Secret double life
A double life is the lifestyle of a person in at least two separate and different milieus, roles, paths or other social contexts that the person at least partially deliberately conceals from other people . Corresponding to the double life, with even more parts there can be a triple (triple) , quadruple life, etc., more generally speaking, a multiple life . The more there are, the more time-consuming and complicated it becomes to separate them from one another.
One life plan is accepted by the environment, the other is not and is therefore kept secret. This may be necessary for work-related reasons ( agent , spy , undercover agent ), due to criminal as well as behavior or characteristics that deviate from the social norm , which can have stigmatizing effects (e.g. unemployment , sexual orientation or preference , diseases such as bulimia , dependency syndrome or hypersexuality , parallel relationships such as restricted triangular relationships , extramarital relationships or bigamy ). A double life can also be based on the desire for self-realization or recognition, which cannot be fulfilled in "normal" life, for example as a writer under a pseudonym . Furthermore, one can differentiate between life strands that are kept secret on one side (e.g. affairs ) and ways of life that are kept secret on both sides (e.g. bigamy).
An uncovered multiple life regularly triggers a scandal in the deceived milieu, with celebrities in the media , especially in the rainbow press . If the exposed person has previously publicly disapproved of what he secretly allowed himself to do, he usually has to put up with the accusation of hypocrisy . Because of the dramatic contrast, art, literature and film have always portrayed people who lead a double life, but also because they can be used to denounce the double standards in society.
literature
- Stefan Schubert: Violence is a solution Policeman in the morning, hooligan in the evening - my secret double life, 7th edition, riva Verlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-86413-005-2 .
- Alex and Maja Demian: When loyalty sins. An experience report, Books of Demand, Norderstedt 2013, ISBN 978-3-732-26203-8 .