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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

What makes somebody a serial cheat?

129 replies

TYb · 02/10/2023 07:40

Why do you think they do it?

Selfishness?
Ego?
Insecurity?
Immaturity?

Just pondering over my cereal why my DC's father was never 'able' to keep it in his pants.

OP posts:
PaintedEgg · 02/10/2023 17:21

someone is having a meltdown...

anyway, back to the topic

it is kind of ironic that cheaters are famously jealous partners too. my ex was obsessed with idea that i would cheat on him (i should have had to be fair), he even articulated it once when his infidelity came out: he was most worried that i would get back on him!

DatingDinosaur · 02/10/2023 17:32

Yes, imo, women too - @Lucious1000

HoneyBadgerMom · 02/10/2023 17:41

Lucious1000 · 02/10/2023 17:21

@DatingDinosaur

I agree, but does this apply to women too or just men?

Literally nothing in DatingDinosaur's post that refers to men OR women, so clearly, it's both. You're looking for anti-male sentiment and all we're seeing is anti-liar sentiment.

HoneyBadgerMom · 02/10/2023 17:42

PaintedEgg · 02/10/2023 17:21

someone is having a meltdown...

anyway, back to the topic

it is kind of ironic that cheaters are famously jealous partners too. my ex was obsessed with idea that i would cheat on him (i should have had to be fair), he even articulated it once when his infidelity came out: he was most worried that i would get back on him!

IMO, that's how you know that they KNOW they're in the wrong to do what they're doing. They don't want to be made a fool of the way they're making a fool of the person they're cheating on.

PaintedEgg · 02/10/2023 17:53

of course they know, additionally (and most disgustingly in my opinion) they treat their partners like objects not people

CandyLeBonBon · 02/10/2023 17:56

OhWellNeverMindMoveOn · 02/10/2023 17:00

Many don't realise they can't connect to a partner as a whole person, so they go through life continuously falling into a pattern of falling in love, realising the person isn't "perfect", cheating, and round and round.

@Ghostjail - that's very perceptive, on the 'archetypes' and the whole person. I think that's my ExH.

I think my ex does this. Also he can't bear to 'share' his toys so as long as your attention is 100% on him he's fine. But if something diverts your attention away from him (kids/parents/illness etc) you're somehow defective so off he goes looking for fresh meat.

Loubelle70 · 02/10/2023 17:58

marcopront · 02/10/2023 17:10

@Loubelle70

Lack of sisterhood

Because serial cheaters are forced to cheat by women?

No but if other women were part of the sisterhood they wouldn't go near an attached man..oc thats if they're aware

PaintedEgg · 02/10/2023 18:00

Loubelle70 · 02/10/2023 17:58

No but if other women were part of the sisterhood they wouldn't go near an attached man..oc thats if they're aware

but that does not really solve the issue, does it?

personally i don't care if attempt at cheating would have been successful - the fact that attempt was made would be enough for me

DentalWoes · 02/10/2023 18:10

TheFormidableMrsC · 02/10/2023 09:09

*Goodness me, you are describing DC's father to a tee.

Neurodivergent
Always looking for some utopia that doesn't exist
Porn addiction
Pestering early postpartum

Multiple OW's (who he also cheated on)
Cheating parents (DF married his OW)
Emotional neglect from his DM so sought motherly connection with older women (his last OW woo'd him by doing his laundry and cooking for him) 😂

Like you, I concluded that I have appalling judgement*

@TYb Good God, yes the cooking thing! OW was a feeder and he became very overweight very quickly. So weird. I wouldn't be surprised if there were other children dotted around too. He had no intention of staying married to me (15 years all in) and I fell pregnant because he practised "stealthing". I now wonder if getting a woman pregnant and fucking off was his way of "spreading his genes". Regardless, it's actually terrifying that people behave like this. I'm far from stupid but he fooled me! Sorry you've been through this too Flowers

That is exactly my experience too. I also remained single, mostly because of the trauma. When I read other descriptions that are so similar, I go from panic that it could be the same person (particularly if they fit the physical description and when they travel around and try to get older women pregnant) to fear over the number of absolutely vile men.

