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To best answer this question, let’s turn to the most recent researchers who have been digging up the dirt on this subject for the last decade.

A study by the University of Washington, asked men and women if they had ever cheated, discovering 20 percent of men under age 35 pleaded guilty, and only 15 percent of the women. Okay girls, don’t go getting too comfortable in your position. In 2006, a Durex condom poll asked participants if they had ever cheated, reporting 40 percent of women had, and only 34 percent of men.

Score: Men 1, Women 1

Recently, researchers in Toronto, Canada, released a study claiming men feel more guilt towards infidelity. Out of 130 participants, men reported feeling remorse for “physically” cheating on a partner more than women, who instead felt the most guilt for “emotionally” cheating. In other words, a romp on the desk with her work-mate was okay, as long as there were no feelings involved. Speaking of work, many researchers think the reason women are being “found out,” is their growing prominence in the workplace.

A recent survey, found 62 percent of unfaithful men and 46 percent of unfaithful women, discovered their “other lover” through their job. The workplace is one of the biggest temptations to relationships. There is a good mixture of men and women spending a lot of time together, each making an effort to look their best. What you have here is a professional singles bar, if you will. In the past, while men had the lions share of the workforce, this is believed to also be why they had the lions share of adulterous relationships. Current research indicates that women are still behind, but are catching up.

Score: Men 2, women 1

The tempting nature of the workplace is also to blame for studies which suggest 70% of all successful men earning over $60,000/year have cheated at least once, while only 16% of less successful men (earning less than $5,000/year) have cheated. But can we blame everything on the workplace… hardly. Researchers describe a change of attitude in today’s couples who look at adultery as only a mildly criticized marital transgression. It is no longer the big scandal it once was. Heck, many women don’t even see anything wrong with cheating, until it becomes an emotionally involved affair.

Shapiro Barash, a gender studies professor at Marymount Manhattan College, has concluded through her research that some women feel a sense of entitlement when they cheat. In a study of 120 unfaithful wives, Barash found 90 percent had no guilt because they were unhappy with their current partner, and felt entitled to find happiness. These affairs, were in a sense a catalyst to get out of their current relationship, which is exactly what 55 percent of the women accomplished by the end of the study.

Score: Men 2, Women 2

Satoshi Kanazawa, has been researching the link between evolution and human sexuality, and believes that part of the answer as to who cheats more can be found by looking to our closest relatives, the primates. Man is believed to have developed from a polygamous society (one man, several female partners). In these societies, it has been suggested that the women were more promiscuous. The male sex appendage may have even evolved into its current mushroom shape to overcome this behavior, by extracting (“scooping”) old semen from the cervix, before depositing his own.

Furthermore, while men may have needed polygamous relationships to survive, that is no longer the case, and men are seeing the value in the single family, monogamous relationship. Women on the other hand, have changed very little over the centuries, considering in either society they were expected to be faithful to just one man (or supposed to be). In this, we could conclude that women may have less biological reasons to value sexual exclusivity, and thus cheat more.

Score: Men 2, Women 3

However, it is only fair to say that on the opposing end of this spectrum, there are researchers who believe it has been written into the genetic code of men to deposit their seed in as many places as possible. There are plenty of celebrity stories to prove this. Yes, Hugh Grant, Tiger Woods, and Jude Law, I am referring to you.

Score: Men 3, Women 3

Conclusion

In conclusion, quite simply we do not know who cheats more, but we do know morals continue to devolve every day. Love is a privilege and should never be taken for granted, which is why it is so important to maintain the same quality of love, romance, and passion your relationship started with!