Lousy spouse web site: Husbands, wives get their chance to vent

WASHINGTON -- Just about every week, it seems, another sex scandal breaks: Gov. Mark Sanford, Sen. John Ensign, Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino.

And that's nothing compared with all the cinematic scripts playing out behind closed doors. Recently, a few dozen people met to celebrate the launch of a Web site, talk about cheaters and toast the idea of moving on.

LousySpouse.com was founded this summer by two women from Alexandria, Va., one of whose marriages ended so badly that, with a flair for the dramatic and a strong desire not to make her divorce any more complicated than it was, she wore a wig and pink sunglasses to a restaurant and refused to have her name published.

The site was started to give support, resources and options to people who have just been knocked upside the head, figuratively speaking, by their husband or wife.

LousySpouse.com provides information on lawyers, private investigators, finances -- even movie suggestions to help people laugh off their louse. And with a nod to Halloween, the Web site also offers some horror stories.

Lousy, of course, is in the eye of the beholder. But the site comes at a time when half of all marriages end in divorce, some studies say at least 40 percent of all spouses are unfaithful, and there's so much demand for an online dating site designed for married people that its officials recently launched an iPhone app. So a Web site meant to help people get through the morass seems not only inevitable but maybe even necessary.

The founders wanted something people could use at 3 a.m. when they realize their spouse isn't coming home that night -- a positive place that is free and always available, where they could rant, get advice, make plans and maybe laugh a little.

The site has links to resources, financial worksheets, advice about insurance, books, supportive comments, a creepy quiz about whether a spouse might be cheating and a forum for victims.

A father of four said the best thing the site could do was act as a brake to stop people from acting on their first instinct and get them to calm down and think things through.