Women often initiate extramarital affairs. Here are some surprising facts about infidelity in India

Infidelity is a term that brings in much debate with it. Without an intention to interfere with the institution of marriage, a survey finds, women in India are not shying away from making the first move. Earlier research had suggested that women were distressed if their partner received infidelity-related messages from a potential rival.

Conducted by Gleeden.com, a dating site for married individuals, the survey gives information on how seeking for new encounters outside marriage is no more a taboo in India. It was conducted by the French dating major among its Indian members (3512 men and 3121 women members) from July 19 to 25. The key findings of the survey are:

* Contrary to popular belief, the data shows that women are not averse to making the first move to seek new encounters outside marriage. Among those surveyed people felt that such encounters happened with females taking lead in more than one third of the cases.

* The age group for a majority of those seeking fresh encounters outside marriage is between 34 to 49 years in India, which is similar to the rest of the world.

* 88% of respondents kept these encounters to themselves and did not share it with their friends or family. Another eight percent shared it with their peers or friends. Only four percent were open about it and shared it with their family as well.

* Majority of the respondents (more than 57%) of the survey, be it male or female, have no qualms in accepting that these encounters are more about satiating the urge for physical intimacy than developing a platonic relationship.

Commenting on the survey, Solene Paillet, head of communication in CC, Gleeden.com, said, “In this survey, we have seen a vast difference, how women have come up and spoken up about extramarital encounters.”

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