Extra-marital affairs are nothing unusual in "Desperate Housewives." But is the Bay Area really that far off from Wisteria Lane? A web dating service for men and women who want to cheat on their partners says it's seeing a huge jump in Bay Area membership, especially among one particular group.
"It's these young married women 200-300 percent growth in that area. I think that's pretty remarkable and telling of what's going on in society," said AshleyMadison.com founder Noel Biderman.
Canadian Noel Biderman founded AshleyMadison.com. With its racy commercials, banned from the Super Bowl -- the site doesn't hide the fact it's here to make money off cheating hearts. And Biderman claims there are a lot of them in the Bay Area. A year ago, women married less than three years accounted for under 300 members locally -- now, there are about 850. And this region has one of the highest ratios of women to men on the site. Biderman believes it reflects Bay Area women's financial independence.
"Women who have steady jobs, are now the main income breadwinner in the family, those women tend to have more affairs than say a woman who works part-time, who works less than her husband," said Biderman.
Biderman believes celebrity affairs such as Tiger Woods may have de-stigmatized affairs and made them more mainstream. Meanwhile, technology may have made them easier. Jessica Fenduin, a happily-married visitor from the Netherlands, has seen online social networking lead to sexual networking among acquaintances.
"People are married for 10 years and they think about their first love and they go online, go to Facebook find their first love and make easier contact I think," said Jessica Fenduin.
Jessica's husband Martin says if you want to keep the love you have now -- it's actually quite simple.
"Pay attention, pay attention to her. That's the best you can do really," said Martin Fenduin.
As if to underscore that point about needing to be appreciated, Ashley Madison says 31,000 new women signed up the day after Mother's Day. The site also expects a jump on the upcoming day after Father's Day.
