The Ashley Madison Agency

Perhaps some of you can help me out here. My husband alerted me to this ad he saw on television about "married dating." It's called The Ashley Madison Agency. I'm probably behind the ball on this one, as I usually am if it's television-related. (I need to start watching more TV.) The company's slogan is "Life is Short. Have an Affair."

So I laughed and asked my husband if this was a joke or something. No, he said. It's no joke. So then I asked, "Well, wait. So is it like an open marriage type thing, where it's all on the up and up?" No, he says. So basically, the purpose of this company is to offer people who are unsatisfied in their marriages a means to cheat on their spouse. If I'm missing something here, please tell me. Because as morally vacuous as our society is, I still have a hard time believing this is real. I mean, morality aside, who has time to have an affair?

Affairs are nothing but trouble. No good can come from it -- unless, of course, both partners agree to have them and want to stay married for other reasons. (You know, like Bill and Hillary - who my husband's convinced have an "arrangement.") And only if there are no children in the picture.

What's most striking about this company is that it's advocating for premeditated affairs. It's not like a case of two very unhappy people, one of whom falls into the lap of another man or woman and tries desperately to do the right thing. This is pre-planned, paid-for-in-advance adultery. I don't get it. How could a place like this exist?

Even if we are morally corrupt.

3 Responses to “The Ashley Madison Agency”:

  1. Anonymous says:

    There was a big scandal earlier this year when Ashley Madison wanted to run a commercial during the Super Bowl. Luckily it was rejected - could you imagine that kind of thing being run during family programming? It's like televising the ads from the back of the Village Voice.

    I totally agree that no good can come of affairs, and I would add that even in the case of open marriage arrangements, often one partner is just going along to please the other. While there may be exceptions, I feel there's an inherent inequality in open or polyamorous relationships.

    Of course, if there's a demand for this sort of dating service, you kind of have to admire the entrepreneurship of the people who launched the agency. I like to see the free market at work, it's the fact that there's a demand that's disturbing.

    By the way, I've been meaning to blogroll your site, and finally got around to it this afternoon.

    Happy Easter!

  2. Anonymous says:

    If you are going to use Ashley Madison to have an affair, make sure to search google for "affair tips" first so you can have an affair and not get caught!

  3. Unknown says:

    Its a rip off. They are only trying to get you to subscribe. When you send someone a wink you never get a response and if you do have a full membership they charge you to read these winks that usually say nothing. I think its a hokes and a big rip off. To keep you coming back they must have a computer generated email that tells you have mail. This is a scam to get you to spend more on membership fees.