Joe's "proof" kind of wants to make my head explode. It's junk science that is taking a variety of components and conflating them to come up with correlation equalling causation, which is far from proof of anything but bro-science narratives. You know what is very, very good evolutionarily for strong and healthy offspring? Mating with multiple partners. This is true of all animals, including humans. And, up until about 5k years ago when patriarchy first arose, pair bonding and sexual fidelity had nothing to do with each other.
“A female who mates with several different males will have more genetically diverse offspring, boosting the chances that at least some of them will thrive.” Source This goes for human females as well as other non-human animals and it is confirmed in our anatomy. The coronal ridge of the human penis is specifically designed to displace semen left there by another man or men. In addition, animals that engage in mate competition prior to copulation (like gorillas) tend to have small testes and penises. Animals that instead engage in sperm competition are more well endowed relative to body size (like chimpanzees and humans) because they need to have a large supply of semen on hand to inseminate multiple partners."
In other words, patriarchy doesn't like promiscuous women, but evolution sure does. And even so, men are still more likely to be unfaithful than women, althought that gap is closing.
Edit: I almost forgot, there are numerous indigenous cultures where young women are expected to “try out” several sexual relationships with men their age before settling on who they will mate with long term. Most of those expect sexual fidelity after the marriage. Seems like that is a lot more direct study of and evidence of Joe’s thesis being incorrect than anything he presented.
Women do tend to get bored with monogamy faster than men do, but that doesn't necessarily correlate to more infidelity. It does correlate to dead bedrooms, because when her interest is not being stimulated, women's libido tanks and it seems like she's no longer interested in sex, but she's just no longer interested in the same ole, same ole boring sex.
The average woman has a lot of options that she doesn't really want, and very few that she would actually like to be with. It's not exactly a feast when the table is laid with rotting meat, stale old bread, and other unappetizing offerings. Saying, "But look at all of your choices," when most of them aren't real options is pretty disingenous. I know quite a few attractive, intelligent, kind, warm, sexy women who cannot find partners. Pretending that dating is easy for women is another one of those narratives that needs to be investigated further, rather than simply making assumptions about it. Charlize Theron, one of the most beautiful women in the world, has been single for 10 years - and not because that's what she wants. Lots of women are opting out of dating altogether because they can't find the kinds of men that they want to be with. Pew Research says that single men are far more likely to be looking for a relationship or a date than women are - 61% vs. 38%
Most first time sex with a new guy is underwhelming for a woman (not always, but often). There's a huge orgasm gap. There's safety concerns, pregnancy concerns, STI concerns because women are more susceptible to them. Imagining that a woman's experience of casual sex is the same as a man's is a giant mistake.
I completely agree that we need to have dialogue that goes beyond oversimplified perceptions and judgements. And, that anytime somebody is trying to say all women are like this or all men are like that, we're going to run into trouble - particularly when it comes to mating practices. Human mating impulses are varied and usually connected to a variety of factors, including individual personality, culture, personal experiences, but also the unique factors of the moment. Oversimplification is just that - something that is simple and easy but that doesn't really speak to the complexities of human lives and human sex lives, in particular.
