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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

would a straight man ever say he is bisexual?

61 replies

tuffinmop · 27/01/2013 22:08

My DH has had a big issue with online sex (online woman, chat rooms, camming, porn etc) He has been into counselling and I am now embarking on it myself.
We are still together for now. We may be able to rebuild trust, as yet I don't know. One thing that keeps coming back into my mind is when I found his account left open at cam4 (live porn).
It looks a bit like facebook, you have a profile and "friends" his profile said bisexual and about half of his friends were gay men. I obviously said you must be bisexual then??? He says no, he put that on his profile so he could watch more couples as its more acceptable.

so would a straight man say he was bi? or am I right to be suspicious?

OP posts:
TDada · 29/01/2013 23:23

Bi-sexuals can be in love/married to women, can't they?

GoSuckEggs · 29/01/2013 23:36

DH and I are on a 'swingers' site. DH is very slightly BI, he has no experience but does find some men attractive. He puts himself as 'straight' on these sites, even though he is slightly BI.

I don't think it is more acceptable to be 'BI' instead of straight, it certainly isn't on the 'sex sites' that we are on.

saying that I am not a gay man, but I LOVE gay porn. I don't know why, but it really turns me on! Blush

mathanxiety · 30/01/2013 00:00

Anyone can be married to a woman. Except another woman in a lot of places.

SolidGoldBrass · 30/01/2013 00:05

People who are bisexual can also be faithful longterm monogamous partners. They are just aware that they could have fallen in love with a partner of the other sex and should their current relationship end, the possibility of a partner of the same/opposite sex is open to them. Just as heterosexual people can be monogamous - and if a relationship ends, be monogamous with another partner later on.

I think the OP's main problem is that her husband is not monogamous and doesn't want to be.

mathanxiety · 30/01/2013 05:05

And is doing her head in by being less than honest about it.

FellatioNels0n · 30/01/2013 05:09

OP. I am only up to your post of 13.14 on Monday so far, but everything you have said so far is screaming 'closet gay' to me. I'm sorry.

FellatioNels0n · 30/01/2013 05:10

I mean closet gay as opposed to a bisexual man, or a bi-curious man, or a straight man pretending to be bi so he can access live hetero 'couples' sex, which sounds like a very dubious excuse to me.

FellatioNels0n · 30/01/2013 05:39

OK, read the whole thread now. I think he is gay. I think he has always been gay. I imagine his counsellor knows he is gay. And even if he is merely bi, his need to explore that side of his sexuality is ruining your marriage. In fact it has never been a normal marriage, has it, in the sexual sense? Some bi people can, I'm sure, be very happy in the partnership they have, without needing to be unfaithful or to access endless porn to satiate that opposite side of their sexuality. Being bi does not give you an automatic entitlement to behaving like a selfish twat in a relationship does it? It's not a reason to make your partner feel wretched and unhappy. Just because you have a sexual yearning of whatever sort, doesn't mean you get to indulge it at the expense of your spouse's emotional wellbeing.

But being gay (unlike being bi) cannot be ignored in the same way, to preserve the relationship you have. It's a whole other ball-game. It's about being true to yourself. If, deep down there is no part of you that has ever really wanted to have sex with your hetero partner, and you fantasise constantly about having gay sex, then you are never going to be sexually fulfilled in the relationship you have - because clearly you are not Bi. You are gay, and living a lie.

He needs to start being honest with himself, and with you - your whole marriage has been a bit of sham by the sounds of things. Sad I really do think you would both be so much happier if you could encourage him to acknowledge that he is gay, and work towards an amicable split asap. The truth with set you free. But he might be paralysed with fear, and it might mean that you may just have to leave him before that can happen. He's in a cosy place of denial right now - why would he change a thing when you are so amenable to helping him live his lie?

You obviously have a deep friendship, otherwise this weird sex life and all the other stuff that goes with it would have driven you apart long ago, so there is no reason to think that your break-up could not be a peaceful and civilised one, that is a happy release for all concerned. I'm sure the children can emerge well-balanced and unscathed if you handle it correctly.

