10/14/2026
Most wives who cheat in a s*xless marriage still actually want to stay married. How did we get here? She tried to talk to him about it over and over again but he shut down. She suggested counseling and he said they could figure it out themselves. She dressed up for dinner and he didn't notice. Blowing up her entire marriage over intimacy felt selfish and she cares about keeping the family together. Do you have empathy for her, or is cheating black and white? ๐
Sociologist Alicia Walker interviewed women having affairs through Ashley Madison for her book The Secret Life of the Cheating Wife. Many of them described the affair as a way to keep the marriage going: they wanted the s*x they weren't getting at home without blowing up the kids, the house, and the life they'd built.
I'm not defending it. Cheating often wrecks the person who was lied to, and he never got a vote. But the affair is almost never her first, second, third or fourth move. It comes after the therapy suggestion he waved off and the endless nights she reached for him and he rolled over or waited for something to begin that never did.
If you're in it, stop hinting. Over coffee, sitting down, say: "I love you and I'm not willing to live the rest of my life without s*x. I've booked us a session for next week. I need you there." Then watch what he does with it.
If you're the husband who keeps saying you'll figure it out on your own, she's telling you that you haven't. Make the call this week.
Leave, stay, or something else? Tell me where you stand.
If you're the one reaching for him at night and getting nothing back, book a session: calendly.com/closeness
*xlessmarriage