Is it true most guys would cheat given the opportunity?

WanabeInflatable · 2025-04-20T08:16:29+00:00

No. Most of men are not cheaters. I'm judging by men I know personally.

There is a statistical paradox of inspection that explains the observed prevalence of cheaters (men also often think that majority of women are cheaters).

Imagine a village where 10% of men are very promiscuous, invest a lot of effort into womanizing, looks etc they will have much more sexual partners than 90% of the passive or faithful men.

But in personal sample of every woman in this village these promiscuous men will be over represented. Possibly they think that 100% of men are cheaters because they only dated these promiscuous womanizers.

Life-Income2986 · 2025-04-20T08:08:29+00:00

I don't know what most men would do.

If I wanted to fuck multiple people whenever I wanted, I would just be single. If there is an aspect of the relationship that was severely lacking, I would not be in a relationship.

I can't imagine being so weak, cowardly, and sly that I find myself trapped in a life where cheating is anything other than a grotesque violation. If I commit to someone, I would not cheat for any reason. If I felt compelled to fuck someone else for any reason, I would end the existing relationship first. It just does not seem complicated to me.

Clavicymbalum · 2025-04-20T08:37:03+00:00

No, that's nonsense.

MalePsychopath · 2025-04-20T09:46:40+00:00

According to a 2021 YouGov poll, 37% of men and 29% of women thought about cheating. But that’s just those who admitted it.

I suppose the real number is a bit higher.

Peeloin · 2025-04-20T08:02:32+00:00

LevelCaterpillar1830 · 2025-04-20T08:45:57+00:00

The biggest predictor of relationship infidelity is having multiple options and particularly more physically attractive options than your current partner. That Mackenzie-whatever dude made a good clip on this.

That's just life, it's the paradox of choice. The more there is on the menu, the harder you'll find it to be satisfied with any given meal.

The average man in a relationship might seem more loyal than the woman, but that's just because most men couldn't cheat on their partner anyway. It's a matter of leverage. If the average man had the average woman's SMV, no relationship would last longer than 6 months.

It's easy to pretend to be a good person when you don't have the power to be an evil one in the first place.

It's also why the happiest and most consistent relationships involve people who are about equal in terms of attractiveness; it makes sense mathemtically since they'd be each other's top option, making the relationship more cohesive.

Only-Plate590 · 2025-04-20T09:51:01+00:00

Well there's 3 reasons not to cheat.

1/ You've never met anyone worth risking your relationship for

2/ You have but you have a moral objection to cheating

3/ You'd like to cheat but you'd never get away with it

In terms of 3/ when I was a kid my dad used to come home from work at the exact same time - you could set your watch by him. He couldn't have cheated because my mum would have realised right quick.

I work late hours sometimes and travel a lot for work so it would be easy to cheat without detection.

I've left partners in the past but never cheated.

wtknight · 2025-04-20T14:42:46+00:00

If they really like the woman then I don’t think that they would. The problem is that many men don’t really like their partners all that much.

Logos1789 · 2025-04-20T22:15:22+00:00

Most people would do whatever they want if they had absolute certainty that they would get away with it and that nobody would know.

We’ve been conditioned to deny this because it makes us feel better and to admit it is detrimental to one’s social standing.

Tuatara77 · 2025-04-20T09:42:29+00:00

Thing is, as much as I'd wanna bash women for being cheaters, as I got cheated on myself, some of my own friends, men that is, I wouldn't trust if I were their female romantic partner. In my own humble opinion, most people would cheat on their partner, only a smaller group of men and women are pure hearted enough to actually love someone.

Comfortable-Dare-307 · 2025-04-20T19:30:11+00:00

No. I wouldn't. And most normal men wouldn't. Women would however, because they all will inevitably cheat when they get bored. I've never once been with a loyal woman. And I've had several from a very diverse background. It can't just be the women I'm picking. Women get bored and cheat. Then, as everything else, they blame it on men. Zero accountability. The reason women think men cheat more is because they only go after the top tier precentage. But in real life, women cheat more. They make up excuses to blame it on men. "He's not the man I married", "He doesn't try anymore" "He doesn't listen to me" etc. Btw someone can still listen to you and disagree with what you have to say ladies.

akticker · 2025-04-20T13:52:15+00:00

I have cheated on every women that I been with expect my ex fiancé. My former fiancé was the first person I ever truly loved. I was completely faithful to her and had no desire to engage in infidelity. I was deeply in love with her, and I’m still in love with her and we’ve been broken up for three years.

