confess* to my friends I took that cute redhead home? Not really. If you *had* a one-night stand while in a committed, monogamous relationship, the confessing wouldn’t be selfish, it would be the violation of trust that would be selfish. Sentence is jumbled and unclear.