Why Women Can't Cheat (and Men Can)

For a married woman with kids, like Elizabeth Edwards (who has a nine-year-old and a seven-year-old), it's even harder to stray. According to Newsweek, women spend twice as much time taking care of kids and housework than men do, leaving them with less child or spouse-free moments to have a sexual tryst, let alone fulfilling, emotional relationship outside their marriage. And, despite the cougar trend, older women's sexuality is devalued in our culture, making it harder for a mature, married woman to find a partner in crime.

In a Newsweek article that ran earlier this year, Tina Brown wrote, "in the relentless youth culture of the early 21st century, if you are 50 and female, the novel that's being written on your forehead every day is 'Invisible Woman.'" She was writing about Hillary Clinton's female supporters but her observation applies to any aging woman--even Christy Brinkley. At fifty-five, John Edwards is seen as an unmitigated hunk, while Brinkley, younger by a year (and the victim of a cheating husband), is a woman who looks really good for her age. (Seriously, Google "Christy Brinkley looks good for her age," then do the same for Edwards. There are no hits for the latter.)

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