Now this here’s one gap we’re NOT so proud of closing. According to a NYTimes article last week by Tara Parker-Pope, “Love, Sex and the Changing Landscape of Infidelity”, a handful of new studies suggest that, yes, women–young women included–appear to be closing the adultery gap.
Apparently, younger women are now cheating on their spouses nearly as often as men. Â The most consistent data on infidelity come from the General Social Survey, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and based at the University of Chicago.
The stats:
- In any given year, about 10 percent of married people – 12 percent of men and 7 percent of women – say they have had sex outside their marriage.
- While University of Washington researchers have found that the lifetime rate of infidelity for men over 60 increased to 28 percent in 2006, up from 20 percent in 1991, for women over 60, the increase is more striking: to 15 percent, up from 5 percent in 1991.
- Researchers also see big changes in relatively new marriages: About 20 percent of men and 15 percent of women under 35 say they have ever been unfaithful, up from about 15 and 12 percent respectively.
So much for the moral superiority of women
(Thanks to CCF for the heads up.)
Comments
anniegirl1138 — November 2, 2008
Consequences of increased choices that education and self-sufficiency provide, and proof that men and women are more alike than different.
gwp_admin — November 3, 2008
So true, anniegirl, so true!!!
Renee Siegel — November 3, 2008
The statistics are interesting, but they don't really say much about the reasons why either married spouse seeks another sexual partner. What I wonder is whether the reasons differ between men and women or whether they are the same. I guess someone would have to do a research project to find out. I suspect that between men and women there would be some shared reasons and some very different reasons to seek out another partner. Sexual contact has much to do with emotional needs as well as physical needs. Wonder if there are different emotional needs between men and women. This is , of course, aside from other reasons like anger at a spouse, need for revenge, displaced anger, disappointment in one's life in general, etc., etc. Anybody have any ideas?
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