Man I love the people in the U.K., they don’t play when it comes to shutting down Illicit Encounters.  They managed to remove billboards with a Facebook group…in less than a week a couple of months ago.  People in the U.S. need to get on the bandwagon.  After seeing that the ad above would be plastered on buses, Ratcliffe Fernley Media decided to pull the plug (and to think, no one gets offended when Ashley Trashy Madison plasters an entire building with a woman about to perform oral sex in the middle of Times Square).

The CEO of the company said that he was shocked that the advertising company backed out of the deal.  For some strange reason, I’m not buying this (or at least I don’t care).

And for those people that want to make a Freedom of Speech argument, let’s not forget that there’s PLENTY of things we ban from advertising in the U.S.: Joe Camel, overtly sexual advertisements, erotic services, etc…

Source: International Business Times

“Til death to you part” is a long time.  And there inevitably will be bumps along the road.  Not all marriages are meant to last.  Conversely, not all marriages that ended in divorce had to end that way.

When things get tough, you’ve got four options:  1) Walk out 2) Cheat 3) Stay silent and get over it or 4) Talk about your problems with your significant other.  The Manogamy Movement cannot stress the importance of #4 (or as we would call it openness).

So many people stay in relationships when they’re unhappy out of fear of being alone or what others may think.  I’ve done this before and it was one of the worst decisions I ever made.  Why? Because your problems will only build up into bigger problems.  Eventually an emotional timebomb will go off.  Psychotherapist Mel Schwartz does a good job of summarizing the dilemma with this paragraph

Fear is the greatest impediment to growth in our lives. Too often, individuals are literally afraid of sharing their true feelings with their partners. This range of fear may run the gamut: the fear of divorce and its incumbent anxieties or simply the avoidance of coming to terms with a relationship that may be lacking in intimacy, passion or respect. When you stay married out of fear, the emotional paralysis that pervades further poisons the relationship. Staying together out of resignation–due to fear–results in an enigmatic dilemma. Such people won’t consider divorce and yet they are convinced that their marriage won’t improve, so they don’t work on the relationship. This is the worst of all possible scenarios. They are literally caught between the proverbial rock and the hard place.

If talking things out doesn’t work, THEN you should go with #1 and move on.  #2 and #3 should never be an option.  If you are truly unhappy, then you’re only making matters worse by having an affair.  Don’t buy that Ashley Trashy Madison affairs save marriages crap (and by the way, I still haven’t received a response from them about why Noel Biderman spread the gospel of infidelity when he claims to be monogamous).

Source: Psychology Today

I love it how whenever people cheat they say that they are going to stay together for the kids.  Why is it that the cheating spouse(s) couldn’t think about the kids beforehand?  Cheating is not just a private action.  It affects family, friends, work, etc.

No cheater thinks that they’ll get caught.  But what happens when you do?  How do you explain this to your kids?  What if your kid catches you in the act?

Not only does cheating hurt your child in the present, “[a]dultery can damage a child’s sense of trust and influence their understanding of love and marriage as children and adults, ” says Ana Nogales author of “Parents Who Cheat.”  That’s why cheating is such a selfish act.  You are so concerned about yourself that you fail to consider how you can hurt others.

Getting married is a privilege and so is having kids.  If you want the freedom of not having to think about other people’s feelings, then don’t get into a serious relationship.  You can’t have your wedding cake and eat it too.

Source: Miami Herald

Extra: Dear Annie: Child Witnesses Infidelity

Lord knows Halle Berry is has had her trouble with men.  Her first husband David Justice allegedly beat her and her second husband Eric Benet cheated on her.  Now she and her partner/father of her child Gabriel Aubry have split after a four year relationship.

Apparently there were two causes of the divorce – their 9-year age difference (she’s 43 and he’s 34) and his “wandering eye.”  According to the source:

The source adds that Gabriel’s wandering eye was also a factor in the split: “… he would never cheat on her, but I suspect that he had become attracted to someone and that he felt he needed to break it off with Halle before anything developed any further.”

I think Gabriel did the right thing here.  Many men have these feelings and think that they are normal, but in fact they are not.  It is okay to find other people attractive, but it is not okay to lust after someone to the point where you may make a mistake later on.  I MUCH rather him realize this beforehand, than to make a mistake and try to clean up things on the back end.  It’s not easy to break things off before you even cheat, but that’s a sign of true maturity.

I know that they have a child together, but they are not married.  Moreover, emotional affairs can be just as bad as physical ones.  If Halle truly were the apple of his eye, he wouldn’t be tempted like that.  And while 99% of men can’t understand why he would do this to her, I’ve been in a similar situation before and can attest that he did the right thing.

Source: Fox News

I posted a few days ago about how people that were grounded due to the Volcanic Ash in Iceland were using their phones to sign up for marital affairs.  Well at least one couple found used technology for good.  The Australian couple were stranded in Dubai before their big day back home to Britain.  Rather than call the thing off, they got married with their newfound travel buddies and streamed it to their friends in Britain using Skype.

That’s exactly what I’m talking about; love really can overcome all things (natural disasters included).  Instead of figuring out how to get some while you are grounded, why couldn’t those same people that used Illicit Encounters try to video chat with their loved ones?

For some strange reason, I see a romantic comedy coming out of this.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Good

Dontdatehimgirl.com

Cheaterregistry.com

Evil

TigerText App for iPhone

Ashley Trashy Madison

Neutral Party

AshleyMadisonSucks.com – I listed them as a third party because these are people that wanted to cheat, but only had a bad experience on the site.  I’m not convinced that they would have still thought the site sucked if they got what they bargained for.

Craig’s List- Craig’s List has been trying to purge their site of prostitutes (a federal indictment certainly helps). There’s obviously plenty of good that can come from the site, but we know that people often use it, like Facebook, for evil.

Source: Slate

Meet David Seaman (too easy of a target), a former goalkeeper.  Seamen stepped out on his wife of 11 years with Frankie Poultney, a Dancing on Ice Star (that’s actually not even that attractive).

Seamen’s wife, Debbie, was granted a “quickie” divorce (again too easy).  Good for her for leaving his cheating tail.  Note, however, that Debbie is actually Seamen’s second wife.  Debbie was the mistress in Seaman’s first marriage, and now she’s been cheated on herself.  New tag – Boomerang: what goes around comes around.

Source: Mirror (UK)

Trashy Madison really lives up to its name.  The company tried to purchase a commercial (seen below) for the Oscars and it was denied.  The commercial is a low-budget Avatar Spoof.  And when I say low budget, I mean, they just took an existing commercial and made the Black women look Green.  With all of that money, you couldn’t create a new trashy commercial Noel?

Source: CNET

…and the Jenny Sanford was granted her divorce.  I’ve been a little busy this week, so I apologize for being a few days late.

Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye

Wally World is getting into the online movie business (like everyone else).  They recently acquired a company called Vudu and the first thing they did was remove the Vudu After Dark films.  Some of these films were pornographic in nature.  I can’t believe that I am giving Wal-Mart props for something.  Scary…

Source: Techcrunch