"...According to many scientific experts, monogamy is a myth and we now have DNA testing to prove it. In their book Myth of Monogamy: Fidelity and Infidelity in Animals and People, husband-and-wife team, behavioural scientist David P. Barash and psychiatrist Judith Eve Lipton, argue that monogamy "goes against some of the deep-seated inclinations with which biology has endowed most creatures, including humans".
Monogamy, they argue, is unnatural, but that doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile. After all, when a couple remains together, bound by fidelity, it makes it easier to bring up children and stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
Barash and Lipton argue that in nature, very few animals practise monogamy. Scientists used to think that some species, mainly birds, were monogamous but genetic testing has proved that while some animals might stay with a mate for a very long time, most have s*x with others outside their "pairing". Many humans do the same.
But why do we stray? According to Professor Colin Groves, a professor of biological anthropology at ANU, the tendency to wander arises from a deep-seated search "to get better genes" and men and women are equally adulterous.
Groves illustrates the point with the example of birds. "In theory the female, like the male, would seek out the best partner with the best genes and it might not be the same individual as the partner with the best parenting skills. So that's the idea: to get the best genes and come back and deposit the result of these excellent genes into the nest of the male that's going to make the best parent. The same is true for primates."
He says humans use religious and social codes to prohibit adultery in order to bind society. "In humans, where bonding is official � in marriage, it is more than just a link between two partners," he says. "It s a link between two families or two clans, and it would clearly be a very bad thing if one clan suspected that the woman who is supposed to be increasing their particular numbers is actually having children by a completely different clan."
Dr Anthony Marcus, an anthropologist and senior lecturer at Melbourne University Private, says that's just part of the story. "It's human nature to be a social animal, intimately and intensely involved in others," he says. He points out that s*x, kinship and property are all linked. While humans enjoy chasing the sexual thrill, they are also driven by their to desire to "spread relationships". Monogamy, he argues, is "something created and imposed by human beings as a way of managing the intersection of political and social affairs."
"Affairs is probably the wrong word here," he adds as an afterthought. It seems not only is monogamy difficult, it is also rare. Everywhere we care to look, there seems to be an adulterer. Former US president Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky led him to commit perjury, which resulted in impeachment proceedings. Jimmy Carter talked about it: "I've looked on many women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times."
Prince Charles admitted he had had an affair during his marriage. And then there are the legendary philanderers: J.F. Kennedy, Henry VIII, Cleopatra and Mark Antony. More recently, celebrities suffer regularly from accusations of infidelity: Mick Jagger and David Beckham come immediately to mind. And just this week George W. Bush has had the finger pointed at him..."
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