[wrmdtivk] Deception for courtship and for power

Which social institutions exist to aid deception in the dating and mating game?

One famous one is privacy, for example prohibiting the government (and other people) from surveillance in our bedrooms or learning what videos we rent from the video store.

However, those same institutions can be subverted -- used for purposes not originally intended -- to gain or maintain power.  Much exercise of power is not transparent, cloaked in secrecy, sometimes in the name of privacy.