Why Women Play Away

Do they have affairs for sexual or biological reasons - or, simply because they have more opportunity now than ever?

Men are generally considered to be more unfaithful because they are biologically programmed to spread their seed far and wide in an effort to propagate the species. But what about infidelity rates among the fairer sex? In fact, one in four of the women questioned in a survey some years back revealed that they had had an affair, with one in five admitting they wouldn't think twice about doing so in the future if they could get away with it without being found out!

Most of us know our cheating doesn't lag all that far behind the boys who hasn't been on a girls' night out that's resulted in a least one-shock confession to a past or present infidelity or been the making of a new one? Let us find out why.

Sexual motivation
Most women used to have sex to "feel an emotional connection'; because they felt they were not getting enough loving at home. But recent studies show that their affairs are actually sexually motivated "I'm not getting enough here, I'm going to go elsewhere for it."' A woman in such a situation can have an affair for months or even years without anyone finding out about it and it probably has a negligible impact on her primary relationship. As women we tend to be very practical creatures and if fulfilling our sexual needs elsewhere means a stable home life for our partners and our children, anecdotal evidence would suggest that just such an affair seems to be a satisfactory if not necessarily ideal way to maintain that.

We’re all the same
Women have the same sexual urges as men, it is now believed. Over the last few years this accepted fact has led to a very particular kind of infidelity the one-night stand. Forget blaming it on the boogie this is one indiscretion that you might want to blame on your biology instead. It is believed that sometimes a woman's urge to stray matches her urge to procreate. Research has shown that women are more likely to have a one-off sexual fling when they're ovulating an unconscious homage, apparently, to our biologically driven selves. Apparently, we want the healthiest male specimen to impregnate us so that we will give birth to a healthy, alpha child. However, the best sperm donor doesn't always make the best father hence our desire to have a good man to go home to, even if we have to pass off another man's child as his to raise. There's even an argument that having sex with more than one man puts the sperm into competition with one another resulting in the survival of the fittest!

Infidelity
In day's gone bye, a two-timing woman would, quite literally, have to wear her infidelity on her chest. There were no second chances for adulterous women they were fallen, spoilt goods and all-round bad seeds. They had no income and no independent means of support. Staying faithful or at the very least not getting caught was a matter of survival.

Things are much more relaxed today. We live in a time when fidelity may still be the ideal, but the relationship reality is serial monogamy. And while we might not like it, most of us acknowledge that a fair percentage of those consecutive monogamies are going to suffer from a little overlap.

Temptation
A popular theory, which is infuriating, is that our terrible modern ways have been crucial in leading women off their previously virtuous path - as if having a job and earning her own cash was the first step on the slippery slope to moral downfall. However, there is something to be said for opportunity. With UK professionals averaging a working week of 52.5 hours of office-based slog, many of us spend more waking time with colleagues than we do with friends, lovers and families.

It doesn't take a genius to understand the appeal: it may be a clich, but it's true relationships are hard work. If you don't have the time to commit properly and consistently to the one you're in, the grass can very quickly become greener on the other side of the office partition.

Whether we're actually having more affairs or more likely I tend to think that more us are admitting to them than before, it's worth bearing one thing in mind before you embark on an adulterous thrill. Whether it's a fling, a one-night stand or a decade-long, passionate affair between two kindred souls, all affairs should come with a Government health warning-:

Affairs can seriously damage lives!