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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Boyfriend on swinging site :'(

113 replies

noplacelikehome · 02/07/2011 10:57

I'm sitting here in tears. I can't talk to anyone in RL about this as it's too personal. I desperately need advice.
What would you do if you found your boyfriend had an active profile on a swinging site?
I know the answer is to question him about it but I don't know how to broach it without bursting into tears. I can't find the words to say.
I only discovered it yesterday. We've been together for 12 months and hardly ever have sex as he struggles with erections...in light of this discovery, this problem is seemingly only with me although he's said time and again it's not me, what am I supposed to think now?
I have been patient and understanding re lack of sex and have told him to tell me if there's anything I could do to help.
I've encouraged him to be open with me.
On this site it says he's happily single and looking to bring fantasies to life.
He's never mentioned any of this to me but he knows I'd do anything he asked.
I was so happy til I found this but now I'm heartbroken .
Why is he doing this?
He doesn't know I know so where do I start?
I can't just ignore it but am frightened of what I'll hear if I start asking questions.
Any advice would be appreciated.

OP posts:
GypsyMoth · 02/07/2011 12:42

can you monitor it for a while.....just to see?

UnhappyLizzie · 02/07/2011 12:43

Don't torture yourself with horrible imaginings.

I'm logging out now, will check in again later. Keep us posted.

Final thought: however hurt and angry you are, fgs don't lash out at him and give it the old 'why can't you get it up with me, but you are seeking sex with strangers' etc. Try to be gentle about it, if he gets defensive you will not get any truth and honesty and things will be shattered.

You value this man and you need to know if you can work through this together or move on. There are people on here who will just say he is a lying, cheating twat but life and people are more complicated than that.

Smile
buzzsore · 02/07/2011 12:55

You need to decide whether this is something you can work through, whether you would be able to trust him not to resume and whether you want to. It might be better to cut your losses. He doesn't sound such a great catch and he doesn't sound like he's that into you.

Ganshee · 02/07/2011 12:56

If he's been a long term member of this site, it is possible that he was on this site before he met you. Swinging can be viewed comically by a lot of people and it could be that he hasn't told you because he's embarassed by it.

Are you certain that he has never hinted about this at all during the time you've been together?

It will be interesting to find out what he says and how he reacts to the confrontation.

You will need to do it at some point but try to be initially supportive and not hostile until you have seen the truth. It may be that he is a member of this site and enjoys the communication but hasn't actively been involved in swinging (even if just since meeting you).

If he has nothing to hide, Im sure he wont mind showing you his correspondence on the site.

noplacelikehome · 02/07/2011 12:56

Thanks Lizzie. No I certainly do not want to come over aggressively.
Like you say, that would probably be the end :(
This is why I'm lost as to how to start the conversation.
It seems there's a lot of it about. Since I created that profile for myself yesterday I've had 85 messages from men offering no strings "fun".
All this Internet sex is another world to me.
I've not replied to any of them, nor will I be doing but I was shocked to see so many messages in such a short time.
It makes you wonder who else is at it.
Who can we trust? :(

OP posts:
buzzsore · 02/07/2011 12:57

I mean, you're only a year into this - it shouldn't be this hard.

GypsyMoth · 02/07/2011 12:59

its not actually a 'swingers' site at all,just somewhere to get guaranteed sex

mainly single people it seems

noplacelikehome · 02/07/2011 13:00

I know buzzsore. I'm devastated.
It's bringing back all the awful feelings of when my husband told me he was leaving me for another woman, although we'd been together a lot longer and had kids.
I feel sick and can't eat.

OP posts:
GypsyMoth · 02/07/2011 13:02

it has a chat and webcam option too. Sad

noplacelikehome · 02/07/2011 13:08

Yes Tiffany. It's got swingers in the title and there are couples on there but like you say, it's got plenty of singles on it too just looking for sex.
Seems it's a bit of a free for all.
That one message I can see on his profile is from a woman who said they'd met for a drink and what a lovely guy he is.
Says they didn't have sex but she would like to.
I felt like posting and saying yeah so would I and I bet I've been waiting longer than you haha!
I'm not in the mood for laughing really but when you're so fed up sometimes you've got to try to inject a bit of humour or you'd go mad.
I'm not finding anything remotely funny about this but am trying to appear cheerful in RL as I have the children with me.

OP posts:
noplacelikehome · 02/07/2011 13:13

Has it tiffany? I hadn't noticed that :(
Oh God knows what they get up to on there.
I can see his profile pic but it says he's also got 4 private pics viewable by accepted friends only.
They'll probably be pics of his cock won't they?
All I've eaten today is my fingernails.
I've chewed them all off and I haven't done that in years.
They were beautiful. Lovely and long and all equal length.
Not any more.