OhWellNeverMindMoveOn · 02/10/2023 18:11

PaintedEgg · 02/10/2023 16:53

I wonder what did he say to excuse or hide his past

I know, right? I mean, surely there's only so many 'crazy exes' a man can get away with.

QueenofTheSlipstreamVM · 02/10/2023 18:12

My ex H is onto his 5th wife ( l was his 2nd) he cheated on my 7 times.. he loved the chase and the attention. ( Wasn't the sex.. I've had much better ). The women were all quite well off and showered him with gifts.
This is him.
Narcissistic personality disorder is a condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance. They need and seek too much attention and want people to admire them. People with this disorder may lack the ability to understand or care about the feelings others.

CandyLeBonBon · 02/10/2023 18:14

@Loubelle70 I understand what you're saying but even we're 'the sisterhood' a universal truth, if your dp/dh still tries it on, even if rebuffed, the intention is still there - I don't think you can lay this at women's feet.

RandomForest · 02/10/2023 18:15

Cheating is not because monogamy is forced on them. They want &
choose monogamy, just a fake, one sided, manipulative version of it
where they sacrifice nothing to get what they want from their partners.

Brilliantly put @GilbertMarkham

In fact the whole post was excellent.

marcopront · 02/10/2023 18:17

@Loubelle70

No but if other women were part of the sisterhood they wouldn't go near an attached man..oc thats if they're aware

You suggested lack of sisterhood is a reason for serial cheating.

That only applies if the women force the man to cheat.
If the man initiates it, why is it the woman's fault? Or is it the poor man can't help himself and the woman shouldn't have allowed him to cheat with her.

PaintedEgg · 02/10/2023 18:21

QueenofTheSlipstreamVM · 02/10/2023 18:12

My ex H is onto his 5th wife ( l was his 2nd) he cheated on my 7 times.. he loved the chase and the attention. ( Wasn't the sex.. I've had much better ). The women were all quite well off and showered him with gifts.
This is him.
Narcissistic personality disorder is a condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance. They need and seek too much attention and want people to admire them. People with this disorder may lack the ability to understand or care about the feelings others.

while I think such extreme cases could be diagnosed with NPD, I don't think every cheater is a narcissist...and that makes it worse.

To me having personality disorder somewhat works as mitigating circumstances - it's not an excuse and these are still awful people, but at the very least the person who suffers the most and whose life is in the state of permanent chaos is the narcissist themselves. They of course deserve it, but anyone they leave is better off than they are.

I think most cheaters are just selfish assholes :/

TheFormidableMrsC · 02/10/2023 18:45

@DentalWoes That's the thing isn't it? You can trust yourself not to pick another of these inadequates. Trauma is also very difficult to overcome and I've had extensive counselling over the last decade. I still feel it. I'm sorry this happened to you too Flowers

NotNowGertrude · 02/10/2023 21:40

I do think make cheaters tap into the fact a lot of women hate other women. They slag you off while invoking sympathy from the OW & getting some sort of revenge on you by sleeping together

That's what happened to me anyway.
He arranged situations where I was at an event where she was too & actually went off to talk to someone leaving me alone

How you could get a woman to do that to another is beyond me

I couldn't

TYb · 02/10/2023 22:31

PaintedEgg · 02/10/2023 17:21

someone is having a meltdown...

anyway, back to the topic

it is kind of ironic that cheaters are famously jealous partners too. my ex was obsessed with idea that i would cheat on him (i should have had to be fair), he even articulated it once when his infidelity came out: he was most worried that i would get back on him!

Mine too!

He expressed being worried I would go out and bring somebody home to "get my own back" on him.. talk about judging me by his own standards.

The funny thing is I quite easily could have done, sex is very easy to come by for almost all women because there are so many sexually incontinent men about but I think more of myself than to stoop to his level of desperation.

