Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
It's so easy to judge women who cheat on their spouses. According to a 2013 Gallup poll 91 percent of us disapprove of infidelity. But scientists may have found a surprising explanation for that could change that. Some women may be predisposed to cheating because of our genes.
Scientists at the University of Queensland, Australia have found what could be a genetic mutation that changes your hormones, specifically vassopressin and oxytocin. The first is the hormone that encourages you to bond after sex. And the latter is one of your feel-good genes.
So if you're not associating sex with bonding, or if bonding after sex doesn't give you a happy glow, it's going to be harder to stay faithful.
Women with this genetic mutation are more likely to cheat. The mutation doesn't actually cause cheating, of course. We are human beings with choices! But, as New York Times op-ed writer Richard A. Friedman puts it, we're not all on a level playing field when it comes to being faithful. "For some, there is little innate temptation to cheat; for others, sexual monogamy is an uphill battle against their own biology."
Imagine that!
More from The Stir: Women Confess What Really Drove Them to Cheat on Their Spouses
For centuries our culture has been excusing male infidelity, saying they're just more sexual, or they have these "needs" that are different from women's, or that they have some evolutionary imperative to spread the seed far and wide. It's just their biology, darn it!
It turns out some women (not all of us!) may have just as strong a reason for cheating. It's just their biology, darn it! How long before we see Amy Schumer sketches about women blaming their cheating ways on their genetic disorder? Or before we see women doing that in real life?
Whoa. Could be a game changer. Maybe we'd start having a little more compassion for women who cheat.
Would this change how you feel about women who cheat?
Image via ruigsanto/Shutterstock
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
