I agree with Sperk. I tried to watch some contemporary Russian series too but I did not notice any more infidelity / divorce than in a standard European or American series.

I agree with the general point of view though. There is far too much sleeping around and disrespect for the institution of marriage. I don't think there is an easy answer to your question. People DO get hurt from all that and they have not discovered some way of disconnecting body and emotions. I think that is particularly hard for women.

Not just the adults involved. but also children affected. For example my own mother never emotionally recovered from her divorce from my father. So many kids grow up without a father in the house, or with step parents.

Of course it puts a scar on someones soul if they are "discarded" or hurt in a relationship and I don't see why it needs to be the main plot of so many films / series.

I guess fidelity is particularly hard for men in general and women also crave emotional fulfillment. If people don't get what they "need" emotionally in their marriage, they look outside of the marriage. And hundreds of thousands of films and series, magazines and experts now tell them that this is ok.

It's sad in a way.
Marriage is not for life anymore and nobody can feel safe in their marriage.

With pornography now being ubiquitous, dating sites and chat all over the internet, people get completely de-sentitised to that... Whereas in the past, it was harder to have an affair or get divorced. Perhaps people tried harder to make it work.

I am not always sure that women get quite as liberated as some imagine from sleeping around as much as some women I know do, and as womens magazines essentially encourage, at least prior to marriage.

Frankly I don't know what to believe on any of this but the demise of marriage is tragic in my view and I really don't think it's limited to Russia. I am at the age that I definitely ought to make the effort to meet a guy but I had some bad experiences and I really don't feel like it right now.

The latest development on this front (at least in Europe) is the super PC obsession with homosexuality, that it is absolutely fine and ok.... I am so sick of reading about homosexuality in media. Had no issue with it before, but it's gone too far now, with marriages and kids etc..

Most people in Europe (and Russia) are not religious, so that side of things is totally irrelevant. If anyone is religious, then what goes on around them would make them think of Sodom and Gomorra, for sure....

Christianity has a lot to say about this and with or without faith I think many people would do well to listen to some of it whether they are religious or not.