Men have biologically evolved to cheat

The argument

The argument rests on a line of research about reproductive strategy rather than on any claim about individual intent. In 1948, A.J. Batemen published his landmark study into mating strategies in nature. His paper "Intrasexual selection in drosophila" revealed that males and females have different reproductive strategies, and in turn these feed into their interactions with the world. The starting observation is therefore comparative and biological: the two sexes are not solving the same problem, so there is no reason to expect the same behaviour to be advantageous to both. Many academics have gone on to confirm his thesis, that the biological differences between men and women impact their reproductive strategies. Given humans are built to reproduce, proponents argue, these strategies shape the way that we have sexual relationships, both in initial motivations and in seeking alternative mates. That is the step that carries the argument from insects to people: if reproduction is what the strategies are for, they should be expected to express themselves wherever reproduction is at stake, including within existing relationships. The modern evidence is offered as replication rather than novelty. In 2010, researchers at the University of Oxford returned to Bateman's ideas for themselves, and their findings confirmed what he had found more than six decades earlier. The group concluded that amongst the 7,000 US adults surveyed," the association between mating and reproductive success was stronger in men so that men with 3 or more consecutive spouses had 19% more children than men with the only spouse. In contrast, spouse number beyond the first partner was not associated with several children in women." The asymmetry in that result is what the conclusion rests on. Additional partners increase reproductive output for men and not for women, so on this view men are naturally predisposed to have multiple sexual partners to maximise their reproductive capabilities.

Context

In theory, men can have as many children as they want. Of course, the same is not true for women. This major difference in reproductive capabilities indicates wider differences. In this context, that a man is built to have multiple sexual relationships, while a woman is not.

Premises

Counter-arguments

These studies do not specifically look at cheating. While the results of the Oxford study are interesting, they are also focused on serial monogamy. Their conclusions might have broader implications. However, these test cases make a case for males having multiple partners. That can manifest in many ways. Not just infidelity.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P3] Biological capability does not determine human behaviour