OP posts:
noplacelikehome · 02/07/2011 17:01

Oh God he's coming round tonight.
I'm so tempted to take the easy option and say nothing but this will continue to upset me and it's not going to go away is it?
How do I start the conversation without being confrontational?
We've never had a row and I don't want to start now :(

OP posts:
buzzsore · 02/07/2011 17:17

Well I don't think you should pretend it hasn't happened, that way madness lies. Of course it's not going to go away, it'll eat you up inside.

Tel him what you told us, you were looking up his user-name to look at the message-board he'd told you about, and this swinging site appeared in the results. You were naturally intrigued and you want to know why he's got a profile on there. You know it's him cos he's got photos up.

If he says it's an old one he hasn't used since he's been with you, you know he's a liar.

You are entitled to be angry and hurt about this.

noplacelikehome · 02/07/2011 17:22

You're right buzzsore. I wonder if he didn't get a better offer for tonight and that's why he's coming round here.
I've had no reason not to trust him before but now every time he says he's going somewhere I'll be wondering if he is where he says he is or if he's meeting someone.
Like I said, I keep checking that damn site and he's been showing online a lot today :(

OP posts:
GypsyMoth · 02/07/2011 17:33

Use the chat facility to message him when he's online, make a date for tonight

Honey trap, but that's what I'd do to cure the 'he's not had a better offer' idea!!

Feel so sorry for you

NotDavidTennant · 02/07/2011 17:39

noplacelikehome, did you accompany your DP when he went to the GP? Was it definitely established that his problem is physical? The combination of the fact that he struggles to maintatin erections when you're together and is seeking out no strings sex and sharing fantasies with random strangers on the internet rather than sharing those fantasies with you, his own DP, suggest to me that he may have some serious sexual hang ups.

The fact he has already been hiding things from you also wouldn't fill me with confidence that you will get total honesty and full disclosure when you confront him. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if he gave you some cock and bull story about it all being due to his erection problems, and him seeing if he could get it up with other women, but he wouldn't have gone all the way, honest.

My advice is that, before you confront him, you need to be clear in your own mind what you want the outcome to be. Is the relationship salvageable? Could you ever trust him again? And if so, what are your conditions? Obviously you will be insisting on him getting off the swinging site, but I suspect the problems are deeper then that, and he is going to have to confront the issues that have caused him to behave this way and seek outside help, and not just Viagra. If the issue is swept under the carpet then it is only going to rear its ugly head again, and next time you're going to have even more invested in the realtionship and even more to lose.

kalo12 · 02/07/2011 17:43

i know you feel very hurt and crushed by this but take a step back and look at your life objectively, - you don't have a good sex life with him and he tells lies. Is this what you want in a relationship? / in your life?

UnhappyLizzie · 02/07/2011 18:23

Hello again

So you are seeing him tonight. I get ILoveTIFFANY's suggestion, but I wouldn't do that. If he bites you will still need to have the conversation and you will just be much more upset.

Sorry about your nails Sad

I too am shocked by these sites, I'm unhappily married and I went on one a couple of days ago - first time - put up a profile because it was the only way I could have a look. I was appalled to get 140+ messages on first day, and by the number of people seeking threesomes, orgies, anal sex etc, effectively with strangers. You are right it is another world and it kind of horrifies me, I really wouldn't want anything to do with it. I'm desperate to get my profile off the site but have to do this by telephone [embarrassed]

Anyway, aside from that, how do you approach this issue with him?

I'm with buzzsore - tell the truth, what you told us. This is exactly what I would do/say: Tell him there is something you need to talk to him about, and you are upset about it. Explain exactly how you stumbled on his profile on the site - the link came up, you weren't snooping etc. Tell him that it's knocked you for six because you thought you had a good relationship with him that he was committed to.

Don't say too much at once. Say what I've written above or something along those lines, then keep quiet and let him respond. You are better off making statements than asking questions at first. Eg say 'I don't know where this leaves me' rather than 'where does this leave me?'

See what he says and go from there - make use of silence, if you keep quiet he will have to try to explain himself. Give him plenty of time to respond. If he obviously lies you can tell him what you know. Nothing wrong with tellng him you put a profile on there either. Your curiosity is natural and you can say it was the only way you could check to see if it was really him because you couldn't believe it.

I think questions I would be curious to know the answers to would be...

-how he feels about you having found this out
-whether he wanted you to find it out
-what kind of relationship he wants to have with you

I wouldn't throw the erection difficulties card at him, but I might be inclined to say that it's a bit shattering for you to have been patient and worked through this problem with him and then find him on a site like this.

I really wish you luck, it's not a nice situation to be in but try and keep a cool head and an open mind. Try and keep it as neutral as you can, try not to feel like a victim.

