It's pathetic, and Peg in particular sounds like a pig! I think there is a compelling reason why some women specialize in appropriating other women's husbands. I'm thinking now of two married couples who were best friends and neighbors. For years they celebrated holidays jointly with their children, who were like family to one another. The two couples played tennis doubles regularly at the same club, and traveled as a foursome to Europe and the Caribbean every year.

After years of such closeness, wife from couple A suddenly and inexplicably left her husband. One year later, husband from couple B up and left his wife -- also without much explanation other than, "I've been unhappy." Suspicions grew and rumors flew, and before long wife A and husband B were seen together constantly. It came out that this was the culmination of a long-running extramarital affair. I have also heard that wife A's mother did the same with her best friend's husband.

Wife A became a pariah among the women of the neighborhood, much more so than husband B, who was, of course, equally guilty of betraying both his spouse and his best friend. There is something especially vicious about women who zero in on their friend's husbands or boyfriends.

Are all women who are drawn to other women's husbands -- whether they know the wives or not -- inspired by a special challenge to "win" the guy away from his wife? Is it competitiveness with other women, or the appeal of the unavailable man?