Sarah phoned the Men’s Health
office at the allotted hour. According
to our go-between, she was in her
early 30s, married with young
children and living in Sydney. She’d
also been active on the site for a few
months. A little reticent at first, Sarah
soon relaxed, though the whines
and squawks of a fractious toddler
were a constant soundtrack to her
tale. Here’s what she told us.
“I WAS 17 WHEN I MET THE MAN who
would become my husband. He was 19,
and when you’re a teenager a two-year age
gap is signiicant. Truthfully, we were both
pretty clueless about the world and sexually
inexperienced, but it was thrilling to be going
out with an older guy.
I married him when I was 24. Like all
brides, I guess, I assumed I’d never sleep with
another man. But ive years later I was- what’s the word? – restless, I suppose.
What went wrong? Nothing really. Nothing
earthshattering. Just a realisation that we
were diferent people. My husband’s a
homebody. He’s happy spending one Saturday
night after another on the couch in front of
the football or a movie. But while I would sit
there with him trying not to complain, the
fact is I was bored. I wanted to go out and
have fun, to socialise with friends, drink and
dance a little, meet new people. Lights out by
10pm every Saturday night wasn’t my idea of
an exciting life.
I was also feeling neglected. Don’t get me
wrong: my husband isn’t a mean person at all
and we still get on. But I often have the sense
when we’re together that he wouldn’t care
much whether I was there or not. I needed
more attention. I needed to feel appreciated
and, yes, wanted. I missed being seduced. I
missed the feeling of being desired, of having
lustful eyes wandering over my body.
Late one night I was watching TV at a
girlfriend’s house when an ad came on for
Ashley Madison, and right away I thought,
let’s try that. I realised there were people out
there in the same situation as me: unfulilled