New study finds men are more likely to cheat on women who earn more or less money than they do

People spent money on a study that concluded that men will basically are highly likely to cheat on their partner unless they earn a similar income. The message here: men cheat.

Still no cure for cancer.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/08/16...ex.html?hpt=T2
Men who are more famous, occupy a higher social status and are significantly better looking than their spouse are more likely to cheat also. Why? Other women have identified them as 'targets.' If Tiger Woods was just your avg dude, he'd have about as women as me throwing themselves at him.
All this time I thought it was because I enjoyed women so much, the thrill of having something that I don't have at the moment. You know the thought .... "I want that".

I guess I don't apply to the study, though she does well, she is still following up the ladder behind myself.

The message here: men cheat.
Since I see women only!!!!! The message here: There must be women who cheat also.
jughead1171's Avatar
IMHO I think most men and women cheat when something is missing in the relationship and either one or both are not willing to work on what it would take to make the other happy.
Rudyard K's Avatar
I love facts like these. Just the nature of the question predetermines the outcome.

How about asking...Do men who have money, acclaim and power have more opportunity with women than men who don't hold those attributes?

There is no doubt about it...men cheat...and they probably have more propensity to do so than women. The "Why" is a bit more difficult to ascertain.
WTF's Avatar
  • WTF
  • 08-17-2010, 12:06 PM

The "Why" is a bit more difficult to ascertain. Originally Posted by Rudyard K
Pretty simple RK.
Women need a reason, men just need an opportunity
Some guys whose wives earn more than they do might have self-esteem issues and feel that they need to "validate their manhood."

Some guys whose wives earn similar incomes may feel that their household depends to such a significant extent on the extra income that they're afraid to rock the boat. And they may be afraid that their wives would cut their balls off if they got caught straying!

Men who earn substantially more than their wives obviously have far more sexual opportunities. They are likely to screw around because...well, because they are men!

Anyway, that's my oversimplified "occam's razor-style" take on the issue.

The best part is that I didn't even have to burn through any money to come to those conclusions.
Women need a reason, men just need an opportunity Originally Posted by pjorourke
+1

Men are interested in the physical act and release.

Women want foreplay and interaction.

For men it's physical; for women it's a head game.

(Well, it's a head game for men, too...just a different head. lol)
i cheat because i can. And i like it....im in love with being with other women over and over again. Screw money or not getting it at home. I get it all the time and how i want it. Something better about forbidden fruit....seems and sounds more appealing.
I love facts like these. Just the nature of the question predetermines the outcome.

How about asking...Do men who have money, acclaim and power have more opportunity with women than men who don't hold those attributes?

There is no doubt about it...men cheat...and they probably have more propensity to do so than women. The "Why" is a bit more difficult to ascertain. Originally Posted by Rudyard K
Great thoughts. I am reminded that 70% of married man cheat at least once at some point -- which means that 30% don't.

But what if I gave that 30% unlimited funds, fame, acclaim, a near guarantee that they wouldn't be caught ... and some dream girls.

How many of those 30% cheat?

BUT -- I can also look at it the other way.

I am reasonably convinced that most men prefer to remain faithful provided their needs can be met within the marriage. I said "prefer" -- not necessarily do. How many of those 70% wouldn't cheat provided all of their needs were met within the marriage?

Likewise, I believe that some innovative techniques employed within marriage can have a beneficial effect on at least male fidelity. For example, role play where the wife assumes some other role or appearance every so often. For greater info on this, a Rabbi wrote an interesting book with variances on this theme called "Kosher Adultery" in which he describes how to have an affair with your spouse. The ideas are applicable to folks without regard to religious affiliation.

Of course, I should point out that recent data indicates that wives cheat every bit as much as husbands; and genetic surveys are showing that 10% of children born to American couples are the result of cuckoldry -- even in an era of ubiquitous birth control availability.

Women cheat, they simply aren't as flamboyant about it and don't have to pay. I wasn't always very cautious in checking out women I saw in the civie world while dating and on three occasions slept with married women without immediately realizing it, in one case for a few weeks. I'm absolutely certain I wasn't the first or last.

A while back I read a book I found very interesting called "his needs, her needs" that put forth the premise that infidelity is generally unintended and starts with unmet emotional needs being met by someone outside the marriage. Often people don't even realize they have such unmet needs. I think this idea has some merit.

But it certainly doesn't apply to an arena in which women are widely reviewed, charge a fee, and men go way out of their way to meet them. That's not an accident -- it is intentional -- and most assuredly falls to at least some degree outside the premises of that book.

On another track, we are not innately monogamous creatures, but are rather socially monogamous. Research on topics such as sperm competition should disabuse us of any notions of monogamy being an innate state of affairs for either sex.

Social monogamy, as it tends to oppose certain implicit tendencies, is a fragile thing in that it depends upon social disapproval of polygamy or infidelity and likely even punishment to be held together.

100 years ago, despite birth control being nowhere near as available as it is now, the rate of out of wedlock births (which can be used in that era to some extent as a proxy measurement for infidelity) were small. Like 2%-3%. Unless all the guys who were cheating were doing so with married women; there likely wasn't much cheating going on.

But, then, infidelity constituted fault grounds for divorce; would get you fired from your job, would subject you to massive amounts of public humiliation such that for all practical purposes its discovery meant that your social life was over.

Today, if infidelity is mentioned to a marital master in a divorce hearing; s/he just waves a hand dismissively. It is a total non-issue. Your boss looks at you sympathetically and just says "You too, huh? Be more careful next time." Prominent political figures and even sports heroes; though somewhat excoriated, provide an example showing that fulfilling libidinous impulses is entirely normal, etc. etc.

Of course, the whole game is about to change anyway because economics will, I think, deal marriage a death blow and have us hurtling headlong into polygamy (not polyamory -- polygamy) unless people learn how to re-create support networks with extended families.
i cheat because i can. And i like it....im in love with being with other women over and over again. Screw money or not getting it at home. I get it all the time and how i want it. Something better about forbidden fruit....seems and sounds more appealing. Originally Posted by windowshopper
Word!
I once read about a study that showed that the percentage of women who cheat is comparable to the percentage of men who cheat. However, according to the research, women get caught less frequently. The explanation included evidence that women cheat in more calculated ways and are better at lying about it. Interesting results, yes? We'll never really know anything for sure, but it's cool to read that stuff.