Cheating is the norm, not exception, in men

London, Jan 9: A study has found men are always likely to cheat despite loving their partners and never wishing to leave them and suggests that society embrace more “sexually open relationships”.According to sociologist Eric Anderson, cheating gives the men the best of both worlds. And most of them who do still want to stay with their partner — they just want to have more sex on the side, the Daily Mail reported.

Monogamy has ostracised men from doing what they most want to do, says the American sociologist, who teaches at Britain’s University of Winchester.

In his book — The Monogamy Gap: Men, Love, and the Reality of Cheating — Anderson writes cheating is the norm, not the exception to it, and it’s high time that people start embracing “sexually open relationships that coexist without hierarchy or hegemony”.

He says the ones who don’t stray are actually setting themselves up for “socially-compelled sexual incarceration”.

For the study, Anderson surveyed 120 undergraduate men — both gay and straight. He found that 78 percent of those with partners cheated, “even though they said that they loved and intended to stay with their partner”.

He told the Huffington Post that men want to be emotionally monogamous, though their “body craves sex with other people somatically”.

To Anderson, it’s better for men to cheat and repent for it, since telling their partner that they want sex outside the relationship is a tried-and-true relationship-ender.

“When men cheat for recreational sex, not affairs, they do love their partners,” he said, adding : “If they didn’t, they would break up with them”.