But it's time for you both to live the life and have the relationship you deserve.

tuffinmop · 30/01/2013 11:38

maths firstly thank you so much for sharing your experience. You sound like an amazingly strong person and it sounds like you have had an awful lot to deal with. I think alot about the affect of this on my dc's. They are young though, my eldest is 5 next month, my middle son 3 and a half and my whoops baby girl is 18 months and the most wonderful whoops, so no regrets.

I just keep coming back to the fact that if I know that the trust has gone what is the point on keeping on trying? I am 38 in March so still relatively young and maybe splitting up when they are younger is the best thing for them. I may have to give up work (my inlaws do my childcare - not sure how they will react), and I am sure I will be financially shafted, But this is eating me up.

I saw my counsellor yesterday and told her everything, even she seemed shocked! BTW my counsellor is also his counsellor and the plan is to go couple counselling in time. She told me that she can help me to deal with my anger and learn to let it go, but she also said that anger is a tool to keep you strong if you are going to seperate. "I don't want help you to diminish your anger if you are going to need it" mmmmmm... I think I have not been in tune with my emotions for a long time, since my darling mum died suddenly 6 years ago. Its time to put me first.
tada ofcourse bisexual people can love deeply and be faithful. That is not the issue. I do not wish to be lied to.

OP posts:
tuffinmop · 30/01/2013 11:44

felationelson thanks for your outlook and taking the time to read. I am leaning towards the gay scenario too. I doubt very much he has done anything about it in real life, but that is part of a wider conversation that we will need to have. I dread the next few weeks/months and have no idea how he will react to the news that I want to seperate. I fear for his mental health and I also have tremendous guilt that I am the one to be breaking it up Sad

OP posts:
mathanxiety · 31/01/2013 17:52

I agree with what Fellatio said.

I don't think couples counselling would be productive, especially as the counsellor was surprised by the things you have told her, given that your H also goes to her and should be honest with her. Your H clearly has a good deal invested in his lie and you will not manage to crack him in counselling.

My exH threatened suicide when it became clear that I was not interested in wasting my time with any more counselling. He spent time in a psych ward - long enough to be diagnosed with major depression and to get a prescription for ADs which he stopped taking after a few weeks (he had a notion that mental illness was a weakness that could be overcome by force of will -- maybe he thought being gay was similar). His mother (whom I hate, I will bluntly admit) told me there was nothing amiss medically speaking with her son but a 'bad marriage'. Hmm So all my fault then.... In the end I agreed to go to a weekend couples retreat and a course of workshops that ensued, basically so that I could say I had done everything anyone (mainly exMIL, who was pressuring both exH and myself relentlessly) could possibly ask of me to keep the marriage alive. It was about two weeks after exH had written the cheque to pay for the retreat that I found the gay porn.

It may seem heartless, but I found the suicide threat a very alienating experience and was conscious of an element of manipulation to it.

We went through the motions of the retreat and all of the workshop sessions, with me hoping he would reveal it all to me, but he never opened his mouth. It was clear to me that he thought his secret was well hidden, and also clear to me that he only meant to answer questions as I asked them, and even then I was likely to get a shrug or an answer that contradicted a previous question along the same lines -- he wasn't going to volunteer any information. Trust was out the window. I knew what I had found but I didn't know what else there might have been and I knew he wasn't going to tell me anything I didn't already know.

Just telling you all this as an indication of how closely a secret can be guarded even when the issue of trust is known to be a massive one, and one capable of breaking up a marriage just as much or maybe even more than the matter of being gay might.

Investigate what tax and childcare benefits are available to you in case of separation -- go to the CAB. Try to keep working if at all possible. It is hard to get back to work after being away and the late 30s/early 40s are a witching hour of sorts where the workplace is concerned, for both men and women.

Ideal scenario is that you would manage to agree to an amicable split where he could be persuaded that he owed you sufficient support to afford childcare and to stay working (but look at CAB too). Or that he would support you through further education or training that would lead to a better-paying job for you (maybe in lieu of some financial support from him after you get that better job, or in lieu of sharing his pension, or trading off the prospect of you getting 60% of the proceeds of selling your house, getting a 50/50 split instead )...

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