And SA’S infidelity capital is...
GAUTENG has the highest rate of infidelity in the country, followed by the Western Cape then Kwazulu-natal.
And, if you are going to have an affair, it will likely be in the workplace.
These are some of the facts assimilated by international infidelity service Ashley Madison.
According to its 2019 sign-ups, on a per capita basis, Gauteng is ranked at number one for Ashley Madison’s highest cases of infidelity.
Provinces ranked from the fourth-highest on the list in order are Free State, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, North West and Limpopo.
The website’s chief commercial officer Paul Keable was in the country this week and told Weekend Argus that Women are taking ownership of their intimate needs and dominating the infidelity service.
Among 50 countries where it operates, South Africa is its 12th biggest market with a little over 3 300 people signing up monthly.
Research by the University of Missouri Kansas City’s Dr Alicia Walker showed that 80% of women who join Ashley Madison were living in either sexless or orgasm-less marriages.
Feedback from the website’s female users often highlights that they are a better mother, lover and wife because of their affairs.
There are also more females seeking to have an affair than men.
In South Africa, there are 1.8 active female accounts for every one active paid male account, which globally comes down to almost 1.11 females to one male.
At the beginning of the service’s rise, married heterosexual couples would often seek men to have affairs within their own gender, said Keable.
Over the years, they’ve attracted diverse groups including the LQBTQI(+) community.
“The community is diverse. We set it up so that you as a member can explore and find the affair or experience that you are looking for,” Keable explained.
Polyamory has become a hot new topic, but there is still a lot of judgement in society, he said.
This is the act of engaging in multiple sexual relationships with the consent of everyone involved.
“They don’t want their families and workplaces to know about this part of their lives; they use our platform to continue to explore what’s important to them.”
Keable stated that 70% of its users are looking for traditional affairs and 30% include polyamory, open relationships, swingers and everything in between.
According to the Family Law website, 2017’s data indicates that more wives than husbands initiated divorce proceedings.
“Divorce is really expensive and comprises a number of facts in your life. We try and offer these individuals a third pathway,” said Keable.
In 2015, a data dump worth 9.7 gigabytes leaked onto the dark web that included 32 million users of Ashley Madison’s information, WIRED reported.
Information included account details and log-ins as well as various personal information.
“We clearly let down our members. Before that incident happened we signed up about 33 000 people a day. During the worst of those times, we were signing up more than a 100 000 people a day.”
The website thereafter spent more than two years focusing inwardly on rebuilding some infrastructure and hired new security, among other things.
“As we build new features and new functionality on the website we continually look at how we address the security and the privacy for our members,” said Keable.
Although dating apps like Tinder and Grindr have grown in popularity, Keable maintained that Ashley Madison’s real competition will always be the workplace.
“That is where affairs happen over the years. You’re looking across from that person, spending far more time with them than you do with your spouse.
“Our platform is a better alternative for what we would like to say is a successful affair.”