In the past, females would depend on their parents to feed them, later they would get married and would solely depend on their husbands. Females’ dependency on males is due to economic gain since in the old times there was little for women to do, and they would spend most of their time at the home, looking after their children. It was just a matter of survival for women, they would get bored looking after many children and get exhausted mentally and physically. Life has changed drastically, women now compete with men in almost every field, and the financial dependency is almost over. Women are choosy when it comes to mating since she does not wish to raise the children of a man whom she thinks inferior in status, unfit for bringing a child; she is in search of someone who is able to follow the role of a father.
KEY POINTS:
- Staying monogamous is challenging in cities.
- Men prefer casual sex, while women do not.
- Men struggle for social status in life.
Staying monogamous is a challenge:
As Bertrand Russel says, it is hard to stay monogamous where there males and females interact. The reason is simple when both partners leave their homes for their jobs early in a city, they will meet other on the way to work, in the office, and in other places which raises the chances of getting attracted to others that break the spell of love, and the partners no longer stay monogamous. It is easy for a male/female to stay committed where they hardly interact with others or both are religiously devoted and scared of hell. In cities, it is likely that one of the partners may fall under someone’s spell since there are many seducers in the world and married people eventually get tired of one another; they want to be led astray and distracted. Every relationship is exciting in the beginning, everything feels so wonderful, seduction in the first stages is enthralling that makes the women hate their boring husbands and vice versa and wish to replace them with new ones. With so many choices, it gets difficult for women to choose the best partner for mating since raising a child is not that easy.
“The outcome of Bateman’s six series of matchmaking was the first scientific report of greater male variation in reproductive success. For example, 21 percent of males failed to produce any offspring, compared with only 4 percent of females. Males also showed greater variation in the estimated number of mates. But it was the linking of the two findings that became the basis of explanations for why males compete and females choose: Bateman concluded that although male reproductive success increased with promiscuity, female reproductive success did not. His critically important explanation was the now familiar insight that male success in producing offspring is largely limited by the number of females he can inseminate, whereas a female gains nothing from further pairings beyond a single one (since her first mate should furnish her with plenty more sperm than she needs).”
Males usually have less to lose:
Males usually enjoy casual sex, while females enjoy committed, hookup sex. One of the reasons women are not ready to mate with a person they have not known well is they are afraid of potential consequences, being called a whore, since they believe this is what they would be thought of if they go to bed with them so easily; the other risk is being raped, molested, trapped, manipulated, and likely getting pregnant. Men have nothing to lose when it comes to sex, women have to carry the extra burden.
“As University of Missouri–St. Louis evolutionary biologist Zuleyma Tang-Martínez puts it: Up until very recently, the unquestioned assumptions underlying the study of sexual selection have been that eggs are expensive while sperm are unlimited and cheap, that males should therefore be promiscuous while females should be very choosy and should mate with only the one best male, and that there should be greater reproductive variance among males (as compared to females) because it is males that compete for females and mate with more than one female. Since females are, presumably, mating with only one male, this means that some males may mate with many females, while others may mate with few or none. This reproductive variance is then responsible for the sexual selection of traits possessed by the more successful males.”
“Of course, men might want to have sex with many different women, but not be able to realize their preferences. Yet even when men are asked how many sexual partners they’d ideally like, the answers are not vastly different from women’s responses, and show a strong disinclination in men to take up the heroic to-do list required for a sufficiently high turnover of casual sex partners to have decent odds of theoretically outreproducing a monogamous male.”
Men supposedly strive for social status:
Men thrive to compete and secure a higher social status; they struggle for power, fame, and status. A man who is the center of attention is likely to get married to any girl he wants to since girls are attracted to a man who is powerful, famous, and reputable. Men under the spotlight prefer multiple sexual partners since they cannot resist the temptations; they get much attention from countless females. Famous politicians, celebrities, and great leaders; do enjoy the company of different women.
“Finally, contrary to what one might expect on the basis of the assumption that men supposedly strive for social status in order to gain reproductive opportunities, men in the highest social class were the most likely to prefer to be married with no other sex partners, and the least likely to want to exclusively devote their sexual energies to casual sex.”
Conclusion:
Women and men are likely to deviate from the path of monogamy when they have opportunities to interact with others; men prefer casual sex while women feel scared to go into bed with a person they have not known well. Men struggle to secure a high status and make a name for themselves.
References:
- Schudson, Z. C., & Chadwick, S. B. (2017). Testosterone Rex: Myths of Sex, Science, and Society: by Cordelia Fine. New York, NY: WW Norton & Company, 2017, 266 pages, $26.95 (hardcover).
- Russell, B. (2017). Marriage and morals. Routledge.
Recommended books on male status and polygamy:
Here are some books on the male status and polygamy that you may find helpful:
- “The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating” by David M. Buss – This book explores the evolutionary psychology of human mating strategies, including polygamy and male status.
- “The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature” by Matt Ridley – This book discusses the evolutionary biology of sex and gender, including the role of male status and polygamy.
- “Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships” by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha – This book challenges traditional views of human sexuality and explores the role of polygamy and male status in human evolution.
- “The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature” by Geoffrey Miller – This book examines the role of sexual selection in human evolution, including the importance of male status and polygamy.
- “Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis” edited by Miriam Koktvedgaard Zeitzen – This book provides a cross-cultural analysis of polygamy, including its historical and cultural context, as well as its implications for gender relations and social dynamics.
- “The Polygamy Question” edited by Janet Bennion and Lisa Fishbayn Joffe – This book offers diverse perspectives on the practice of polygamy, including its history, cultural significance, and legal and social implications.