Why Women Cheat

If you center your focus on alleged adulterers like Ashton Kutcher, Jesse James and Kobe Bryant, you’ll be under the impression that all men are dogs and cheat much more frequently than women. Don’t kid yourselves, Elite. Women are quickly catching up in the game of infidelity, and recently published research might even have you questioning the fidelity of your beau.

The exact numbers are difficult to discern, as these surveys are based on the honesty of the participant, but research has shown that cheating may be more prevalent than we thought. Research from Indiana University and Manchester Metropolitan University found that roughly 20-25% of men have cheated, compared to about 15-20% of women. However, Joyce Brothers, a respected figure in psychology, posited that half of married women cheat on their spouses.

Clinical studies tend to report a lower prevalence of cheating. Nonetheless, while a University of Chicago study found that only 15-18% of ever-married people cheated on their spouse during the marriage, a followup to that study absent the presence of family members found a much higher rate of cheating. Clearly, we cannot discern a very accurate result due to our inclination to lie about our misdeeds. Nonetheless, cheating certainly seems to be happening more than the public might suspect.

We need to accept that men and women are of equal blame for the prevalence of cheating in our society. The divorce rate is currently at about 65 percent, increasing as women exert their independence in relationships. Long gone are the days of “till death do us part”. In the past, when many women were dependent on their husbands, cheating wouldn’t even spring into their minds.

As women have become more self-sufficient and financially stable, they are now in a position to leave their lackluster husbands. Further, financial stability makes cheating a viable option as many women have the capability to endure the financial strain of a divorce.

“Women are quickly catching up in the game of infidelity.”

While men tend to cheat for the sex, women hunger for emotional satiation. Of course, there certainly are many cases of women cheating just for sex. However, Helen Fisher, PhD has found that women tend to have an emotional connection with their lovers and oftentimes cheating starts due to loneliness. Fisher found that 34% of women who cheated were happy with their relationship, as opposed to 56% of men. As we can see, we have different reasons for our misdeeds.

Insecurity can play a factor in this, as if a woman is insecure she will not feel wanted or loved–leading to unhappiness. Men, the master manipulators, will take advantage of these emotions. Personally, we’ve heard “I want to but I can’t” on countless occasions that nonetheless led to sex.

Another reason why women cheat is because their friends haven’t connected with her boyfriend. In these cases, her friends will hate her boyfriend and thus do everything in their power to turn the girl aganist him. Unsurprisingly, these girls are usually single and very jealous that their friend has a nice boyfriend.

When manipulation comes into play, they begin to tell her she needs to live a little and explore other men–as she’s not having the “fun” that they are. This ignores the fact that these women are secretly unhappy and seeking men of their own. With constant pressure from her friends, she’ll eventually adopt this mindset. After that one tiny fight with her boyfriend, she will finally break.

It’s usually a sign of a bigger problem when someone cheats, but women, more than men, tend to look elsewhere for fulfillment when they don’t feel desired, understood, or appreciated. There are also the thrill-seekers, who love the adrenaline rush and adventure when things have gotten stale at home–following in the footsteps of negative role models like Kim Kardashian.

Regardless of the purpose behind cheating, it’s wrong. We need to accept that both sides are equally guilty and perhaps work towards Kanye West’s idea of non-monogamy.

Elite.