Why Women Can't Cheat (and Men Can)

Married women with kids are also less likely to cheat because they're invested in their children's lives and don't want to be the ones to tell the kids mommy and daddy are breaking up. As anthropologist Helen Fisher told Good Morning America, moms have "networks in the community, children, memories much more than the adultery." And, if they are a stay-at-home moms or have scaled back their career to benefit the couples' home life, being single again means entering a job market they've lost touch with. Silda Spitzer, for one, parked her high-powered lawyer career to help her husband's and to raise their children. Elizabeth Edwards is also "retired." So when she said, "when the door closes behind John, he has his family waiting for him," what should have come next is –because I have no other options.

The fact that men tend to cheat for sex (or "ego" as Edwards put it) rather than relationship dissatisfaction, coupled with the extra time and access to cheaters resources makes it easy for men to cheat. Is this an excuse? No way. But as long as women spend more time at home and lose their sex appeal as they age they'll end up do a better job of keeping their pants on – even if they don't want to.