There were several instances where I had the opportunity to engage in inappropriate behavior, such as with my neighbor, who lived upstairs for me, whose boyfriend had an affair with my ex during our relationship. There were other similar incidents with different women but I always managed to prevent such situations from escalating. The only time I came close to cheating was with a woman who was staying with us. Her husband was my best friend. The only thing that happened was that we kissed, and then I realized what I was doing and left to my bedroom. Funny story the women and husband and she had sex with my ex after our breakup.

From this experience, I have come to the conclusion that there is no point in being faithful to a woman, as I believe that most of them are already cheating on their partners. For example, my ex was having an affair with another man that we both met and were friends with throughout our relationship.

This one was so fucked up, though that she literally had sex with every one of my friends or try to after we broke up. I literally got a call from one of my friends who was 60 years old asking me if he could fuck my ex.

Legate_Retardicus84 · 2025-04-20T14:57:06+00:00

No. I had the opportunity and never acted on it but I suppose I can only speak for myself. I know a guy who definitely has and would do it again.

MarioWilson122 · 2025-04-20T20:06:01+00:00

If they are more successful and able to get more attention from women as they move up the ladder then it can become more possible for them to cheat.

For most men its harder to get attention so once you do especially in spades it can become quite tempting.

I mean they have the popular saying that alludes to this which is men are only as faithful as their options.

AidsVictim · 2025-04-21T08:09:47+00:00

Lots of very successful men (movie stars, the rich and powerful) don't cheat and remain faithful to their partner despite having far more opportunity to cheat with attractive women than the average man could dream of. Obviously a fair amount of cheating still happens with some percent of said men but you see plenty of others maintain very long term monogamous relationships as well.

Born_Material2183 · 2025-04-21T09:26:24+00:00

No. I couldn’t imagine doing it. It’s anecdotal but most cheaters I know are actually women not men

ZennedGame · 2025-04-20T14:46:58+00:00

Would most guys lie to their wives, break their vows, and live with it every day? Probably not.

Would most men indulge in a guilt-free opportunity to sleep with another woman or women if they could (and knew no additional weight would be added to his actual relationship) - absofuckinglutely.

We almost all want variety, whether we act on it or not - and women would benefit most by not taking that fact personally.

BobtheArcher2018 · 2025-04-20T08:23:11+00:00

These things exist on a spectrum with respect to temptation levels. And our ability to resist temptation fluctuates as well. No, most married men wouldn't cheat given a normal opportunity, whatever one imagines that might be. But amp up the intensity of the temptation level, dial down the risk level, and catch a person on the wrong day, and almost anyone might cheat.

It probably takes a stronger confluence of factors to make the typical woman cheat than man, due to a combination of biology and socialization--though the socialization part is disappearing quickly, and so the gap is closing.

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Certified_Dripper · 2025-04-20T10:11:46+00:00

Some men might. You generally don’t know if your man is the type who’s never had options. I’d say for the most part the answer would be no if you are a forever type of love. If it’s known that you’re just a temporary thing with temporary thing energy, then I think yeah you probably would get cheated on

Odd-Talk-3981 · 2025-04-20T10:39:54+00:00

"Most guys," I don't know.

But some men surely do. I remember a married man with children in his late thirties who was cheating with a co-worker in her early twenties. They even had sex in the storage room at work.

What would be interesting IMHO is to know if there are some factors that predict which men are more likely to cheat if given the opportunity. I suppose the current status of their current romantic relationships plays a role, but there could probably be some personality traits that could influence their cheating propensity as well.

reignoferror00 · 2025-04-20T12:24:04+00:00

If I had to guess, I'd say many would if their marriage or common law situation isn't going very well. A lot less if it is going okay or better, a lot less than this if in a situation where leaving is an easier option with little financial/family/etc. consequences.

