The rate of breakups in marriages leading to divorces continues to rise in the USA. According to Buss, Goetz, Duntley, Asao, & Conroy-Beam (207) infidelity rate among men is higher compared to that of women at 50% and 26%, respectively. Buss and Co. add that cheating amongst women, which in their discussion passes as mate-switching, is evolutionary whereby a different mate brings with them survival advantages. Selection is a common phenomenon in both evolution and genetics where the best male is selected to sire children that have the most suitable traits for survival. As such, Buss et al. denounce the moral dimension from which cheating has over time been viewed, purporting that cheating is (or results from) an instinct among women. Despite this behavior is natural to humans, Buss et al. concede that there are benefits that individuals take into consideration before choosing one mate over another, evading the general cost of their partner being one of these benefits.
Contrary to the evolutionary viewpoint, cheating amongst women has been attri
buted to genetics by Gangestad, Garver-Apgar, Simpson, & Cousins (2007). According to Gangestad et al. (207), during their fertile periods, women have a preference for men with more defined masculine features as opposed to other aspects, such as wealth. The good genes sexual selection theory appeals to the nature of women preferring to have dominant genes characterized by masculine traits passed to their offspring. According to this theory, it is through exploring the right mating partners that women can pass their favored male characters down to their progeny. Going by this theory and the knowledge about womens ovulation cycles, it is deductible that women who chose to marry their current spouses during their days of ovulation are more likely to cheat on them than those who married during their fertile periods. This observation is derived from the fact that their most desired genetic traits may not have been naturally considered, and identifying a male in possession of these traits during their fertile periods may lead to cheating in marriage.