Male infidelity

You both make the mistake of implying that our "higher capacities" allow us to escape biology. The ability to think and make counterintuitive decisions is actually part of our biological makeup. As in many species, reflexive "instinct" is not the only level of behaviour in humans. It is unfortunate that religious moralists fail to understand that understanding how biology and the universe works has nothing to do with telling fundamentalists how to behave. But in general it must be disheartening to start a scientific discussion and have many of the same people who thank you be so obviously ignorant.

Richard @ 12:25 AM PDT, Mar 23, 2008

It's useful that you point out that "infidelity" is just as naturally female as male. As one perceptive reader pointed out, they are necessarily statistically identical. It's true that recent genetic research has shown to what point other animals as not as "faithful" as we once mistakenly observed. Thank God no one is publishing the genetic data on human offspring that shows a similarly large percentage of kids are not their father's children. You both make the mistake of implying that our "higher capacities" allow us to escape biology. The ability to think and make counterintuitive decisions is actually part of our biological makeup.

David Vaughn @ 12:24 AM PDT, Mar 23, 2008

Great article, Jennie! I cracked up at the line about the writer on whom you were commenting producing his piece unedited from his reptilian brain. Emlyn (Comment #17), you're just plain wrong -- women are almost as likely to be unfaithful as men. But I'm pretty sure you're mistaken on one point, too, Jennie. The group of Americans who have just one partner at a time and are completely faithful to them aren't a "large majority." Last I heard, about 60 percent of either gender (in the U.S.A.) were unfaithful to their mates at least once.

Jan Steckel @ 5:05 PM PDT, Mar 19, 2008

From seemingly cooperative, preserved on now archived film in acts of quite obvious "pedophilia", pgmy chimpanzees...to "neck-pecking, "waterboarding" gaggles of male ducks routinely gaggle- raping their female duck partners, the question remains: what kind of evolutionary advantages do/would these kinds of unortohodox behaviors bestow?

Harvey @ 12:55 PM PDT, Mar 19, 2008

Second, the remark about male ornithologists was unnecessary- ALL scientific fields were male dominated through the mid- 2oth century, why is it remarkable that ornithology was too?

westrim @ 11:23 PM PDT, Mar 18, 2008

Biologists didn't just assume, with no support, that particular birds were monogamous. They inferred it from observations of species throughout the animal kingdom and when they found that male blackbirds were territorial, they figured that the females within their territory stayed there- a natural hypothesis, since that was how it worked more often than not in other species. That they couldn't test it until the 70's doesn't mean it was wrong to operate on that idea until it could be tested.

westrim @ 11:23 PM PDT, Mar 18, 2008

Oh- wow. It's always interesting. when people, in trying to shutter another person's biases, shows their own. I won't comment on anything pertaining to the original article, as I haven't seen it, but two things caught my attention in this response.

westrim @ 11:23 PM PDT, Mar 18, 2008

Great work, Jennie! And to Emlyn: the evidence you see to the contrary isn't evidence, it's anecdote. To achieve the status of "evidence," events must not only be seen, but also counted, measured, analyzed, and understood in a methodical fashion--which is what Jennie's sources did with what they saw blackbirds doing.

Merry @ 10:02 PM PDT, Mar 18, 2008

I believe that the real question in all this is: even if it's "natural" for humans to behave like animals, is that any excuse? Some would argue that our ability to overcome biological drives through the power of reason is what makes us human. Anyway, great response.

Antenora @ 4:52 PM PDT, Mar 18, 2008

Who is Eliot Spitzer? What is an Eliot Spitzer, is it a bird? Is Eliot Spitzer worth talking about? Let's move on folks!! Eliot Spitzer is yesterdays tabloid news.

JAC @ 4:24 PM PDT, Mar 18, 2008

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