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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

Anyone here who's found out their OH uses prostitutes?

208 replies

BGuns · 12/10/2014 11:26

I would really appreciate speaking to anyone who has found themselves in the same situation as I have very recently.

OP posts:
sassysister · 13/10/2014 12:00

I have been in this situation it is hard but we overcame it. He said he was missing one thing that I couldn't give him.

We sat down and discussed it and in the end up we agreed to have an open relationship discreetly. He uses extra marital dating sites so he knows everyone he is meeting is in the same situation. I created a profile on one (IE) but couldn't go through with it.
I love him and I would rather have him 90% of the time rather than him visiting a hooker coming home with goodness only knows what!

AnyFucker · 13/10/2014 12:01

That is one of the saddest things i have ever read, SS Sad

pushtheskyaway · 13/10/2014 12:05

That is truly dreadful SS. My heart breaks for you.

He could still come home with goodness knows what by the way. In fact he is more likely to as prostitutes tend to be very careful about their sexual health. It us their livelihood after all.

LurcioAgain · 13/10/2014 12:09

Can I just say how baffling I find people who post things like "OP came looking for advice and people are turning it into a moral crusade" or the like? Of course it's bloody well about morality. That's the whole fucking point. Sex (for normal human beings of both sexes) is very much tied up with morality. That's why people get so het up (and quite rightly so) about infidelity and what it says, not just about the physical tab A into slot B activities their partner has been getting up to, but about the insight it sheds into their partner's moral world view - how he sees his partner, how he sees the OW, how he sees women in general (in the case of men who use prostitutes, as disposable wank fodder). It's not a morally neutral thing like "my OH said he'd give up chocolate to keep me company while I tried to stick to my diet, but I've just found out he's sneaking the odd kitkat while at work". Anyone who tries to pretend that one shouldn't make moral judgements about this sort of thing is either deliberately disingenuous, weird or fucking stupid.

sassysister · 13/10/2014 12:09

I have checked out the site he is on and he always wears protection. I am considering trying it myself to see how it works exactly. It may turn out that it is what our marriage needs. we settled down so young we didnt have the chance to enjoy ourselves.

AnyFucker · 13/10/2014 12:13

There is something very unsettling about being reduced to watching your husband's sexual activities on line

sassysister · 13/10/2014 12:20

I haven't watched his activity. I simply created a profile on IE to see what type of a site he was using.

Its not crude or anything like that. It seems quite a few people on it are in the same situation.

onionlove · 13/10/2014 12:20

I was being flippant wasn't serious about her laughing, the whole thing is sad, glad its not part of my life anymore!

AnyFucker · 13/10/2014 12:22

Out of interest, SS, how can you be sure he always uses protection unless you are physically present ?

pushtheskyaway · 13/10/2014 12:24

I am glad as well onionlove No woman should have to live her life with a man like that.

Well done for getting away.

pushtheskyaway · 13/10/2014 12:26

"Using protection"is a grey area at the best of times. Some STI's can be spread through oral. So unless Condoms and dental dams are being used for EVERYTHING; then there is always a risk of infection.

Which is fine if both parties are fully in agreement with what is going on. When a wife is agreeing just to keep her husband; it is (imo) tantamount to abuse.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 13/10/2014 12:30

Puzzledandpissedoff is a great example of a success story in this situation - someone who has got through this, kept her dignity and refused to compromise her sense of humanity, and got rid of the slime from her life

You're very kind, Castlemilk, but I honestly wouldn't call myself a success story

For me, the worst thing looking back was the emotional damage I did to myself while trying to believe that my marriage could be salvaged. Frankly I was a fool to waste the time; the best thing to be said is that at least I honestly tried

Boobz · 13/10/2014 12:34

Genuine question for those condemning Sassysister's set up.

If you don't want to have sex much (or hardly ever at all), but your partner does, do you just split up rather than find an alternative solution that keeps you (and DC in a lot of cases) together? If you love your partner in every way, but have zero libido, which is the better option?

  1. Have sex anyway, lying back and thinking of England
  2. Get divorced, as it's not fair to have deprive someone of that basic human need for the rest of their life
  3. Stay married, but allow that other person to find sex outside the marriage
  4. Stay married but have little or no sex, which is fair on one person but not on the other?

Is there another option I haven't thought of?

LovesPeace · 13/10/2014 13:14

Me.
My partner of 13yrs used prostitutes.
He also sexted random young women from gaming forums which he'd persuaded his employer to run on the servers.

I was in shock. My father had died a few months earlier, and then I'd had to PTS a favourite horse, times were bad. He said he was sorry, it was my fault: I didn't suck his dick enough blah blah.

Took me two weeks to tell the arse it was over, and he'd better look for a house. Further vitriol followed - he loved me, why was I being such a bitch and not responding to his texts/calls, I needed to give him the deposit and rent because he had no savings, etc, ad nauseum.

Now about three years on - if I had any regret it was in not getting rid of the weak, whiny little man much sooner.

Life is great.

LovesPeace · 13/10/2014 13:16

Oh, and to add - no, I didn't like sex with my ex because like everything else in our relationship, 'it was all about him'.

Now, however...

kaykayblue · 13/10/2014 14:12

OP - I'm so sorry that this has happened to you.

However, as you can see from the posts above, this is an issue that evokes very differing reactions from people. Whilst I can totally see the temptation to know other people's experiences, ultimately, I don't think it will help you. You are not those women, and their relationships, opinions, views, everything else..are not yours.

