Trending News: Some men are OK with their female partners cheating with another woman
Do you identify as straight? If so, while dating someone of the opposite sex, have you ever cheated – with someone of the same sex? When your partner found out, did they treat it like no big deal?
If the answer is yes, there may be a reason. According to recent research appearing in the Journal of Individual Differences, infidelity that occurs with someone of the same sex isn’t viewed in quite the same way as it is when opposite sex cheating happens.
Men’s Variety spoke to Matt Smith, a licensed psychotherapist in Chicago about the study to gain his insight. “I think this research helps us to better understand the complexities involved with physical and emotional attraction,” Smith says. “But I’d like to see more data on this subject,” he adds.
For this investigation, researchers at the University of Nicosia in Greece gave a short survey to 590 participants containing three sections.
In section one, participants were asked to imagine two hypothetical situations. The first involved them learning their partner had cheated with someone of the opposite-sex. The second asked they imagine their mate cheating with someone of the same- sex.
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After a period of reflection, the participants were asked to rate (on a five-point scale) how jealous and angry each cheating scenario made them. They were also asked how likely they would be to break up with their partner as a result.
The third part of the survey asked the following: “If I had to choose, I would prefer for my partner to cheat with (a) an individual of the same sex or (b) an individual of the opposite sex.”
As a way of collecting demographics, investigators request that participants report their marital status, age, sex, and sexual orientation.
Findings of study
So, you may be wondering about the results? According to the data, both men and women were much more open to same sex cheating as opposed to opposite sex infidelity.
But here is the interesting part – men were four times more likely to prefer their female partner cheat with another female. Women (generally speaking) frowned on infidelity, regardless of the scenario.
You may be wondering why guys seemed so open to same sex cheating? I know that I certainly was. Well, according to investigators, there may be one possibility.
Here’s what they wrote:
“It has been proposed that men prefer same-sex contact in women because it can enable them to have sex with additional women. Such male preference may also contribute to men’s higher tolerance for same-sex infidelity; for instance, if they catch their partners cheating with another woman, they could negotiate participating in a threesome.”
In some ways, this makes a lot of sense. It’s not like entire books haven’t been written that explore male fantasies related to getting it on with two women.
This much we know – homosexuality has been with us for a long time. Just go back to the time of the ancient Greeks, for example.
While the numbers aren’t exact, researchers think something like 10% of all men hold same-sex attractions while women hover around 20%.
But one really has to ask – isn’t an act of infidelity still cheating, regardless of gender?
Well, there you have it, folks. Apparently, a lot of guys are OK if their female partner steps out on them with another woman.
What are your thoughts? How do you explain the results of the study? Would you view cheating differently, based on the gender of the person they hooked up with?