Your "dating apps and casual sex" applies only to women and a very small percentage of men. You are vastly overstating things for average and below average men. For the rest, it would approach the odds of a lottery win.

No-Ground604 · 2025-04-20T13:15:15+00:00

DelDivision · 2025-04-20T13:26:32+00:00

Cheat no, but i do think if some men had the same level of attention from women that women get from men, they wouldn't be with who they're with now

SherbertDense1415 · 2025-04-20T13:35:15+00:00

I wouldn't unless it would be an amazingly validating experience. Like she was significantly more attractive than my partner, or something extremely special about her (something with her status)

MetaCognitio · 2025-04-20T14:16:30+00:00

No. It’s not.

onlyaseeker · 2025-04-20T14:39:50+00:00

You should focus on objective data instead of subjective, anecdotal experiences.

Efficient-Baker1694 · 2025-04-20T15:10:04+00:00

I would rather breakup with my SO than cheat on them.

throwawaytradesman2 · 2025-04-20T16:07:01+00:00

No. I had the opportunity, and I never did. I regret it a little, because my wife at the time was unfaithful(I didn't know). I would have just dumped her on the spot and taken the opportunity with someone else.

Artistic_Speech_1965 · 2025-04-20T16:37:32+00:00

I am not sure tbh. I come from a christian community, so abstinence is respected as well as fidelity within men. But I heard a lot of horror story with dating apps ngl

Sandjota · 2025-04-20T16:55:12+00:00

There are a lot of factors to consider such as length of the relationship, age of the partners, if the couple has kids and/or assetts shared together, etc.

Also, I'm assuming the "opportunity" wouldn't just be a flirtatious woman having a conversation. It would have to be very direct situation that would certainly lead to sex. Opportunity to actually have sex is the key.

But in general, I would say 60% if the man is unmarried and 30-40% if married.

That's why it is key to understand why your partner is with you, what their intentions are, and what their committment was in past relationships.

84JPG · 2025-04-20T17:30:54+00:00

I think it’s a matter of age and maturity.

Almost every attractive man in his 20’s I know who has tons of options is a cheater. Even with attractive girlfriends, they often cheat if they have the chance.

I know, however, tons of wealthy good or decent looking men in their 30’s and 40’s who were serious womanizers in their youth, and could easily get women if they wanted, but have settled down and don’t cheat nor have any interest in any women besides their wife.

So to answer the question, based on my somewhat extensive anecdotal experiences, is that most men with options would cheat when they are young and extremely horny; but older, more mature men who also have better stuff to do (like work and children) than chasing women for the most part no, regardless of opportunities.

Whiskeymyers75 · 2025-04-20T19:09:14+00:00

A lot of times, cheating is the side effect of hypergamy. While there are some people who will cheat regardless, I think most men are more likely to cheat if they feel they settled. If women want to continue to shoot above her own league, she has to accept the greater possibility of getting cheated on.

shadowrangerfs · 2025-04-20T19:46:32+00:00

I think a lot of men and women would cheat if they knew they'd never get caught. I'd bet most people in relationships have at least ONE other person that they'd like to fuck. Maybe a celeb crush or something. But I don't think most people are cheaters.

Puzzleheaded_ghost · 2025-04-20T21:30:56+00:00

Ive turned it down almost as much as I've done it, and no, that's not single digits. Marriage, a bad idea to ruin. I'm not perfect. Professional role, brother's girlfriend, Best friend's wife. Someone who's a hot mess, beautiful, and ruining her life with infidelity. You do more harm than good.

Take only pictures and leave only footprints.

i would be a shit if I took those offers.

If I had fewer options, would I? I would be shit. Im a slut but not a shit.

-Kalos · 2025-04-21T01:42:15+00:00

Melodic_Structure928 · 2025-04-21T01:58:22+00:00

It’s because the guys that most women both see as men and that are willing to give her the time of day just so happen to also be the most likely to cheat, even though that ends up being a small proportion of the male population.

