Opinion | Adultery website to launch in Hong Kong
Ashley Madison connects married individuals for affairs with “no strings attached”
“Life is short. Have an affair,” proclaims controversial dating website Ashley Madison. Married people sign up to meet each other for affairs and “discreet encounters” through the website, which with 20 million members says it is the world’s largest dating platform for cheating husbands and wives.
The dating agency launches in Hong Kong at the end of the month, and is expected to be greeted with howls of protest from church leaders, family groups and moral guardians. Hong Kong’s politicians are unlikely to jump into the fray, unless they are themselves squeaky clean and monogamous.
Not surprisingly, the website has already sparked a media furore throughout America and Europe, with coverage on CNN and Fox News and in print media such as Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
No Sloppy Endings
Ashley Madison says it tries to make women feel comfortable about having affairs. They even aim for the moral high ground, claiming most online dating sites use half-naked women to lure new users, while they portray a “girls’ night out feeling” to attract married women. To make affairs more attractive to women, founder and CEO Noel Biderman, who styles himself “The King of Infidelity,” says he named the website using the two most popular female baby names in 2002. He says the website is upfront about its purpose: connecting married people who want to stray with no strings attached, and with no “sloppy endings.”