Infidelity and us

My favorite show, South Park, is back on prime time. It is crude, satirical, biting and bizarre to say the least, besides being freakin' hilarious. Now in its fourteenth season, it opened with "Sexual Healing", lampooning the media-led brouhaha over Tiger Woods' domestic troubles that were attributed to his infidelity. It openly mocks people's holier-than-thou disbelief that this happens and their high-minded condemnation of those who get caught. Well I agree with the show's stand- yes it does happen, and given a chance most people would indulge in it. Too bad no marketing research firm or anthropological institution collects, collates and broadly publishes this information, but I bet it's more prevalent than we would expect or would like to know. I am also inclined to think that men are more prone to it than women. No, I am not a misandrist, utlra-feminist, PMSing weirdo undergoing hormone therapy to counter the imbalances. It's just how it is.

Arguably, monogamy is the meme of the modern, civil society- not to say absolutely, because we seem to have made peace with serial multiplicity of partnerships but definitely balk at parallel arrangements. I wonder how and when it was decided that humans should mate for life. As for why, I have a whimsical theory =). (Please bear with me, especially if you have a better hang of the theory of evolution and/or the chronological landmarks of the establishment of civilization as we know it today, i.e. talk to the finger)

Let's go back to the glorious era of the Caveman. The civilization is in nascence and social norms are still bubbling in test tubes in the laboratory of human interactions. The pure survivalist animal instinct suggests the Wham, Bam, Thank you Ma'm routine (though I doubt the third bit, because our manners are still wild), spread your seed as far and wide as you can. The female of the species is somewhat restricted by the inconvenience of pregnancy and child raising, the male is at an advantage. But when faced with a favorable option to procreate, neither of the sexes would think twice. With time, along with our numbers and resilience, our species' cognitive abilities and emotional needs evolved. We figured out it was easier to raise the offspring in packs or groups or a couple at least. It also seemed more conducive for of the sake of collective sanity to have one, rather than many, to dump the emotional baggage on. And finally it was a lot less draining to find and remain with one, because the chase could be exhausting and less fruit-bearing than not. In the name of practicality, we chose to sacrifice our basic instincts. To oppose it, of course, would seem like a degradation of human intelligence.