Topic Idea: Keeping Secrets from Your Partner

You may have heard the one about the writer to Slate’s agony aunt whose husband neglected to tell her he’d had a vasectomy before they were married, leading her to despair of her supposed infertility.

After this story broke, a Mommyish writer took a poll about the secrets women keep from their husbands. The answers she received included: the too-long peck on the lips I shared with an old beau, the fact I still keep in touch with another ex, the true number of sexual partners I’d had before our relationship. Read more here.

Set Up Ideas:

• Ask listeners to share the secrets they are keeping from their spouses via text.

• What secrets are okay to keep? Where do you draw the line? Discuss.

• In a recent article in The Times, the UK-based psychologist Dr Cecilia d’Felice says: “If it serves no purpose to tell the truth other than to assuage your guilt, offload your problems or hurt your partner, there may be times when an untruth will serve your relationship better.” Do you agree with this statement?