to suspect that the % of men who cheat is way way higher than most of us realise

[soontobedivorced]

I have a friend who works in a very male-dominated work environment and sometimes they forget she is there. Boys talk and last week she told me that out of 20 of them, all married, 18 have mistresses and they are quite open about it between themselves. She was warned about the men before she started the job - in her boss's words: "they'll love you...be careful".

I'm (almost) divorced and been on dating sites for a year now and have been propositioned by many many men who openly admit they are married, and these are just the ones that admit it. Usually you can tell because they have no picture on their public profile.

I've been shocked by the amount of cheating that goes on, I must be so naive, I had no idea it was this bad, and its made me really pessimistic about finding a future partner. On the sites I just get messaged by guys who just want sex, guys who are married, guys who are odd, guys who are mentally ill. Internet dating just seems be be a massive hook-up site now and no-one seems to have a shred of moral fibre, its a nightmare.

worra because they are behaving badly and they know it. same reason why no man on here would ever own up to infidelity, he'd get lynched!

Have you just stepped out of the 1950's?

Sorry but I find that attitude really sexist.

Flip it on it's head for a minute.

When women behave badly and discuss it at work, they shouldn't do it in front of a male colleague in case it offends his little masculine ears?

she's young, blonde and pretty and he knew they would be all over her.

interestingly, I had a job interview last week. waiting to hear. I did some background research on the company. every current employee and all past employees (admittedly its a SME so not many staff) are tall slim with long blonde hair. no men. male boss with a harem. I kid you not. I'm not saying he's having it off with any of them, but it goes to show there is an undercurrent of sex wherever you go.

No, neither (name is because whole family are southpaws).

I've never heard women discuss any bad behaviour at work

I think they must all hang out together in small enclaves then. I know my DH wouldn't support or collude with any of his best mates cheating on their wives - he'd be desperately conflicted and although he probably wouldn't tell the wife he certainly wouldn't be laughing and joking about it. Even the one friend of his whose ex-wife was awful.

I have many male friends and hang out with a lot of them in male environments related to a sport I do and they all respect their wives, I am not saying they would never ever ever cheat but if they did it would be a big thing and not something to be laughing and joking casually about.

or anybody for that matter.

(Ah. Just google the flower! Thought you had named yourself after Cicero's tutor, which would be quite hard to live up to now I think about it...)

A blue chip retail company? Well I'd be advising your friend to make an appointment with the hear of HR.

No one should be working in an environment where the men "will be all over" you.

Sounds a horrible place to work and not at all typical.

OTOH, it's a bit like those big gangs of men who all go off to Thailand together. YKWIM. I think it's weird to see so many of them going along with it in a pack - but it's pack mentality that makes it OK.

I work in an extremely male environment. I know it's true, but it is often opportunistic shags.

Long-term affairs are less common.

At the very least five of them are bullshitting. Probably more.

Worra, no ones saying it's right, it's about how things usually are.

I think the percentage is higher in men and women than would normally be realised. And always has been. If a person finds out their partner is having an affair and they can hardly believe it as they were perfectly happy. Then it does make you wonder how many people are having affairs and manage to hide them from their partners.

Well I suppose it depends on what circles you mix in.
I worked in a team of 14 at my last job. Equal split of men and women. I have never cheated on my dh. And I think that none of the others had. We did discuss these things on work days out and all said they had not.
I now work in a team of 7. Aagin equal split of men and women. I am not sure about 2 but I think 4 of us have not.
None of my close female friends have cheated. As far as I know and we have discussed this.

So statistically we go completely against the norm. But how is that possible?

Yes I too think there is a big difference between "men talk" and the actual doing. Same as on the internet - isn't it full of men who think they are having an affair because they persuade a woman to send them sexy emails? So many men I know really struggled to find one woman, never mind a mistress as well.

I also suspect that groups of sleazy men clump together, theres safety (and perhaps some success) in numbers.

One thing I've noticed - never believe the stuff sleazy men come out with.

YANBU but I'm fairly sure women are the same. Women keep it much quieter than men - I think this is why society believes women are more faithful; we're more careful!

Also agree that some working environments normalise it - my old industry certainly did - but I'm afraid I think this simply means it's more openly discussed at work, not that it somehow forces cheating on its members.

At my last job there was a handful of long-term couples - of 10, 20 years standing - who were married to other people.

I have a male friend who I would have bet my life would never cheat on his gf. Lovely bloke, very loyal.

After he and his gf split up after 5 years he came round for a cuppa and was all depressed. He said their sex life had gone down hill the past year or so, but it hadnt mattered as he was shagging a girl at work.

My face >>>

He looked and said well obviously he would shag someone else if he wasn't getting any sex at home!?

Me >>> again.

He said nearly every bloke he knew had cheated on their gf at least once, and gave me examples.

So much more common than I ever thought....

I should have added that the industry provided excellent circumstances for cheating. I think this 'helps' - cheating in nice bars, restaurants and hotels feels more valid that having to grab a knee-trembler in the store cupboard!

yes. From what I would hear from XP (telling me about his mates who shag around, drunk after nights out not full blown affairs) I suspect it is higher than some people realise.

Obviously XP dropped himself in it a bit as I'm pretty certain he was shagging around too.

I think the percentage of people that cheat is higher than we would like to admit. Of course it is. I have known more women cheats than men tbh, probably just because its generally much easier for a woman to find a sexual partner than a guy in general

EEeuuw, Nessun! The entitled penis, much?

I've got to say it's so common, ime, I don't consider the odd one-nighter a dealbreaker. I've come unstuck with this, though, so now I say I wouldn't tolerate it although I'm lying. (No, that's not a good basis for a relationship!)

I worked somewhere once and when Christmas approached they asked me which of the men I'd got my eye on for the Christmas party. I was a bit puzzled and said i had a boyfriend. To which they laughed and reminded me they were married. They also told me which of the men were off limits (i.e. already 'taken' by them).

It transpired that the women hooked up with the same men from the next office every year at the Christmas party. It was "nothing serious" but they all looked forward to the annual hook up and all did it.

Needless to say, I didn't go on the Christmas night out.

After finding out that my husband was capable of it, I would now caution anyone who says that their husband definitely wouldn't have an affair. I think the only reason people have believed me when I've told them about it is because it's such an outrageously ridiculous thing to say about him that no one would believe me so why would I say it, unless it was true...

The majority are probably lying to fit in. The same as men will lie about how many sexual partners they have had.

I actually think the % of women who cheat is far higher than thought.

The description about the number of men (as opposed to people) cheating, and the description of offices where Men "forget there's a woman present" and the description of offices of women who never discuss "bad behaviour" are all completely alien to me.

I'm male, I have male friends, very few of them cheat, just like few of the female friends I know cheat.
I'm male, I work in offices, the discussions don't change because there are women present - they may change because particular individuals are present, but they're as likely to be male as female.
I've worked with women who are as likely to discuss "bad behaviour" with me as men, I've seen no difference between the sexes in this, people chat with their friends about all sorts.

People in offices who boast about conquests etc. are pitied, not anything else. Perhaps I'm in the wrong industry, but that's my experience.

Wrong industry?

I loved my job, actually. The fact that many other people loved it for different reasons doesn't affect my enjoyment. I agree some of the remarks above are unfairly sexist.