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…and what country is most forgiving of cheaters? Check out the findings of this new Zoosk survey
Even if you don’t practice it because you’re a die-hard cheater, chances are you’ve been brought up to believe in fidelity. You can appreciate that there is one woman for every man, one man for every man or one woman for every woman. However, those in other countries don’t necessarily have similar beliefs. So where in the world will you be most likely to find a culture where monogamy isn’t the chosen way of life and where one partner could more readily forgive the other for cheating?
Zoosk, the social dating community, polled 12,500 people from around the world to discover their thoughts on love and infidelity. The results are pretty damn surprising.
“The Zoosk survey found a level of agreement across cultures about the desire to be in a monogamous relationship or the difficulty of forgiving a partner for cheating,” says Alex Mehr, co-founder and co-CEO of the website. “It is particularly fascinating to us to see which issues singles around the world do not see eye to eye on, such as whether it matters if a politician has been faithful to his or her partner or how optimistic singles are that a cheater can be reformed.”
So what did the survey say?
Apparently, Italians are the most likely to prefer an “open relationship.” 20% of the Mediterranean country’s polled singles said they’d prefer several partners to having just one. Interestingly, 7% of the American singles also said they’d prefer not being exclusive (FYI there are 30,000-50,000 polygamists living in the US). Best of the rest: 15% of German singles, 11% of French singles, 9% of Australian singles, 8% of Danish singles, and 6% of both Swedish and British singles aren’t into monogamy.
The issue of cheating had some fascinating results as well. Only 28% of the singles world-wide would take their partner back if they had been unfaithful while 72% said hell to the no. Germans, strangely, were the most forgiving with a whopping 35% admitting they’d take a cheating partner back. Danish singles are the least forgiving with only 23% of those polled saying they’d stay a couple. Among U.S. singles, 31% say they could forgive and 69% say “no way.”
I found this last poll to be the most interesting. To the question ‘can a cheater ever change his ways?’ all countries but Italy (57%) the U.K. (51%) and Australia (51%) believe “once a cheater, always a cheater.” I’m going to chalk up my agreement to the fact that I lived in England for so long; an eye that wanders will continue to do so, even if the guy it’s attached to doesn’t act on his attraction. Those in the U.S. (55%), Sweden (55%), France (57%), Denmark (56%) and Germany (53%) are less realistic about infidelity, and say they believe a cheater can change and is capable of having a monogamous relationship.
I want to believe in monogamy, but I believe that men are women are wired differently. While most women wouldn’t dare cheat, I’ve encountered a plethora of men who still do it, even if they do realize it’s wrong. To consistent cheaters I ask this question, then: why commit to someone in the first place if you don’t really want to be with them and are finding other, more attractive options elsewhere? Food for thought.
Laura xo