Summary: Ashley Madison has recently relaunched in South Korea, now that adultery is no longer illegal. Over 100,000 subscribers have already signed up, eager to set up a fling.
Ashley Madison is a website that doesn’t sugarcoat its purpose: its goal is to help individuals cheat. According to the New York Post, earlier this year, South Korea issued a ruling that decriminalized adultery, a groundbreaking move in the country. According to Ashley Madison executives, the site has been flooded with so much traffic from South Korea that it is expected to be in the top three markets for the site, after the United States and Canada.
Many women are signing up for memberships with the site, enjoying access to disposable income and the freedom to do what men have done for years. Noel Biderman, the creator of the site, said that Ashley Madison provides women the opportunity to have just as many affairs as men do, according to BBC. However, women who get caught cheating will likely face harsher consequences than men who stray.
Read about the legalization of adultery in South Korea here.
Ashley Madison operates in 46 countries and boasts 36 million members. It launched in South Korea in April of 2014. In just 14 days, over 50,000 individuals had signed up.
South Korea blocked access to the website, citing an anti-adultery law from sixty years ago. South Korea also forbids citizens from looking at pornography. However, Ashley Madison sued, and in February, the law was struck down. The ban was removed.
This time, in the first two weeks after the site became available, over 100,000 new members signed up, earning Ashley Madison a cool $400,000 in revenue.
Ashley Madison is perceived as the first company in South Korea to outright promote itself as a dating website for those who are already married. Of course, other dating websites have been used to commit affairs for years.
Last year, New Hampshire repealed its adultery law.
Ashley Madison was surprised to see that more women than men under the age of 45 have created profiles. Paul Keable, a spokesman for Ashley Madison, said, “Men have always had affairs. The problem for women is that the consequences have been much graver … Women have a greater economic level and independence than they had previously, so they’re able to access the thing they’ve always wanted but could never do before. That’s what you’re seeing in Korea.”
One woman, a 34-year-old in Seoul, has been married for five years. Although she has talked to several men online, she has only met one in person. She has not cheated yet, because she has not found the right man to cheat with. She said, “This is the perfect way to see if he’s out there.” The woman just wants a “side relationship.”
She explained that things are “generally ok” with her husband, but that she wants more attention. She commented, “I don’t really want to change the situation I’m in now; I just want to add some spice. I want to have someone to whom I could retreat to for a short time before I go back to reality.”
In 2012, a U.S. army general was charged with forcible sodomy and adultery.
Men who are caught cheating usually suffer few consequences. Most even stay married, according to Cho Kyungae, a senior counselor at the Korea Legal Aid Center for Family Relationships. However, if a woman is caught, she could lose her job and her family.
Cho explained, “Society’s view is, ‘How could someone’s wife dare to do that? Isn’t she ashamed as a mother?’”
Source: New York Post
Photo credit: dealbreaker.com