So now men have another excuse for cheating: It’s in their genes. And I’m not talking about the blue denim kind that fit snuggly around their “man junk”. A recent Swedish study isolated a gene variant that may predispose men to cheat. And with that gene variant being found in 2 out of 5 men, it’s not hard to realize that 40% of “live men walking” are potential cheaters.
Was anyone surprised by this? I think not. As women, we just have to decide how to assimilate this new piece of information into our romantic decision-making.
Women, of course, have been taking chances on men with variant genes for centuries. But now, armed with this knowledge, women can decide between a “boy toy” and a long-term commitment. “Commitment-challenged” men might be disappointed to learn that their dating pool will evaporate like spit in the desert. But commitment-ready men are suddenly going to find themselves with a veritable cornucopia of women ready to step up and bear their progeny. If a woman is willing to take a chance, she might consider a particularly aggressive pre-nuptial agreement. Or a few extra carats on that engagement ring.
But I think my favorite part of the study involved the scientists comparing their results with earlier research on prairie voles, a form of rat. Those voles without the variant mate for life while those with the variant run around from mate to mate. You have got to just love scientists who tie cheating men to a form of rat. But they don’t stop there. The scientists also postulated that the gene variant is most likely a holdover from Neanderthal times when it was a matter of survival to mate with anything in a saber-tooth tiger skirt. The gene variant appears to be one that simply hasn’t evolved with time.
And there you have it: Men who cheat are, simply put, non-evolved Neanderthal rats. I don’t know about you, ladies, but, frankly, I didn’t need a scientific study to tell me that.
For more of Nancy’s humor, visit her website at www.mirthquakes.com.
ABOUT NANCY:
Nancy Franklin is a healthcare marketing and communications executive who lives with her husband and teenaged son and daughter in a house over which she has no control. When she isn’t debating household chore responsibilities, driving privileges or curfews she delights in writing about the ways her aging body and mind are betraying her.