Jaxunman said:
I really don't believe everything I read.
It's good to hear you're reasonably skeptical. But, your statement that you don't believe "everything" you read can easily be an expression of "believing" only what is consistent with what you want to believe. You could upgrade your reading to a more convincing level (if you don't fear modifying your preferred view of the world) with:
David P. Barash, Ph.D., and Judith Eve Lipton, M.D., 2001, The Myth of Monogamy: Fidelity and Infidelity in Animals and People (W.H. Freeman and Co., New York, 227 pp. [hardcover]).
With DNA analysis, Barash and Lipton find that cheating on a mate (read, husband- or wife-equivalent) is common in pair-bond species throughout the biosphere, including those that are supposedly monogamous — swans, for instance. The dust-jacket summary notes: ".... there is simply no question whether sexual desire for multiple partners is 'natural:' it is. Similarly, there is no question of whether monogamy is 'natural:' it isn't."
The chapters are: 1. Monogamy for beginners; 2. Undermining the myth: males; 3. Undermining the myth: females (choosing male genes); 4. Undermining the myth: females (other considerations); 5. Why does monogamy occur at all? 6. What are human beings, naturally? 7. So what?
Re. the authors: Barash holds a Ph.D. in zoology; he is a professor of psychology at the University of Washington. Lipton (his wife) is a psychiatrist who holds a fellowship in the American Psychiatric Association; she has practiced psychiatry since 1980.
It's an interesting and informative read.