OP posts:
Sapphire3 · 02/10/2023 22:32

My ex loved going on rants about how I must fancy other men, sometimes for hours. Once even dumped me for two months because he thought I was attracted to his friend that I saw on a zoom, when I didn’t even participate in the conversation and was wearing an old fleece, no make up, and he was the one who invited me to the zoom. He didn’t believe that my mind simply doesn’t work that way, that for me to feel sexual attraction I’ve got to be full on emotionally into someone. He made me feel disgusting with all that talk, until finally one day, he got it.

Turns out he was the one fancying all his female friends and any woman that walked past him, and he became obsessed with talking to me about other women once he got comfortable in the relationship and felt like I would never leave. Put me through real heartbreak having zero boundaries with how he spoke to other women and playing it all off as innocent, even telling them he’d love to sleep with them “but can’t”

so the very worst lying cheats also exhibit major possessiveness and heartache at the thought of their woman ever looking at anyone else. He abused me big time due to his own dark thoughts and then further went on to harm me with his other women stuff. It escalated to the point that he wanted porn 80% of the time we were intimate, and I complied and wanted to make him happy.

OP if you’re not monogamous you’re not monogamous, but just don’t be with someone who is. As others have said, there’s nothing worse than someone who wants to screw around but keep their partner locked in. It’s the height of abusive arrogance.

you’ve wondered at the “point of monogamy”. For many it’s because love and sex mean something much deeper, and screwing around is vile to them. For others who do fancy others it’s to do with commitment and giving those parts of you to the person you love and nobody else.

my ex was a train wreck and should have laid it all out on the table from day one, rather than going off on rants to test me to make sure I wasn’t like him, while not revealing who he actually was for years. I never would have dated him had I known at the beginning. I mean hell, he wouldn’t date him, that’s why he had to make sure I wasn’t made of the same stuff as him.

also please don’t victimise yourself because others have taken offence to your post. It’s narcissistic. Narcissists are inherintley selfish with lack of regard for what hurts others, and yet they are ALWAYS the victim of their own drama.

I too believe you are a man. At least take it on the Chin, and promise that if you can’t remain faithful, that you expect the same in a partner, and don’t drag a monogamous person who doesn’t know how you tick, into your drama. Choose someone who dreams of other mens c*cks, and if the thought of that doesn’t make you warm, then you have the answer to your original question anyway.

Sapphire3 · 02/10/2023 22:40

Apologies, my post was not for the original poster but aimed at:

Lucious1000 · Today 09:28

I'm gonna be hated for this...But

Why should we be limited to being with one person?

Such a societal and human condition.

I completely understand it is deemed as wrong and I don't subscribe to it. But....

Women cheat as much as men.

Everybody is different and wants different things from life. Society and rules condition us to think it is wrong.

It takes a village to raise a child, in many tribes they don't even know who the father is.

Not condoning cheating. I just find it fascinating that it's an actual thing that humans need that loyalty

GilbertMarkham · 02/10/2023 23:49

Lucious1000 · 02/10/2023 17:13

Had a conversation with a woman that says she is the worst feminist ever.

Women are so Terrible to each other?

Surely you should stick together?

My experience is you don't?

I'm Ron Burgundy?

GilbertMarkham · 02/10/2023 23:52

And plenty of women stick together.

A particularly idiotic specimen I briefly dated told me his ex gf's friend/acquaintance told her he was coming onto her and they both set him up to see if he'd follow through on a meeting/date (which he did). "They set me up", he exclaimed .... Not "I keep trying to fuck my gf's mates behind her back".

I'm sure everyone on here has an example too ...but let's just cast out generalisations based on what one woman said to you.

GilbertMarkham · 02/10/2023 23:56

Sapphire, he's confirmed to be one on many other threads, where he's as incoherent and illogical as he is here.

Mari9999 · 03/10/2023 00:04

@TYb
Opportunity and poor self-control. You never need to cheat because you can always leave the relationship if you need or want someone else. Relationships are not a form of slavery You can always open the door and walk right out of both the door and the relationship.