We’ve basically inherited the attitude of The Victorians: that women are the fairer sex. That’s where your belief about women and their naturally monogamous instincts came from. In more ancient times, quite the opposite view was held. I’m not going to get into my own views on this, other than to say that I believe both sexes are opportunistically promiscuous by nature, and for different reasons.
Female promiscuity is just more complex and less out in the open (though that is changing with our evolving society: think of all the female teachers who are having sex with their male teenager students). Male promiscuity comes down to spreading seed as far and wide as possible without pissing off another male. Female promiscuity developed under conditions that required consideration of having a strong, stable, capable male to provide protection and food for her and her offspring. Female promiscuity therefore is loaded with maternal instinct: what’s going to be best for me and my babies. And sometimes that involves being more discreet about infidelity to the provider/protector.