When you realize that average to below average guys struggle to get relationships often (meaning it’s hard to cheat even if they would) and then, attractive men who are faithful leave the dating market quickly all your left with is attractive men who would be players, and are willing to sleep around. Because women seek the most attractive men, and the most attractive men who want sleep around are usually down to entertain most women they find each other.

so from a womens perspective this equals most men being cheaters. Even though it is just a long winded way to describe what confirmation bias is.

silverhippo15 · 2025-04-21T02:44:00+00:00

Yes, they would and do. So would women. And they do. Often. Without remorse.

SteveSan82 · 2025-04-21T05:00:35+00:00

If his wife-girlfriend is doing his job he likely won’t unless he is high status or rich

abaxeron · 2025-04-21T11:17:56+00:00

Don't know; depends on definition of "cheat" or "opportunity".

Would a reasonable man put his penis into a woman other than his wife if she offered? - probably No, but for reasons that may be not limited to loyalty. STDs are a thing. Unwanted pregnancies. Blackmailing. False rape accusations to save face.

But many women think it's "cheating" if a man has a dinner with his female coworker or a chat with roleplay AI bot (or imagines another woman while having sex with his wife). Under such broader nonsensical definition, almost all men cheat. But so do almost all women.

ExcelsiorState718 · 2025-04-21T17:17:33+00:00

I would if it's the rite woman.

Certain_Process_7657 · 2025-04-22T05:31:41+00:00

Opportunity is a loose term. Do you mean if given the opportunity to have free, easy sex with a random woman or a particular, extremely attractive woman? Would there be any repurcussions or chance of getting discovered? Details matter.

Also it depends on the length and quality of the man's own relationship. Is he in a dead bedroom with a partner whose gained 100 lbs since he met her? Or is it a man who has the most supportive partner one can imagine and an incredible sex life?

Schleudergang1400 · 2025-04-22T11:12:57+00:00

Short answer: nobody knows what percentage of men do cheat or would cheat.

You can probably only say something about men who say they are not interested in sex outside of committed relationships (when they are single), and also have a track record that proves that (so had different sex partners, but only in relationships). The rest should be treated with: will probably cheat under the right circumstances and given the opportunity.

I don't know what's your angle with the question, but when you are afraid of being cheated on, it's better to deal with your side of the things, than with being obessesed with filtering men for "no/lowest chance of cheating".

wardenferry419 · 2025-04-24T22:03:47+00:00

4 men in my immediate family. 3 have been in relationships 15 years to 50 years. None of us has cheated; though, one got cheated on and raised a kid for a few years that was not his. I dont́ know how that compares to national averages. I would say most men dont́ cheat. Those that do cheat; they do so multiple times.

Mick427 · 2025-04-20T09:45:38+00:00

From experience, no. Most men I've known, who are in committed relationships have almost all been proportioned and have turned it down.

GKilat · 2025-04-20T15:59:18+00:00

Depends on the man and the situation. Any man would fold if seduced by a beautiful woman and they are horny at that time with little to no chance of being caught. Otherwise, the average man would not do it and those that did would feel guilty over it. A minority of men do have compulsion to cheat though.

Zypherzor · 2025-04-20T17:09:27+00:00

I would say so yes, I think the percentage of men in relationships who watch porn would be drastically lower. Men generally still lust after other women even when they have one locked down. I would say if they knew %100 that they wouldn’t get caught they would do it.

projecteddesperation · 2025-04-20T19:05:06+00:00

Depends on how you define cheating. If you define cheating to include masturbating then A LOT of men would cheat. If you define cheating to include watching porn then, similarly, a lot of men cheat. If you define cheating to exclude unemotional, purely physical sex then extremely few men would cheat.

chocobolamo · 2025-04-21T18:20:14+00:00

Lots of studies on this. Men cheat as a response to systemic emotional abuse, and dead bedrooms. It's the largest prevailing factor. They also tend to stick it out as long as they possibly can until they finally cannot take it anymore - the result of testosterone.

Financial_Window_990 · 2025-04-20T09:13:01+00:00

No. You're thinking of women

VladTheGlarus · 2025-04-20T08:28:06+00:00

No, I wear a ring and I turn down women as humiliatingly as possible every week. I'm also rich, so there's no shortage of them.

