So go out and have some hot sex now! If you had opportunities before you can have them again. Enjoy the fact that you didn't lose your integrity in the marriage and didn't drag some third person into a psychodrama with your wife. Enjoy your life for what it is now. |
Only a guy thinks like that. Women are emotional creatures. If you're a woman and you do it ONE TIME specifically for revenge, then getting your rocks off is going to end up feeling empty & unfulfilling, and you'll STILL be consumed with him cheating. |
So he gets to dictate all terms of your new marriage? The old marriage died when he betrayed you. If you stay you will be building a new one (which may end up to be a better one) and that takes time. You can’t just magically begin to trust him again just b/c he says he’s sorry. It’s not fair to expect you to process the betrayal, basically be forced into staying b/c of the kids AND trust him again all in a matter of weeks or months. What do YOU need to be able to move forward? Do you need him to feel the same pain of betrayal so you feel understood? Most men divorce when their wives cheat - they can’t handle that pain. Too humiliating. IMHO if you really feel like you have to stay for the kids, then do what YOU need to do to move forward. You don’t owe him honesty until he’s earned your trust back. |
I really doubt that OP had an open, honest conversation with her DH about their “new marriage.” She is a cheater, just like him, except she thinks it’s ok because he did it first. That’s the level of emotional maturity she and many of the posters here seem to have. |
When someone cheats the monogamous contract is broken. Cheater and victim spouse then need to negotiate new sexual terms for the marriage. The victim spouse may or may not be willing to agree to continued monogamy. When someone cheats, they also break whatever trust existed and any obligation to be honest. That also needs to be negotiated. Actions have consequences - cheaters have to realize that in having broken monogamy, trust and honesty, their victim spouse may choose no longer to extend those courtesies to the cheater spouse. Honesty and trust is earned in a relationship. The cheater spouse has no right to demand that the victim spouse extend those immediately. A cheater spouse who does that is really demanding an unequal relationship - you must give me what I didn't give you. Doing this is a form of DARVO - our relationship is breaking up because YOU, victim spouse, won't be committed to it. it is reversing victim and offender. Cheating breaks the marital contract, and it is normal that the victim spouse needs a period of time to process what happened, watch the perpetrator spouses behavior, acceptance of responsibility and process of making amends. That period of time can be months or years, during which time there may or may not be a commitment to monogamy. Many may criticize a victim spouse who openly or secretly refuses continued monogamy but, honestly, what do you expect? The cheater, having lowered the bar in the marriage, can't really expect the victim spouse to hew to a standard the cheater him/herself was unable or unwilling to meet. For me, my cheater DH's expectation that I would continue to have sex with him and be monogamous with him felt very controlling and relied on getting me to continue to have sex with him as a function of my economic situation and possible custody outcomes - not exactly fully consensual. |
TL;DR: he did it first! That’s not how first grade worked and it’s not how marriage works either. |
PP you’re responding to. The other posters already pointed out that your real problem was the bad marriage. My only add is that the moral high ground is a benefit you might not feel or think of, but knowing you’re in a moral abyss is something that you always know about yourself. |
| When my ex wife cheated the idea of a revenge affair never crossed my mind as I was totally focused on ending the marriage and not stooping to her level. When the divorce was final I was surprised by how many married women make themselves available. |
Nope. I’m a woman and I wrote that. |
Oh, ewww... Honesty is for YOU, because you're an honest person. It's not some sort of bonus that needs to be earned. You're either honest or you're not. If you are, cheating and other dishonest behaviors are off the menu. If you're not, no amount of someone else being trustworthy is going to make you more honest. |
PP who posted upthread about regrets. I agree that women can and do feel this way too but also agree there can be the empty and unfulfilling aspect afterwards. |
Yep. So many cheating wives. They literally throw themselves at men. |
I really hope this is not true. Women speak so highly of themselves particularly married women. I just can't imagine that many married women cheat. Maybe 5% I doubt more than that. |
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If you define cheating as when feeling and emotions are involved, married women cheat more than married men.
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According to Katie Couric Media, 13-15% of married women cheat. That’s a pretty big number, men are over 20%. |