NotDavidTennant has talked much sense.

noplacelikehome · 03/07/2011 11:13

Thanks for all your replies yesterday. They were very helpful and certainly gave me food for thought.
However, I chickened out of questioning him last night.
We had a lovely evening, watched a DVD and had wine.
I couldn't find the words to start and am scared because once I've said something it can't be unsaid and we are going on holiday in a few weeks.
We're all looking forward to it and I don't want to spoil that.
I am going to monitor this site situation and, now that I am aware,
see what else crops up over the coming days / weeks.
I will have to say something one of these days though.
Saying we had a lovely evening, however, when we went to bed I initiated sex and we played around for a bit but when he came to enter me he went soft :(
God knows why this keeps happening.
He got really upset and frustrated with himself again and kept apologising. It really upsets me when he says things like he hates himself and that he doesn't feel like a man because of it :(
I reassured him as I always do that I'm not going anywhere and that we will keep working on it together but it's very frustrating for us both and neither of us seem to know why it's happening.
Anyone any advice apart from pills as we've tried them to no avail :(

OP posts:
FabbyChic · 03/07/2011 11:37

Honey whilst you are not saying anything he may be meeting with other women and having sex, whilst he is doing that any sexual contact you and him have leaves you open to disease that he might catch elsewhere.

YOu cannot leave this until you have been on holiday, you have to say something because whilst you do not he is just taking the piss out of you.

Just tell him you were googling for a post of his and you found him on a swingers site, ask him what it is about.

buzzsore · 03/07/2011 12:26

I'm sorry, noplace, but you're going to let your self-esteem be driven into the ground by not challenging him. What would you say to a friend of yours who was putting up with this - afraid to talk to her bloke about him possibly cheating, thinking she was his second-best, his fall-back if he didn't get a better offer, and still trying to make a relationship out of it? Wouldn't you think she was worth more than that? Why don't you think more of yourself?

msshapelybottom · 03/07/2011 12:27

OP, I think you need to ask yourself why you are willing to stay in a relationship where you don't have satisfying sex life and your partner may or may not be meeting people for sex. The fact that you are too scared of "losing" him by asking him what he's up to speaks volumes...where is your self respect?

As an aside, people often are unable to properly love other people when they hate themselves.

Relationships shouldn't be this much hard work, really.

UnhappyLizzie · 03/07/2011 13:22

noplacelikehome, my sex life is similar at the moment. What you describe is so familiar. I always have to initiate it, he gets an erection then loses it at the crucial moment. I have given up tbh, I am so upset about it (it has been going on a while, we've been married a long time and have lot of problems). Can't face keep initiating it because I feel unwanted, but I know it's not that, he's always telling me how attractive he finds me.

I want to end my marriage (not just because of this, no way) but sex has become a huge battleground.

I'm really sorry you are in this position and know how hard it is, but tbh I am not sure about the working through this together. I feel for you because you clearly love him and want it to work.

Not being horrible, but I'm surprised you didn't tackle the website issue, burying your head in the sand will make it fester; it will get worse not better. That said, keeping an eye on it is a good idea, and of course you don't want a shitty holiday for you or your kids.

Re working through dp's erection problems, I really don't think it's a joint problem. I'm not unsympathetic, but this, coupled with his use of this site suggests to me he has issues he needs to work through on his own. I think counselling, not pills are the answer. If there is nothing physiologically wrong, pills could only help him to get his confidence back - that might work to eliminate the problem longer term, but it wouldn't help with underlying emotional/psychological factors.

My dh has had erection problems all his life, in fact it's been less with me than anyone else from what he's told me. He had these problems at the beginning of our relationship, tied up with guilt about previous relationships I think (before me, he dumped every single one). He also had a lot of issues with his (late) father, who undermined him and made him feel useless all the time.

Anyway, these problems have resurfaced again. It sounds awful, but I feel I can't deal with it any more. There's been a lot of water under the bridge - hostility, grown apart etc - and I no longer find him attractive.

I'm not saying abandon this poor man because he can't manage penetrative sex, but I just think it's his problem, not both of yours. He needs to address it and sort it out, all you can do is be sympathetic and patient - if you want to.

I'm scared that this has undermined your self esteem and you will stay in this relationship because you don't think you deserve better, even if he does use that awful site. I'm scared he'll spin you a story you want to believe and you'll believe it, even if you don't really.

Look after yourself OP, my view is that he needs counselling, and you might benefit from some too, or to talk this through with someone impartial in RL.

Take care

FabbyChic · 03/07/2011 13:31

If you wont mention it arrange to meet him through the site, then turn up so you will then know what he is capable of.

GypsyMoth · 03/07/2011 15:52

Well I would fabby.

There's a softly softly attitude on here with people thinking he may have valid reasons for this kind of thing. It's crap.

He's having his cake and eating it.

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