96%
of women are liars, honest
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1407622004
Scotsman
- 9th December 2004
NINETEEN
out of 20 women admit lying to their partners or husbands, a survey
on attitudes to truth and relationships has found.
Eighty-three
per cent owned up to telling "big, life-changing lies",
with 13 per cent saying they did so frequently.
Half said
that if they became pregnant by another man but wanted to stay with
their partner, they would lie about the baby’s real father.
Forty-two
per cent would lie about contraception in order to get pregnant,
no matter the wishes of their partner.
And an alarming
31 per cent said they would not tell a future partner if they had
a sexual disease: this rises to 65 per cent among single women.
In the poll
of 5,000 women for That’s Life! magazine, 45 per cent said
they told "little white lies" most days. The favourite
untruth was "of course you don’t look fat", with
"these shoes were only £10" in second place.
Jo Checkley,
the editor of That’s Life! , said that while many women now
lied to avoid hurting their partner’s feelings, covering up
the truth about a baby could have far more damaging consequences.
She said:
"Modern women just can’t stop lying, but they do it to
stop hurting other people’s feelings. It could be argued that
these little white lies simply make the world go round a little
more smoothly. But to tell a man a baby is his when it’s not,
or to deliberately get pregnant when your partner doesn’t
want a baby, is playing Russian roulette with other people’s
lives."
The National
Scruples and Lies Survey 2004 found plenty of untruths were told
over the Christmas period. A total of 78 per cent said they would
pass off a second-hand gift as a brand new present, while half have
lied about a Christmas card being "lost in the post".
Women will
also lie to save people’s feelings, with only 27 per cent
saying they would tell a man if he was hopeless in bed (although
a third would tell their friends all about it).
Just over
half would flatter a man if he asked them about his looks and only
46 per cent would give the "brutal truth". However, 61
per cent of women would want their partners to be "brutally
honest" if they asked them "do I look fat?" or "do
you think my best friend’s attractive?"
Elsewhere,
54 per cent admitted stealing sweets or chocolates; 23 per cent
would "sneak a bottle or two" home if they were invited
to a party by a well-off friend; 49 per cent would "kiss and
tell" to the media for £25,000 if they had a one-night
stand with a celebrity; and 38 per cent say they would marry purely
for money.
Nearly half
said they had faked orgasms and 55 per cent admitted claiming they
were tired, had a headache, or felt ill to "get out of lovemaking".
Nineteen
per cent of women with a long-term partner said they had cheated
on him, while 30 per cent of all women have had an affair with a
married man. Sixty-eight per cent said they did not trust their
partner.
As far as
trustworthy personalities are concerned, the woman with "the
most honest face" was Fern Britton, the This Morning host.
She was followed by the singer Kerry Katona (formerly McFadden),
Sharon Osbourne of The X Factor and the Queen.
The "most
honest male face" jointly went to Ant and Dec, the presenters
of I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here!, with Prince William
second.
The results
come in the wake of the controversy surrounding David Blunkett,
the Home Secretary, and his former lover, the publisher Kimberly
Quinn. They had a child, but she kept details of the affair secret
from her husband Stephen, even taking her son to Corfu for a week’s
holiday to bond with him this year.
Mr Quinn
accepted his wife’s story, but she had covered up the fact
she was accompanied by Mr Blunkett.
•
The survey questioned 5,000 women, average age 38, across Scotland,
England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Top
ten porkies
That’s
Life! magazine has carried out its National Scruples and Lies Survey
2004 to find out the top ten lies told by women. They are:
1. "Of
course you don’t look fat!"
2. "These shoes were only £10."
3. "The bus/train was late."
4. "I’ve got a headache."
5. "I’ve only had one drink."
6. "That dress looks good on you."
7. "The cheque’s in the post."
8. "You look ten years younger."
9. "You’re wonderful in bed."
10. "I love you."
Legislating
vice and demonising virtue 23rd October 2004
