Vice usually emerges from a series of small permissions and self-deceptions that gather steam.

I had been with my boyfriend, Tyler, for almost 10 years when we finally agreed that we should get engaged and married. Up until then, our respective jobs – mine as an academic, his as a fisherman – had forced us to endure long stretches apart.

But I had been offered a permanent academic job teaching philosophy in Florida. Tyler said he was willing to start a business there. It seemed like the beginning of a new, stable chapter of our lives.

Originally published on theconversation.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.