:ThAtSo: Of course you are at a loss: all you re doing is repeating your opinion, "it's still an affair," meaning "in my opinion it is illicit."  But this is an encyclopedia article, and therefore it is limited to statements of fact, without statements of opinion.  Look: if thirty years ago someone proposed to chage "Oscar Wilde was a faggot" to "Oscar Wilde was a homosexual," someone would have pointed out "he still was a faggot."  The difference is that "faggot" by its connotations expresses an opinion as well as a fact, while "homosexual," though longer, and at the time less widely used, expresses the same fact without also stating an opinion.  Similarly, "affair" states both a fact and an opinion; "romantic relationship," although longer and less widely used, states the fact without the opinion.  And for that reason, only the latter wording is acceptable in an encyclopedia article.  .