Some important things to note about your first link: They conclude that approximately 1 in 4 women have extra-marital sex over the lifetime of an average marriage, this is pretty high. And, for the following reasons the true number will be much higher. The research only covers married women not other types of commited relationship. Also, it relies upon what people are willing to admit, even in an anonymous study.
An ex of mine cheated on me early in our relationship. A few months later she filled out a magazine questionaire that showed what kind of lover you are. There was a question on faithfulness. She answered that she had never been unfaithfull! No-one would ever see this except me and her, yet she still answered the question falsely. Although this is anecdotal evidence, it certainly illustrates a point. Surveys, even anonymous ones, can not be trusted.
Despite these problems with the research, they still report that in all marriages approx. 1 in 4 women cheat. Which is a lot.
Here is an interesting article based on empirical fact rather than unreliable admission:
http://www.ukmm.org.uk/issues/cheat.htm
According to their research 1 in 10 paternity tests show the child is not the offspring of the supposed father. Again, there are problems in extrapolating from this data to how much infidelity there is out there.
Many men are convincingly deceived that they are the father. Many acts of infidelity do not result in a child being born due to contraception, infertility, the fact that even unprotected sex during the most fertile period in a womans cycle does not necessarilly result in impregnation etc. Many acts of infidelity are discovered, or admitted to without recourse to a paternity test. The ability to extrapolate, from this data, is also skewed in the opposite direction by, amongst other things, the fact that in the majority of cases people only have paternity tests where there is a reasonable doubt regarding a child's parentage.
Still, it's an interestin read.
Your second link, where it is argued that 60% of women prefer the 'breeder' or 'cad' to the 'provider' or 'dad', also relies upon how people wish to be viewed. The participants may well say that they prefer a dad to a cad, I wonder who they are trying to convince. Probably themselves. Also, in both pieces of research, they know this is part of a scientific study and want to present woman-kind in a good light.
Most importantly, the studies that were referenced in the BBC article I posted show clear evidence that this kind of man (breeder / cad) is only prefered during the most fertile period of a woman's menstural cycle. This accounts for 5 days out of every 28. Therefore, we can conclude that approximately only 1 in 6 women involved in the dad vs cad study were in this period of maximum fertility at the time of the study. Meaning the preference for the 'breeder' or 'cad' will be significantly higher during this period.
Here are a few more groovy links relevant to this discussion:
http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2005/jul/07women.htm
http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=1469078
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/...le.cfm?id=1627
So far I am thinking a lot of women cheat on their sexual partners. Significantly more than the 25% of, still married women, who admit to cheating. My own feeling, from what I've read, is that it occurs in more than half of all sexual relationships.
What we can conclude with some certainty is: If you want to prevent your partner from acts of infidelity, you need to be able to fill both roles. You need to regularly remind your partner that you are both a dutiful provider and a sexy breeder. A trully Socially Awesome man will fulfill all female desires. A man for all seasons.
One might even pay attention to her menstural cycle and behave accordingly. Or just not let her out of your sight for 5 days a month
I look forward to your input, Anthony, and that of any other interested posters.
Peace