Steven Pinker -- How the Mind Works - Hampshire High Italian ...

480 | HOW THE MIND WORKSthe same man (especially under monogamy and when she has little say inher marriage). Women report that looks and strength matter more in alover than in a husband; as we shall see, looks are an indicator of geneticquality. And when women go through with an affair, they generally pickmen of higher status than their husbands; the qualities that lead to statusare almost certainly heritable (though a taste for prestigious lovers mayalso help with the first motive, extracting resources). Liaisons with superiormen also may allow a woman to test her ability to trade up in themarriage market, either as a prelude to doing so or to improve her bargainingposition within the marriage. Symons' summary of the sex differencein adultery is that a woman has an affair because she feels that theman is in some way superior or complementary to her husband, and aman has an affair because the woman is not his wife.Do men require anything in a casual sex partner other than two Xchromosomes? Sometimes it would appear that the answer is no. Theanthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski reported that some TrobriandIsland women were considered so repulsive that they were absolutelydebarred from sexual intercourse. These women nevertheless managedto have several offspring, which the Trobrianders interpreted as conclusiveproof of virgin birth. But more systematic research has shown thatmen, at least American college students, do have some preferences in ashort-term partner. They rate looks as important; as we shall see, beautyis a signal of fertility and genetic quality. Promiscuity and sexual experienceare also rated as assets. As Mae West explained, "Men like womenwith a past because they hope history will repeat itself." But these assetsturn into liabilities when the men are asked about long-term partners.They subscribe to the infamous madonna-whore dichotomy, whichdivides the female sex into loose women, who may be dismissed as easyconquests, and coy women, who are valued as potential wives. This mentalityis often called a symptom of misogyny, but it is the optimal geneticstrategy for males of any species that invest in their offspring: mate withany female that will let you, but make sure your consort does not matewith any other male.What should women look for in a husband? A bumper sticker fromthe 1970s read, "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle."But at least for women in foraging societies, that would have beenan overstatement. When a foraging woman is pregnant, nursing, andbringing up children, she and the children are vulnerable to hunger, pro- .tein deficiency, predation, rape, kidnapping, and murder. Any man who