This week I wrote an article on why girls cheat. The immediate response from people was that men cheat for the exact same reason. Studies and surveys have shown that men and women do have slight differences in reasons for cheating. Today we’re going to look at why do guys cheat.
The biggest difference between men and women choosing to cheat seems to be emotional vs physical. In a survey by Superdrug given to 2000 participants across America and Europe, results showed men cheated based on attraction, whilst women cheated for emotional reasons.
When asked to rank reasons, women across America and Europe stated they cheated because “My partner stopped paying attention to me.”
When asked the same question, men in both America and Europe chose “The other person was really hot” as their number one reason for cheating.
Of course, the study could be compromised somewhat. Men are pressured to be more stoic and non-emotional than women. Women are freely able to admit when they feel lonely or neglected, but men may feel admitting so as a sign of weakness. It’s a lot easier to say you slept with someone simply because they were hot then because your partner stopped paying attention to you.
The emotional difference between men and women continues though. Women are more likely to cheat with someone who is emotionally there for them. The chances of them developing more romantic feelings for the other person is drastically higher. Men are drawn more to physical looks. They are also tempted if the other person is the one that hits on them first.
What counts as cheating
What men believe as cheating, and what women think as cheating varies a lot as well. 43.5% of American women believe that going out as friends counts as cheating. Only 29.2% of men agree with that.
70.8% of women believe getting emotionally close as cheating. This is drastically higher than the 52.9% of men who agreed.
99% of women believe that vaginal intercourse counts as cheating. Only 97% of men think vaginal intercourse counts as cheating. Anal intercourse is even lower, with only 95.3% of men considering it cheating.
Still mostly the same
Whilst there is a trend for men to cheat based on physical attraction than emotional neglect, that’s not to say it doesn’t play a part. It shouldn’t be considered that men have so little self-control that if a hot person hits on them they will cheat on their partner.
In most cases of cheating, there will always be underlying relationship issues. Whether this is because of emotional neglect, physical neglect, boredom or even revenge, there will always be a cross over between why men and women cheat.
It seems the difference is more to do with what pushes them over the line to make the choice. Women may become emotionally neglected and rely on another person, getting emotionally close enough to them and wanting to cheat. Men may feel neglected enough that the ego boost of an attractive stranger hitting on them is enough.
Whatever the reasons, people are all individuals and cases of infidelity themselves are unique. Cheating is emotional and complex, even when it seems simple.