Lest you have hidden yourself beneath a celibate rock, you have heard some whisperings of the scandals surrounding Ashley Madison: how Ottawa has been branded as the city with the most users (although, if you check out Global News’ story from today, apparently Calgarians are more frisky), the stories of T.V. celebrities like the Duggars and Snooki, or even the pure power behind the group of hackers, the Impact Team, for their ability to take over a website, steal credit card numbers, and instill fear in the millions of website subscribers.
It seemed an appropriate time to pull our piece on Ashley Madison from the archives where we cover the numbers, not only the city, but how the neighbourhoods within it stack up.
Originally published in the April 2014 issue of Ottawa Magazine.
By SARAH BROWN
Parsing the latest Ashley Madison stats for clues on the status of the capital’s extramarital liaisons
Sure, there’s that buttoned-down reputation trotted out by every other city in the country whenever the capital is mentioned. But Ottawa is actually tops in the country when it comes to carefree two-timing.
Ottawa Magazine checked in with Ashley Madison — you know, the website for married people looking to cheat (catchy slogan, Life Is Short. Have an Affair) — to see whether the capital remained as unfaithful as ever. The short answer: you bet. Public moralizing and complicated secret lives — what could be more Ottawa than that?
Hereto, a “state of the union” address revealing the latest stats on how many of us are double-dealing (or looking to) and which neighbourhoods have wandering eyes.
As of January 2014, Ottawa retained its crown as the top city for cheaters, ranking first in terms of membership per capita (though behind the bigger cities of Toronto and Calgary in terms of total membership). Some 175,321 aspiring local philanderers were signed up, with an average age of 39 for men and 37 for women. That’s interesting, but the stats scrutiny gets a little more titillating (and addictive) when it’s broken down into neighbourhoods. That’s when you can start eyeing up your neighbours and letting your dirty mind wander.
Top 10 cheating neighbourhoods in Ottawa — drum roll, please — and in the category of No Surprise, the winning “neighbourhood” is Parliament Hill, whose postal code accounts for nearly 11 percent of Ashley Madison’s local clientele. Take note, Frank magazine. Another Hill — Sandy Hill, just down the road — holds down second spot for urban cheaters. Kanata runs a close third, followed by Hunt Club, Glebe, Queensway, Riverview, Overbrook, Centretown, and Dalhousie. A 2012 Ashley Madison poll saw Rockcliffe Park in top spot, with Kanata, Nepean, Sandy Hill, and Westboro rounding out the top-five list of philanderer wannabes.