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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

Slept with a married man at the weekend - and have been feeling guilty ever since

94 replies

geekgirl78 · 26/05/2007 01:54

So I realise that I'm probably going to get a lot of of flak by posting this. But, I met a married man last weekend in my local pub. I didn't know that he was married when we first chatted, but if I'm honest, I did by the time we went home together...,

I'm now feeling awful about the whole thing. I feel as if I've broken my own personal moral code by doing what I did last weekend. What makes it worse is that I really liked him and am fighting the temptation to get back in touch with him (we swapped e-mail addresses). Obviously, I'm not acutally to get back in touch with him because:

i) my father left my mother for 'the other woman' when I was 17, so I've seen the carnage that can occur

ii) I don't want a whole heap of pain in my life

So why do I still feel bad? (Obviously, I've changed my name for this post).

I'm single at the momwnt BTW.

OP posts:
littlelapin · 27/05/2007 10:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

maturer · 27/05/2007 12:07

madamez- we've certainly got a good debate going here (and that's part of what this site is about)

I completely accept the senario you possed - yes there may be relationships whre that sort of sexual promiscuity is accepted by both and even encouraged- and for those people if it works for them good luck . However your senario strikes me as a good excise to "ease your consience" if you do want to sleep around, a convenient "let off clause" ...." I'm doing his wife a favour here because I've found one of the very few who want their dh to sleep with other women"..."I don't need to consider any other possibilities"
Surely all that does is give ammunition to the "my wife doesn't understand me" lines that are trotted out by manymen who want their cake and eat it!

For me it's about promises and respect- my dh and I promised we'd stay true to each other, promised that would be a sign of respect for each other and a committment to our love for each other.We managed it for 20 years together as a couple- he then fell off the wagon so to speak-that is something we've both had to learn to live with and has taken a huge amount of pain and soul searching to move on from. The sex bit is the outward sign of the inner committment- it's the breach of promis, trust disrespect that is the issue for me. We agreed to be momogomous (as do most married couples) when 1 partner breaks that agreement well yes it's goning to cause major problems.

motherinferior · 27/05/2007 12:11

Actually, I agree that for a lot of people monogamy appears to be fairly unworkable in practice (when I was single, the number of blokes in apparently stable, happy relationships who propositioned me was really rather surprising). On the other hand, for a lot of people it is also the emotional deal with which they feel happiest (I count myself in that camp, as it happens). It's a tricky one.

I do know people in very happy committed relationships who do non-monogamy quite happily. I don't think it would work for me.

auntyflorence · 27/05/2007 12:15

"I, and the vast majority of other posters, see sex as part of a relationship."

G78: sleeping with someone else's husband is sleazy. So is sleeping with someone that you only met a few hours ago in a pub.
What, exactly, is in your "moral" codebook?

motherinferior · 27/05/2007 12:18

I don't think sex with someone you've just met is necessarily sleazy at all. Why should it be, if you happen to think sex is rather fun and you're using a condom?

hastobesaid · 27/05/2007 13:21

Do you never see the posts on here from DECENT women who are bringing up children, working bloody had and doing the best to hold their marriage and family's together after their partners have gone slumming it with some little whore or other they pick up out of some pub or other?

Yes he was wrong to do it as he was married and the fact you KNEW he was married but you still slept with him makes you one of the afore mentioned women from pubs.

As for sleeping with someone the first time you met them, I assume you know the way to the VD clinic

edam · 27/05/2007 13:26

So you should (feel guilty). Glad you have decided against seeing him again. He's a piece of work and you are best off out of it.

kimi · 27/05/2007 14:14
Shock
madamez · 27/05/2007 19:55

Maturer, I don't object to people freely choosing monogamy after due consideration and discussion. What irritates and depresses me is the mindset that monogamy is "better" than other ways of conducting your relationship, and therefore it's OK to behave extremely badly in order to coerce another person into a monogamous relationship (from whining and witholding sex all the way up to assault and even murder). if more people were prepared to consider monogamy as one of a range of options (for other people even if you are sure that monogamy is the only one for you) rather than assuming that you're just entitled to a monogamous relationship with someone because you've been out on a date with them more than once, or had sex with them more than once, then there might be less sadness, pain, cruelty and wasted lives.

Dior · 27/05/2007 20:23

Message withdrawn

ScottishMummy · 27/05/2007 20:55

ooooo hastobesaid was that derogatory comment really necessary - i understand its an emotive subject...but well still unnecessary. you have diminished a semi valid point hun

NKF · 27/05/2007 20:56

A whore is someone who sleeps with someone for money. Innacurate as well as rude.

auntyflorence · 27/05/2007 23:04

My dictionary says that a whore is "a prostitute: any unchaste woman". I wouldn't describe GG78's behaviour as chaste.

handlemecarefully · 27/05/2007 23:09

I think you should change your name. If I was geekgrrl (who has been around ages) I would be worried in case anyone mistook me for you!

madamez · 28/05/2007 10:07

Chastity is nothing to be particularly proud of any more than exchanging sex for money is necessarily anything to be ashamed of (disclaimer, not claiiming that anyone on this thread is iether chaste or a sex worker - how would I know?)

