Post by Bozur on Apr 27, 2009 0:54:46 GMT -5
Men are no more promiscuous than women, survey finds
telegraph.co.uk — The long standing belief that men are promiscuous and women are choosy is a myth, claim psychologists. More… (General Sciences)
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Men are no more promiscuous than women, survey finds
The long standing belief that men are promiscuous and women are choosy is a myth, claim psychologists.
By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:10PM BST 24 Apr 2009
Researchers found that women and men in countries like Britain tended to have the same number of children with the same number of partners.
The study of more than 10,000 people in 18 countries seems to throw on its head the generally accepted expectations that men tend naturally towards promiscuity and women are more particular when it comes to choosing a mate.
It also seemed to disprove the belief that some men are incredibly successful at mating while others fail altogether.
According to the research, apart from in some polygamous societies, the number of offspring is spread remarkably evenly across the population.
Dr Gillian Brown, of the University of St Andrews, said: "The study shows that women are just as likely to seek out just as many partners as men.
"This survey really does question the idea that there is one universal sexual rule that applies to men and women."
Popular thinking stems from landmark studies into fruit flies by Angus Bateman in 1948 that showed that males exhibit greater variance in mating success (the number of sexual partners) and in reproductive success (the number of offspring) when compared to females.
Bateman concluded that, because a single egg is more costly to produce than a single sperm, the number of offspring produced by a female fruit fly was mainly limited by her ability to produce eggs, while a male's reproductive success was limited by the number of females he inseminated.
These studies supported the conventional assumption that male animals are competitive and promiscuous while female animals are non-competitive and choosy.
But the new work – which brings together 18 surveys from Europe, the US, South America and Africa – dispelled this.
The research, published by Cell Press, found in western countries both men and women had on average two offspring whereas in some African societies it was as high as 11.
"The conventional view of promiscuous, undiscriminating males and coy, choosy females has also been applied to our own species," said Dr Brown.
"It doesn't seem to be true."
www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/5213956/Men-are-no-more-promiscuous-than-women-survey-finds.html