A study reveals that men who live in communities with more men than women are more faithful to their female partners. These communities experience higher rates of marriage, higher relationship stability, fewer female-headed households, fewer children born out of wedlock. It’s not exactly that these are inherently great guys; it’s more that these men don’t have the option to be promiscuous due to the lack of females in their area.
“If we think of the number of men and women in market terms, namely supply and demand, the rarer sex has more bargaining power in the market place. Individuals of the less numerous sex are more likely to get their way because they are awash with options. In theory, they can, if not pleased with a relationship, or terms therein, easily replace a disappointing partner.”
– Researchers Ryan Schacht and Monique Borgerhoff Mulder
Welcome to being a female in a mountain town…
Extrapolation from this study tells us that men who live in the mountains are more faithful to their female partners than men in cities because mountain towns almost always have more boys than girls (8 boys for every girl in Tahoe during winter) while cities are almost always closer to one to one. These odds naturally force mountain men to seek and acquire long-term relationships and stay with them while city men have more options and can indulge in promiscuous behavior.
Due to females’ major reproductive investments (pregnancy, child-rearing, etc.) and men’s complete lack thereof, men have a propensity to desire short-term relationships where women seek long-term, committed partners. This paradigm shifts as the number of men in a population become higher than the number of females. Men begin to desire long-term, committed partners, just as females do.
“However, as the sex ratio became more male-biased, men’s interest in short-term relationships waned. In fact, in the communities with the most surplus men, men’s and women’s preferences were indistinguishable – both men and women desired long-term, committed relationships with a single partner. In these places, we saw no evidence of simple, biological sex differences – when women were rare, men’s preferences were indistinguishable from women’s.”
– Researchers Ryan Schacht and Monique Borgerhoff Mulder
It’s not only mountain towns that have more men than women. Overall, Earth has 60 million more men than women (this is likely a result of China’s one-child policy and India’s preference for boys). Rural areas of North America and all the western states have more men than women.
“Generally speaking, both rural areas and western states have more men than women. These male biased-sex ratios are associated with higher rates of marriage and relationship stability, and lower rates of female-headed households and children born out of wedlock. These findings, along with our Makushi study, all point to the strong commitment men make to relationships when partners are scarce, challenging simple sexual stereotypes.”
– Researchers Ryan Schacht and Monique Borgerhoff Mulder
So, ladies, if you’re sick of city boys not matching up with your long-term ideas, maybe it’s time to move to the mountains.
If you’re curious about this study, learn more here: Mating Market Theory.
It would be interesting to see a study to find out if mountain women are more faithful than city women.
Mountain women are more rare and harder to come by then city women.
They dont have a choice