LoveAngel · 28/05/2007 10:17
    • could see this tunring into a 'decent married mother from Tunbridge Wells' versus 'wanton slag' debate a mile off * *
Pan · 28/05/2007 10:23

read most of thread, and also lurked right from start..am I the only person hearing the rattle of a trolley?? Has it been mentioned? Lots of trolleying signs.

and hastobesaid...no it doesn't. Learn some manners.

Janos · 28/05/2007 10:23

"My dictionary says that a whore is "a prostitute: any unchaste woman". I wouldn't describe GG78's behaviour as chaste. "

Really judging by those standards everyone on MN is a 'whore'.

KerryMum · 28/05/2007 10:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Purpleparrot · 28/05/2007 10:35

My soon to be ex DH had an affair with a girl who worked in the same office as we did... yes, all three of us worked together! She knew we were married, she had met our son, in fact, after she crashed her car we used to give her a lift to work and she sat in the back next to our ds.

She seemed to be trying to be my friend... I had not long come back to work after we adopted our ds and she started with the company whilst I was on leave... I had no reason to be suspicious of her asking questions about our life except it was to try and steal him. Which she did.

Our divorce comes through in 2 weeks time after 4 years of sheer hell, fighting over money and our ds. The pair of them being really nasty and insulting towards me to the point that I moved me and ds 60 miles away to a new job and home because I could not take it any longer.

I had done nothing wrong. My ex got himself into financial trouble and got caught out after running up nearly £20,000 worth of debt so of course I was not pleased with him at the time... he had second thoughts about becoming a father but did not tell me until it was too late and all of this strain just made the single girl with a healthy trust fund and a rich family seem so appealing. I could not compete against that.

It really was the worst time of my life and I would not wish it on anyone. I survived only because of the support of my family, my friends and the fact that I had my DS to care for.

I am a strong and stubborn person so when you knock me down I do get back up again... sometimes it takes a lot of effort and time but I keep going. I am thankful for this because there were days when I really thought the pain was going to tear me in two and I couldn't see the answer or the future. As I said, years have passed and both me and my ds are happy and settle but it has scarred me. I do not trust easily and am scared about trying again in case we get hurt again.

My ds suffered badly at the time because of our break up and it took a long time before he could have a relationship with his dad again. He visits now but it is not the same and he comes back unhappy and troubled every time.

I am not telling you this to make you feel bad, though if you have the conscience it would seem you have, you will feel bad.

I am telling you this because you need to understand the pain that innocent people go through because their partners do not respect them enough to stay faithful.

Despite the fact that the 'other woman' in my situation made a hard play for my ex despite knowing about his family life, I still think it is the cheating partner who is more to blame because they are the ones with the most to lose.

However, I would like to hope that you do not see this man again or contact him again and if he contacts you that you tell him to go away unless he becomes single.

The wife does not deserve this pain no matter what he tries to tell you about her. She has done nothing to you and I hope that any children do not have to suffer either.

If you are meant to be together then he should end his marriage as amicably and as decently as possible and then come to you when he is free and not before.

You are certainly not the worst person in this scenario but there is nothing to feel proud about unless you stop it all now.

You should also consider the amount of self respect you have. Surely you are worth all of a person rather than the bits he has left over for you, rather than the stolen moments peppered with lies.

He went back to his wife and pretended you did not exist. You should have a man who thinks that you are special above everyone else and who wants to be with only you.

I hope this all works out for you and he gets a grip of himself and remembers that he loved his wife enough to propose to her above every other woman in the world and he loved her enough to marry her.

mylittlestar · 29/05/2007 09:08

Purpleparrot so sorry to hear your story. Good to hear that you're now through to the other side and are happy and stable again. I'm sure when the right person comes along you will be able to find it in your heart to trust them. You'll know when it feels right.

FioFio · 29/05/2007 09:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

madamez · 29/05/2007 10:00

Fiofio: agreed, ti should be a mutual decision. What I really object to is the idea that it's ok, if you are monogamously-inclined, to pressure someone else into being monogamous when they don't want to.
Purpleparrot, sorry you had such a bad time. It may not be much consolation now, but your X will bleed this other woman dry of money and move on to a new partner and repeat the pattern. He's a money predator.

Dior · 29/05/2007 10:02

Message withdrawn

morningpaper · 29/05/2007 10:06

Dear me, a thread with "whore" and "hun" on it

I think that means we all have to slink off to our respective corners and admit defeat

Swipe left for the next trending thread