http://jezebel.com/5226420/culture-has-more-to-do-with-promiscuity-than-evolution
The idea that men try to impregnate as many women as possible while women try to hold on to a provider is derived from fruit fly behavior. Its applicability to humans is becoming increasingly questionable.
The initial study was conducted in 1948 by Angus J. Bateman, who showed that female fruit flies had fewer mating partners and their overall offspring had less genetic diversity than male fruit flies’ overall offspring.
Bateman concluded that, because a single egg is more costly to produce than a single sperm, the number of offspring produced by a female fruit fly was mainly limited by her ability to produce eggs, while a male’s reproductive success was limited by the number of females he inseminated. These studies supported the conventional assumption that male animals are competitive and promiscuous while female animals are non-competitive and choosy.
No one disputes the accuracy of Bateman’s work, just its indiscriminate application to human behavior without any regard to social of cultural factors. A new study by Dr. Gillian R. Brown at the University of St. Andrews seeks to provide more depth to our understanding of human sexuality.
“The conventional view of promiscuous, undiscriminating males and coy, choosy females has also been applied to our own species,” says lead study author Dr. Gillian R. Brown from the School of Psychology at the University of St. Andrews. “We sought to make a comprehensive review of sexual selection theory and examine data on mating behavior and reproductive success in current human populations in order to further our understanding of human sex roles.”
That’s a rather generous explanation for the acceptance of a model that conforms to cultural norms and expectations of men and women’s roles in society and reinforces the idea that women who aren’t seeking to settle down with one sex partner are somehow dysfunctional, but ok.