Recently, I read an article by Farrah Gray entitled Why the Other Woman Slept with your Man.
Farrah’s list includes 6 reasons she slept with your man:
- She’s Selfish
- She has no morals
- She’s psycho
- She’s accessible
- She’s just that dumb
- She’s desperate
His list had over 18200 Facebook shares. I’m assuming those who shared are the ones who have been betrayed in their relationships and want proof of the other woman’s lack of worth and to demonize her. I was shocked to see a list of such amateurish quality as it had no depth to explain our human nature nor placement of responsibility on the male partner with exception of one sentence indicating his role. ” The bottom line, though, is that your man cheated, and no matter what a piece of garbage the other woman is or what a moron she is, you still have to deal with the fact that you have a cheater on your hands.”
Fortunately, I came across another article, Ever Wonder Why Women Cheat, A Married Man Goes Undercover on Ashley Madison to Find Out by Charles J Orlando. As noted, Charles goes undercover on the married but lets have an affair website of Ashley Madison to discover what women are really seeking in the online affair game. His findings will parallel many of the points I will explain to better understand why the other woman slept with your man.
1. Women want and need attention, appreciation, and passion
When there is a longer than tolerable lapse of these needs in their current relationship or in their life in general, we will seek out ways to fulfill the gaps. At times, the seeking out will be obvious such as creating an Ashley Madison profile or it may be a sudden opportunity presenting without much forethought.
In the Huffington Post article, Jennifer Garam writes; Why I had an affair with a Married Man
“Before meeting David, I felt dead. But suddenly, I was alive, desired, and filled with passion and vitality… Overnight I went from years of celibacy to being naked on the floor of his office in the middle of the afternoon, constantly emailing and sexting, and having late-night dirty chats on Facebook. Consumed with thoughts of him, when we weren’t together I was either lost in memories, reliving every detail of every second with him, or longing for him, trying to figure out the next time we could see each other.”
She felt alive again, and that’s a main component in way we choose to have an affair. The thrill is too hard to avoid.
She goes further to explain, “This feels so good I don’t want to walk away. I just want to follow this feeling wherever it goes. I have such an overactive conscience I couldn’t even take a paperclip from work without being swamped with guilt, but for some reason entering into an affair with a married man didn’t faze me.”
As humans, we all have an erotic energy. The level of intensity of this energy varies just like our temperaments; both of which are innate aspects of who we are. When our erotic energy is out of sync, we will work to meet these needs even if it includes questionable choices with the potential for negative consequences.
You may ask – then why did she choose my man?
2. Your man showed his willingness to step out on his relationship
Men have many of the same needs as women for attention, appreciation and passion, in addition to these needs, he wants to feel like a man – capable, sexy, wanted, valued.
If the other woman shows him that he is indeed capable, sexy, wanted and valued, then the chance of crossing relationship boundaries increases. The combination of unmet needs with opportunities can equate to an affair.
Your man is the number one reason why the other woman slept with him.
He consented.
The other women is actually not the issue, because if it wasn’t her, it likely would have been someone else.
Stop blaming and demonizing her and look at what you and your partner can do to repair the relationship.
3. Choosing a married man can be safer than having a real relationship.
Married men can bring to the table: attention, passion, time, experience and create a bubble of erotic and emotional pleasure without the daily grind of household management, child raising and check book balancing.
Some women who have been in bad relationships don’t want a commitment. The woman gets the appreciation and attention they crave while knowing the man could leave at a tip of a hat.
Many women are not looking to ‘steal’ your man. They are looking for a thrill, for connection, for pleasure and if he can give it to her, she’ll take it. The chance your man will leave you for her is slim and it is even slimmer still for that relationship to last.
Some women prefer to compartmentalize their real life from their erotic life, having an affair with a married men makes this compartmentalization easy. They don’t want the daily drama, they want their space.
Most women enter affairs with married men believing it will be temporary, not attached and emotionally safe. Yet the biggest challenge is the emotions and attachment. An affair is such a deeply emotion thing even when unintended. What is a human but a bipedal ball of emotion.
Despite the desires to keep the relationship on a sexual level, emotions interfere and can cause fantasies of creating a true couple relationship. The other woman and your man have to work out the boundaries of the affair.
Remember if he chooses the other woman over you, it was his choice to leave, not the mistress, but his choice.
4. The Thrill
Dr Valerie Golden, reports in her Psychology Today article Why Women want Married Men, sneaking around has its thrills. The sex itself may be more lusty because it’s clandestine. Having sex in the married couple’s bed, for example, becomes a daring thrill, full of lust and passion, in a way not possible otherwise. Likewise, unprotected sex. The need to be secretive, sneak around undiscovered, grabbing quick sexual encounters on the fly, can be a huge turn-on in comparison to a dinner date with a single man who calls on Wednesday night for Friday. Especially for rule-breakers, it’s just more fun being naughty. And bawdy.
Some of the best sex you may have is one that includes arousal and anxiety. Since both of these experiences run down the same spinal nerve, it intensifies the feelings. Having sex with your man elicits both neurological responses.
We often want sex with people who we would never marry. Marriage material and erotic actions can at times be antithetical. Affair sex can be hot, very hot, even when we love our spouses at home.
An affair can frequently be full of fun, weekend excursions, sexting, gifts, concerts, secret rendezvous and more.
The thrill is intoxicating, to the point that even those with strong morals or values have trouble denying their carnal desires.
5. Just because she can
Yes there is a difference between the saying ‘just because you can doesn’t mean you should’ line of thinking and the ‘just go for it’ attitude. We make decisions everyday, some of them have little risk of consequences yet others are hefty in the potential for negative effects. We can make any decision we want- I can smoke a cigarette in a restaurant but I’m likely to have the consequence of being kicked out.
Affairs tend to have a high price tag. Both men and women use rationalizations that place the reward of the affair as higher than the negative consequences, as well as the ‘what they don’t know doesn’t hurt them’ adage.
Yes sleeping with your man is selfish. Your man sleeping with her – also selfish.
The language ‘My Man’ in our language and in this blog post has the connotation of ownership. We do not own people. ‘Your Man’ is actually a man that has chosen you as his partner. We cannot change or control others. Even when we want to put our claws in, claim him, and reaffirm his role in our life, it doesn’t mean he’s yours. He is only himself.
She slept with him because she could, and it was the same with him. It is not uncommon for our values and behavior to misalign at times. This does not mean the other woman is without values, morals, intelligence and worth as Farrah Gray would have you believe. It means that balancing values and behavior can be difficult. Our western society reaffirms life long monogamy with our partner and despite having the values and morals to support it, our biological nature can put a sledge hammer on our best intentions.
As Charles J Orlando hypothesizes, women who were looking for an extra marital affair with married men were looking to connect in some way and to meet their unmet needs in the current relationship. In his adventures, he found women had the strong need for connection, attention and just pure sex.
She slept with your man not because of her lack of worth or values but because:
- Our Innate Needs
- He was Open to having Sex with her
- Its Non Committal
- Thrilling
- Because She Can
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