It’s probably safe to say that affairs have been happening for as long as marriages have been happening. Research in 2020 analyzed data on infidelity in marriage from 1991 to 2018 by the General Social Survey (GSS). These were the numbers, as published on PsychCentral.com:
| Demographics | Rates |
|---|---|
| men who say they cheat | 23% |
| women who say they cheat | 12% |
| married people who say they cheat | 12% |
| divorced people who say they cheat | 26% |
| infidelity of Black people | 24% |
| infidelity of white people | 16% |
| infidelity of other POCs | 13% |
| cheating in 55 to 64 year olds | 18% |
| cheating in 41 to 54 year olds | 16% |
| cheating in 18 to 40 year olds | 11% |
As a married, white female in one of those age brackets, who has never cheated, I wasn’t sure what the numbers would be. That’s a whole lot of cheating going on, y’all!
Anyway, IlliciteEncounters.com (good lord, what kind of freaky ads am I going to get with THEIR cookies in my computer? LOL!) is one of the world’s largest and oldest dating sites for married people. As they say, “Established in 2003, we have been providing a meeting place for like-minded married and attached people for over 10 years.” (yeah, they need to update that) “Our members have one thing in common – they are all looking for a little romance outside their current relationship. Whether that’s the occasional bit of flirtatious chat, a regular coffee date, or a full-blown affair, that’s up to them.” They claim to have been used by over 1,600,000 people since its inception.
Anyway, the website wanted to find out where all these affairs were happening. So they did a survey and polled 3,000 of their members.
Of those who replied, a whopping 67% said they used Airbnb as their meeting place of choice for their illicit get-togethers. Their main reasoning?
- 48% said it was because there was more privacy
- 32% said it was a better value for the money
- 28% said they preferred the remoteness of Airbnb sites
Also noted was that 89% said that Airbnb was less seedy (they didn’t say what it was less seedy than. I’m going to take that as the type of hotel one would go to to have an affair? I dunno…)
Gotta say the “privacy” aspect makes sense. Although there are still a handful of hotels that still take cash (and even fewer still take travelers cheques), they’re still going to want a credit card on file…AND your I.D. (here’s why)…which means you could be traced to that hotel. Airbnb’s billing will be to Airbnb, not a specific location. Plus you can change your username etc. on Airbnb so you’re not as easy to trace.
More takeaways from the survey:
- 16% of respondents said they felt like they were being watched at public hotels (ummm, that’s self-guilt, y’all)
- 21% said Airbnb allowed them to do things beyond what 2 adults would do in a bedroom; they could do more things in private (I’m not sure if that means being able to go to stores and restaurants near the Airbnb, or being able to do it in the kitchen)
- 27% said Airbnb allows them to cook for their lover (after they were done doing it in the kitchen, no doubt)
- 24% said they could explore new places (no comment. I’m sorry my mind “went there”)
- 19% felt Airbnbs felt more “homey”
In case you were interested, the other places that ranked to carry out an affair were:
1. Airbnb
2. Home address (ewww!)
3. Hotel
4. Car (I hope they don’t have a Mini Cooper if they’re really tall)
5. Office (well, THAT could be awkward)
6. Coffee shop
7. Park / countryside
8. Bar
9. Restaurant
10. Sporting event
And now you know more about where people having affairs, have those affairs, than you’d ever thought you’d know 😉
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