''Women are better at having affairs. They cover their tracks well'' True or False?

The first week of January is when it's most likely to happen with lots of marriages stretched to the limit over the Christmas break.
Used to be women had affairs if they fell out of love with their husbands and in love with someone else.

Then it became pseudo-acceptable (between friends and as much as affairs ever are accepted), to have If-only-I-hadn't-drunk-so-much-or-I'd-never-have-done-it one-night-slip-ups, if you weren't getting any at home.

These days, a woman can be blissfully happy with her 2.5 children, in love with her husband and reasonably sexually satisfied - and still feel justified having more than a bit on the side.
Illicitencounters.com - the UK's largest and longest running dating site for married people - has 750,000 members. A high proportion are women. Other sites like Adult Friend Finder and Shagaholic are also boasting soaring female memberships.
Nine million Brits will look for love online this year - but around 1.4m women will instead search for sex on the side.

There's been a massive shift in women's attitudes towards affairs. Some of it is the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' effect: women feel they've been given permission to push boundaries and try things they wouldn't dare to before. If their husbands don't want to, they'll go elsewhere.
The guilt most feel doing this is minimal: 'I deserve it.' 'It makes me feel alive.' 'I'm a great wife and mother, this is for me'. 'He'll never find out - who am I hurting?' 'Why give up something which gives me intense pleasure?'

Affairs are becoming less about filling an 'emptiness' in the marriage and more about sexploration. A case of wanting the cake and eating it too - with dessert wine, freshly brewed coffee, a cheeseboard with quince paste and oatcakes, hand-rolled Belgium chocolates, liqueur and (oh go on then) a post-dinner/coital fag as well.
It's about having the basics (long-term security) as well as the trimmings (exciting bits). The lot - and then some.
It's easy to look in and judge these relationships as outrageously selfish and 'bad'. But if they're not found out, the long-term partner in these circumstances often benefits as well.
Their wife walks around whistling, full of the joy of life and if his libido is low, he appreciates not being nagged for sex (even if a little part of him wonders why).
Even if the man has a high sex drive, it's rare they'll miss out on what was on offer before because having sex outside the marriage often sparks a higher desire for sex generally.
Of course the whole thing topples - usually in a spectacular and devastatingly disastrous fashion - if the infidelity is found out.
But here's the irony: turns out women aren't just playing men at their own game of cheating, they're better at it. Women are better at keeping secrets and covering their tracks, so less likely to be discovered.
The old perception about affairs was that women didn't have as many as men because they're in control of themselves sexually and men aren't.
The uncomfortable truth is, given half the chance, women cheat as much as men do. The difference now is they've got just as many opportunities as he had.


Do you agree with this study?