The National Post recently posted an interesting infographic from the Kinsey Institute on the demographics of adultery.
Since the 1990s, the number of women who reported ever having an affair has risen to 19% from about 12%. Men have stayed stable at around 23%. When romantic transgressions other than sex, such as kissing, were taken into account, women and men were equally likely to stray.
It’s unlikely the quarter of partners committing adultery are the same quarter of men and women. I’d be curious to know how many of all couples are experiencing one partner or both committing adultery. Is it 25%? 35%? 42%?
Given this high percentage of people stepping out of their marriage, why are open marriages still so denigrated? Is it really preferable for everyone to pop on blinders and pretend one partner, for everything, for life is really “best” even if practically this isn’t happening for a large percentage of the population.
I have one friend in my life who knows about our open marriage but we never, ever talk about it. She’s convinced it’s unnatural and simply not the way anyone should be “doing marriage.” Is the alternative that much better?
I don’t know why… but change comes part and parcel with cultural changes and relevant thinking. *shrugs* Those statistics sound “normal” to me.
Kinsey was such a smart man…