Gender differences in extramarital affairs according to social science research

¶ … Men Who have Extramarital Affairs?

Is it mostly men who go out beyond the bonds of marriage and have affairs? Or are women also known to have extramarital affairs? What does social science research tell us about this issue? The literature accessed in this paper found that while in some research more men than women engaged in extramarital sex, women are certainly not innocent in this matter as other research reveals. The answer to the question then is, no, it is not "mostly men" who engage in sex outside of marriage. The available data -- including peer-reviewed, scholarly articles -- suggests strongly that women do indeed have sex outside of marriage, and when it comes to searching for sex on the Internet, women engage in that activity as much as or more than men do. So, the myth that it is "mostly men" is debunked in this paper.

The Social Science Literature on Extramarital Affairs

Going back to 1948 when Alfred Kinsey released his study on the sexual behaviors of males, and to 1953, when Kinsey came out with his report on the sexual behavior of females, the men were seen as most promiscuous. Kinsey was highly controversial because he was delving into a subject that the public was not ready to discuss, but his report showed that "50% of married men" but only "26% of married women" reported having been involved in extramarital sex (Buller, 2005). In 1994 psychologist Michael Wiederman conducted the "General Social Survey of 1994" and reported that 23% of married men had extramarital sex while only 12% of married women did the same (Buller, 279).

Meanwhile in 1995, social scientist from the University of Chicago, Dr. Edward Laumann (and colleagues) determined that 24.5% of married men admitted to having sex outside of marriage and 15% of married women admitted that they had engaged in extramarital sex (Buller, 278). Laumann interviewed 3,432 people for his research. The logic that Buller presents is interesting vis-a-vis the fact that surveys show more men stray from their marriages to have sex. Buller asserts that "…the consensus among sex researchers is that the gender gap is due to a combination of male over-reporting and female under-reporting" as to their respective infidelities (280).

Online Infidelity -- Women use "Sexting" more than Men

Looking into the scholarly research one finds that women in some cases are more assertive in soliciting sexual involvement than men, but that in other cases men and women are equally drawn to sexual relationships outside the bonds of marriage.

To wit, in the peer-reviewed journal Sexuality & Culture, the authors researched the behaviors of "sexting and infidelity on the Internet" (Wysocki, et al., 2011). Their sample included 5,187 respondents -- all married people searching for sexual partners online -- and using descriptive statistics and "binary logistical regression analysis," researchers found that "…Females are more likely than males to engage in sexting behaviors" (Wysocki, 217). The research also showed that males and females "…are equally as likely to cheat both online and in real life while in a real-life relationship" (Wysocki, 217).

Part TWO: a) The most interesting research that I found was that women do more sexting online (through text message technology) than men to. This is likely true because while men may be more bold in person-to-person solicitations of romance or sex, women have the shield of the virtual online experience, and can tantalize a potential partner with photos of her sexual charms without being face-to-face with the person she is interacting with. If she is turned down, little or no embarrassment is caused. And b) My research surprised me because I always had the feeling that men were more promiscuous than women when it comes to sex outside marriage and relationships. Although I also knew that women do cheat on their husbands, I did not realize that it was so commonplace for women to seek outside sexual gratification.