The only thing you can do is to get some space from your partner, and have a serious think about your views on all these issues. You won't be able to reach a view that you can genuinely stick to until you have had some space. Please do ask him to leave so you can do this, otherwise you run a real risk of falling back into an old "routine" whilst never resolving your feelings on what has happened. Even if you decide that you want to continue the relationship, you need time and space to consider this properly.

It sounds like you kicked him out in a panic, and then let him back in due to another panic. That's understandable, but will probably not help you in the long run. You don't need to "kick him out" if you aren't ready, but you can ask him to leave the house and give you some space to work through this on your own. Ask him not to contact you unless you contact him first.

Some questions that you might want to try and work out your opinions to (in order to steer your thinking of what to do next):

  • If you had a daughter in this situation, what would you be advising her to do? If it's different to what you are doing, why is that? If she was giving you the same reasons you are, how would you respond? It can be helpful to try and imagine the scenario from an outsider's standpoint if you aren't ready to actually tell people in real life.

  • What exactly hurts the most in this situation? The fact that he cheated on you? The fact he used prostitutes (buying women as a commodity)? For some people, it will be the infidelity that bothers them the most. For others, it will be the fact he willingly partook in an industry which is built on the oppression and suffering of women. It isn't important which side you fall on from a moral perspective, but it may help you to organise your thoughts if you can pinpoint what you find the most horrific in this situation.

  • How did you find out? I am not asking for you to tell us, but as an issue for you to consider. There will be an obvious difference in whether you can rebuild trust depending on whether he willingly told you about what was happening, compared to whether you found out yourself through chance and confronted him.

  • Deep down, in your heart of hearts, do you genuinely believe that you can trust him again? I think in these situations most people have a tiny nugget deep inside them which says either "yes" or "no" to this question. The "yes" is often drowned out by the obvious feelings of anger and betrayal, whilst the "no" is often drowned out by years of memories and love. But this will be one of the most important issues in going forward. If you think the answer is "no", then no matter how much you love him, there is no point. It would be a half live for you. If the answer is "yes" then your next move will depend on your answer to point 2. If the infidelity is the problem then you may be able to recover (depending very heavily on him and his behaviour). If the industry is what bothers you, then it may be less clear cut.

For what it's worth, I could not forgive a man who did this. Actually, I couldn't be with a man who had used prostitutes even if it was before we met. It would violate every principle that I hold.

But that said, my principles are not yours, and vice versa. It doesn't matter what I would do, it matters what YOU will decide to do.

Jan45 · 13/10/2014 14:15

Just rank, any man who pays for sex is a sad pervert, why a woman would want to stay with that type of person is beyond me, in fact any man who cheats on you is telling you loud and clear what he actually thinks of you. Stay, by all means, but expect more of the same in the future.

KoalaKoo · 13/10/2014 16:04

Op, please can I urge you to "park" any feelings you have about use of prostitutes and concentrate on whether you are willing or able to attempt to work through this with dh.

It is perfectly plausible for a man who uses prostitutes to have absolutely no idea that there might be anything immoral or harmful in the sex industry (I am meaning aside from the cheating angle of course). Just because a man has used prostitutes and lacks any knowledge or understanding about the problem with this, does not make him a despicable person, it makes him an ignorant one.

CogitoErgoSometimes · 13/10/2014 16:23

"It is perfectly plausible for a man who uses prostitutes to have absolutely no idea that there might be anything immoral or harmful in the sex industry "

You mean apart from it being illegal? Hmm Not buying that, sorry

CogitoErgoSometimes · 13/10/2014 16:27

"If you don't want to have sex much (or hardly ever at all), but your partner does, do you just split up rather than find an alternative solution that keeps you (and DC in a lot of cases) together?"

There are plenty of alternative solutions but one that delegates physical intimacy to a third party, whether paid for or not, breaks the basic rule of fidelity that marriage (or long term committed partnership) usually stands for. There are plenty of alternative lifestyles that break that rule but I always get the impression that one party is more keen on the lifestyle than the other.... leaving the door wide open to coercion and sexual abuse.

AnyFucker · 13/10/2014 16:27

It never fails to amaze me the man pleasing crap that some women peddle.

Jan45 · 13/10/2014 16:56

This just gets worse - nothing wrong with paying for sex - well a man who did or does would say this, can't believe women are actually buying their crap.

LynneTheSecretary · 13/10/2014 17:07

Me also.

I just posted on another thread.

I can't say for sure he used prostitutes with me, but I found searches in the internet history, I found he'd registered us on a swingers site, I found he had himself on several adult dating websites, I found he had probably 50 online profiles.

He did the same to his ex wife, and I now he used prostitutes when married to her.

Sorry this happened to you. Some men are just screwed up.

BreakingDad77 · 13/10/2014 17:33

Any other sexual contact not just with prostitutes but affairs / randoms should all be sti tested.

alongcamespiders · 13/10/2014 21:04

Ugh. I found my partner had been searching specific escorts in our local area over. Long period of time both prior to and during the time we became intimate.
I dumped his sorry sad desperate depraved loser ass.
He doesn't know I know , I don't know for sure whether he even met them let alone had sex with them but even the possibility was enough for me. Luckily we didn't have kids together, I have kids of my own and we were headed down the road of trying for a baby, thank The Lord I didn't get pregnant by him.
Filthy sad tragic fucker. Gross.