I sat here a bit wondering what made me like cheating wives stories so much. I mean, what was the appeal? There was rarely any good sex scenes in them. They were about betrayal and revenge. I certainly don't have those problems in my marriage...so why did I like reading them.
That got me to thinking. My brother-in-law married the wrong woman (but no, to the best of my knowledge, she didn't cheat). He had two wonderful kids...but he and his wife actively HATED each other. The problem was, he was a factory worker and didn't make much money...so a divorce would ruin him (and did, when she finally filed). When she finally filed for divorce, the courts KILLED him. He's getting up there in years and I don't think will ever comfortably retire because he just can't afford it.
The system is not fair...and there are two things wrong with it. First, in our haste to make divorce easier (through 'no fault') we no longer take the actions of the parties into account. Why should my life be ruined because my wife cheated? Why should my wife's life be ruined if I cheat? It's cookie cutter divorce and I think that EACH divorce should be examined carefully before assets are divided, visitation rights are granted and so on.
Second, the books are stacked completely in the woman's favor. This was NOT a bad thing years ago when women's contribution to the work force was so little. Now, with many women in the workforce, the books need to be evened out a bit.
I think it is this unfairness that leads me (and maybe others) to read the cheating wives stories. We're able, vicariously, to get revenge through them (and, honestly, I really like a good revenge story/movie/etc. I really like when the 'bad guy' gets his comeuppance...but I don't like the cheating husbands stories as much).
Anyway, it's just a thought...