Girl-on-Girl Cheating OK, Guys Say

When the University of Texas in Austin asked more than 700 college students about infidelity, half of the men admitted they would forgive their girlfriends – if they cheated with other women.

“A robust jealousy mechanism is activated in men and women by different types of cues,” writes Jamie Confer, one of the authors of the new study (she conducted the research with her father Mark D. Cloud), “those that threaten paternity in men and those that threaten abandonment in women.”

If you’re wondering about the differences between the sexes, the women surveyed were a lot less forgiving of cheating boyfriends, saying they wouldn’t forgive their boyfriend for cheating with another man. In fact, 28 percent of the women said they would end the relationship over gay cheating.

“These findings are even more remarkable given that homosexuality attitude surveys show men have more negative attitudes toward homosexuality and to be less supportive of civil rights for same-sex couples than women,” the authors report. “However, this general trend of men showing lower tolerance for homosexuality than women is reversed in the one fitness-enhancing situation: female homosexuality.”

The authors admit that the men surveyed definitely buck any trends toward homophobia and were much more forgiving of cheating – assuming, of course, the “other man” is really another woman.