Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
No, I've never been the other woman (for obvious reasons) but I have been the other man.
I never regarded my role as being a homewrecker. In fact I know that I helped to keep her marriage intact - a marriage that had previously been heading for the rocks - by making it tolerable for her.
If being the other man/woman means that your married lover is the only one in your life, it's not a situation I would recommend. It gets extremely difficult when married person cancels out on a planned meet at the last moment because something has cropped up at home, when married lover and spouse go off on holiday together (a luxury you've never had), and you have days or even weeks at a time to imagine what might be going on between them at home.
No, I've never been the other woman (for obvious reasons) but I have been the other man.
I never regarded my role as being a homewrecker. In fact I know that I helped to keep her marriage intact - a marriage that had previously been heading for the rocks - by making it tolerable for her.
If being the other man/woman means that your married lover is the only one in your life, it's not a situation I would recommend. It gets extremely difficult when married person cancels out on a planned meet at the last moment because something has cropped up at home, when married lover and spouse go off on holiday together (a luxury you've never had), and you have days or even weeks at a time to imagine what might be going on between them at home.
As I have said before on other threads, there is a difference between "making love" and "sex for fun". If you enter into a committed, love making relationship with someone other than your partner I can see how it could wreck a marriage, but a little (or a lot) of sex for fun with anyone other than your partner is just that "sex for fun" and shouldn't be a problem for either party.
The term homewrecker is inaccurate.
A man who won't be faithful to his wife is the homewrecker, not the woman he cheats with.
The woman is still an accessory if she knows about the situation.
That is why you both have to agree to having sex with others outside of your marriage for it to work.The divorce statistics for adultery suggest that it is a problem. Just because sex for fun wouldn't bother you doesn't mean that everyone shares your view. Everyone's different.
If I were to have sex with someone else I personally wouldn't want to mess with a married woman. If she's separated that's one thing but to screw around knowing she's in a committed relationship is just wrong in my eyes. Doesn't matter what shape their relationship is in. The sneaking behind the others back bothers me with either sex.
To play devil's advocate:
For some people, of course, such as those who want a no strings attached relationship, a married woman (or man as appropriate) who seeks sexual variety but who doesn't want to end their marriage is ideal.
I know of a couple of people whose spouses have suffered from major disabilities or severe long-term illnesses that rule out sex. There is no question of them leaving their spouses but they do want a sexual relationship. A married person who also wants an NSA arrangement is ideal in such circumstances.
That, of course, is an extreme example, perhaps, but there are many people who, for one reason or another, do not want an attached relationship but prefer to have their own lives, while, at the same time, enjoying female company. A married person is much less likely to become proprietorial, expect me to act as 'partner', or suggest that they want to move in with me. And if I don't believe in marriage, is there any reason why I should be bound by its mores?
![]()
As to your last sentence I would say the key isn't whether or not you believe in marriage but whether you believe a person should keep their commitments...
That is not, in my view, a matter for me, only the person concerned. It is irrelevant what I believe or not. Only the person concerned can judge what is right and it is none of my business to do their thinking or believing for them.
Having said that, I did once turn down an opportunity to be the other man because I knew the boyfriend involved (always a bad idea) and he and she had only just entered into major financial commitments. All and sundry would have been screwed if it had gone pear-shaped. I don't think you were talking about that sort of commitment though.
Agreed. It is not a matter for you to decide. I was responding to your point where you said "if I don't believe in marriage, why should I be bound by its mores." And my point was that the fact that you aren't the one who made the commitment is the relevant point - not whether or not you believe in marriage...
I think we're both coming to the same destination even if our routes are a bit different.
My twin points, I think, are that, firstly, I didn't make the commitment and therefore I don't feel bound by it and, secondly, I'm not going to regard a marriage commitment as binding in the same way as I would if I believed in marriage. The same applies in so many fields. If I'm not religious, will I regard someone's commitment to pray or go to mass twice a day as important? To me it's no more important than a commitment to have at least one egg for breakfast but it's up to the person concerned to decide.
People, being human beings, frequently make commitments that they find they cannot keep for one reason or another. The sub-prime mortgage crash of 2008 and its global effects are a case in point and it is at least arguable that the costs of that in human misery have far outweighed any comparable breach of marriage commitments.