And no, they are not all gold diggers. But every woman changes her attitude around you when she figures out you got money. Women are just as simple as us men, they just hide it better.

Proper_Frosting_6693 · 2025-04-20T09:35:31+00:00

In 2025 women cheat more then men (men cheated more in the past and women are better at concealing it) as they have endless opportunities for casual sex. It stands to reason that if they have endless opportunities then many many guys would take the chance if they got it, as most guys get so few.

I Personally don’t wouldn’t but the world is filled with endless SIMPS thirsting.

lovelesslibertine · 2025-04-20T10:08:23+00:00

Half of people cheat anyway.

But, if men could cheat easily, that would mean they could get sex easily. And therefore probably wouldn't be in a relationship to begin with. Or would be with someone hotter.

612King · 2025-04-20T12:35:30+00:00

The question is not phrased correctly. Cheating and biological reproduction are two different things. Cheating is based on morality, societal norms/structure, and ethics. Sexual reproduction on a biological level doesn’t include those factors.

Cheating is wrong. Not denying that. All cheaters should go to hell.

However, looking at a purely biological human level of how women reproduce and how men reproduce. Men and women are far from “the same.” Testosterone levels effect how horny people are, there are studies showing when women take testosterone it increases their libido.

Men produce millions of sperm everyday. Women produce 1 egg per month. Men are just wired to spread their seed because they have all that dumb sperm trying to get out in the world. Women look for the best “father” to help raise her valuable 1 egg per month if fertilized. On a biological level, men are wired to reproduce by quantity with their millions of sperm production. Women are wired to find the best mate for their valuable rare 1 egg per month. The sexual variety intensity is very different between men and women.

Now cheating comes down to legality, morality, and ethics. Cheating is wrong. Now cheating, promiscuity, sexual procreation become wrong in society because monogamous couples that create stable families is much better for society on a big picture level than just having a few men procreating with lots of women.

However if you take away the morality of cheating. On a biological level men are wired to procreate with the most amount of women possible. Some men care about following rules and structure even if they have many women available to procreate with. Other men don’t care about those rules and start procreating with as many women as possible.

TLDR- All that to say. No, not a lot of men cheat. Because of legality, morality, lack of options, finances, lack of resources, consequences, health, stability, chaos. On a biological primitive level, men are reproductively wired to spread their millions of sperm, if society removed all the negative consequences, you would see more men attempt to procreate with more women. Would more women find more men attractive to mate with them? No.

Environmental_Day558 · 2025-04-20T09:41:47+00:00

Depends on what you mean by given the opportunity. I have the opportunity to pick up my phone right now or go out tomorrow and communicate with a different woman, but I've never felt the desire to. That said, if Zendaya came up to me right now asking for it raw, i'm folding immediately and I wouldn't even try to hide it. However the odds of that ever happening are as practically as close to zero as you can get. So outside of wild hypothetical scenarios, I would say most men who don't cheat aren't abstaining from doing so because of lack of opportunity but more so because they just do not feel inclined to do it.

ArtifactFan65 · 2025-04-20T11:31:52+00:00

Yes of course men are animals just like women.

Shoddy-Cherry-490 · 2025-04-21T06:56:47+00:00

It depends.

Cheating can take on so many different forms and even the definition of what constitutes cheating will vary and with the negative consequences.

Frankly even the cultural context needs to be considered. Needless to say many Americans have a bit of a puritan outlook on life, i.e. infidelity tends to be portrayed as a black and white matter. I would argue that in other cultures such indiscretions are tolerated a lot more and therefore the behavior will perhaps be more commonplace even if it’s not out in the open.

Title	Is it true most guys would cheat given the opportunity?
Author	Illustrious-Line-996
Upvotes	3
Comments	143
Date	April 20, 2025 8:00 AM UTC (1 year ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/PurplePillDebate
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/PurplePillDebate/comments/1k3hnfv/is_it_true_most_guys_would_cheat_given_the/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/PurplePillDebate/is-it-true-most-guys-would-cheat-given-the.1550110 https://theredarchive.com/post/1550110

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