Dear Melissa,
Let me take this at the broadest level by answering the question of why do men cheat?
There are a three schools of thoughts:
Biological
Societal
Psychological
Cheater Specific
Biological
There is a the school of thought that biology drives all human behavior… In this case we specifically investigate the drive to reproduce. Darwinist-type theories dictates that a man or woman exists specifically to pass his/her genes on to the next generation.
For men, the drive is to get as many instances of his genetic set into the population. While modern society has altered some of the basic rules here, the male investment in reproduction is relatively small. Therefore, it’s in a man’s “best genetic survival” to get as many “horses in the race” as possible.
For women it’s a little different. Women typically have a great investment in propagating offspring. Whether one takes this to mean, gestation period, the nurturing/rearing period, or a combination of both, women have a great vested interest in seeing her offspring thrive. Typically, offspring have a greater chance of thriving given a large involvement of both parents.
Taking this information into account, one would conclude that men cheat due to basic reproductive drives to create as many offspring as possible. And women are monogamous in order to keep a father’s involvement as great as possible in order to increase the guarantee that her offspring will thrive.
Societal
Some say that society propagates a man’s drive to cheat. Some say that society lauds greater sexual exploits as a show of virility and masculinity. Some might even stretch this adoration to say that great leaders typically have greater sexual drive. One doesn’t have to look to far into history to see good examples of this eg Bill Clinton, John F. Kennedy.
This segues nicely into society’s tacit public approval of infidelity. Even after being admitting to lying about his adulterous activities many members of respected media outlets did not denounce his actions and ask for his resignation, rather they protested the supposed “right wing conspirators” attempts to depose President Clinton.
It’s true that many Americans take moral and ethical queues from our President. Thus one might conclude that men cheat because society lauds and fails to punish adulterous behavior in the highest offices
Psychological
These theories could consume pages and pages of analysis and suppositions, but as I am neither an author or psychologist, I beg your pardon for the brief and raw explanations to follow:
Some say that men cheat to combat insecurities, that sexual conquests help to build or rebuild one’s decimated self-esteems.
Some say that some men cheat because they don’t know how to end unwanted relationships. That he sometimes attempts to sabotage relationships by cheating just as some people attempt “suicide by police.”
Some say that men cheat from fear of commitment. Well, I would refer to the paragraph above…
Keep Bouncin,
PingPong