Have you ever known (of) a woman who wanted a temporary "out" of a marriage?

That’s a human thing, and reason why people shouldn’t get married at 21, lol.

Yes. A close friend of ours. She never came back. It turned out she had been screwing around behind everyone’s back for at least a year.

I think most people have thought of this at times and some people act on it.

Once you are “out” there is no coming back. Not here, anyway.

When I was engaged to my first husband, I suddenly freaked out about the idea of getting married. It was so odd… I told him I wanted to become ‘un-engaged’ but still wanted to be with him (and not anyone else), continue to live with him, and not tell anyone about our situation. He agreed, and I continued to wear my ring so nobody else would know besides us. It took all the pressure off, for some reason. About two weeks later, when we were grocery shopping, I had an epiphany that this is what marriage was going to be like on a regular basis. Just living a life, but together. I told him in the grocery store that I was ready, and we got ‘re-engaged’. Not exactly the same, I know, but it’s all I’ve got.

Yes; my mum and dad have had their problems throughout their marriage (I don’t think it’s appropriate to brag about what the problems actually were) and a few years back my mum wanted to leave. She made it clear to me that she still loved my dad but that she just had to ‘get away’ for 6 months or so. I can’t remember why but it had something to do with getting it ‘out of her system’; I also think my dad needed a bit of a wake-up call. She never actually left, and now they’re really, really loved up. Hmm.

Many married people have “trial separations”, and then work out their differences. It is not uncommon. My cousin and her husband got divorced and then moved in together after a few weeks. They are still together, years later.

I question whether this is something that can be classified as a “female” thing. I’d would have to see studies or surveys from a trustworthy source. It seems more like something that would be either/or.

I did know of one but only after she admitted she’d already “outed”. It didn’t do the marriage any favors and the couple eventually divorced.

Conventional marriage sounds suffocating and wanting an “out” is completely understandable, for men or women. Why is this question focused on women?