tl;dr: Tailor your social contract with women to your interests, not their demands.

Recently I was walking back to my car with two guys I go to the gym with, and we were talking about women and how much we invest in them. One of my friends is this power lifting army guy who I used to run with in school, and another is a heavier friend I used to play video games with who we're helping out since he's trying to get in shape. Now these sound like two completely different people but I can assure you they are practically clones in terms of how they think about women. The army guy never had any problems getting girls, but he's your token "relationship guy" who gets his kindness taken advantage of. He's like a dumber Prince Charming. The heavy friend is in a committed relationship with a girl he started dating in high school (between 5-10 years ago) and I refer to him in jest as my "only married friend." The girl is a very cool and nice person to all his friends, and they are very much in love, if that's a thing in 2015.

My question to them was along the lines of 'what would it take for you to end an LTR?' although admittedly they were more catered to the second guy. They both spit out lines close to 'if you really love her you make it work blah blah blah'. Typical. Comfortable guys like comfort. Then I asked if they'd answer differently if she cheated. THEY DIDN'T FALTER. They instantly said they could work through it and made up a scenario where maybe they weren't giving the girl enough attention or they were distant/fighting. As if that means jack shit. I was surprised to say the least. These guys were as BP as an oil spill. FUCK

What I'm getting at here isn't news to any of you, and its kind of a no-brainer, but the WHY is important in this post. Obviously I'd drop any girl who cheated on me in a heartbeat. I don't really do LTR's anymore, but the plates I do have know better than to flaunt guy-attention in front of me. People say so many stupid reasons to drop cheating women: broken trust, don't like loose women, no excuses, reputation, etc. I'm here to tell you that there is only one, and you can use it as a license to leave a girl for ANY reason or instance.

In a monogamous relationship, fidelity is the ONLY thing you agree to.

At first, this sentence might seem wrong to my friends in the last anecdote. What about love? What about openness and kindness? What about being there when times are tough? Bullshit. The truth is, no relationship agrees to ANY other rule besides fidelity.

Look at your parents if they're still together. Do you believe that corny romantic story your dad told about how he fell in love as soon as he saw your mother? Haha, nah man. What about when they fought about the car payment for a week and she stayed at her mother's to cool off? Yeah, "rough patches" sounds full of love. Were they "always there for each other" when he decided to go on that fishing trip after working towards it for months while she argued every step of the way and threw a fit because men can't have fun anymore? Loyal indeed. Fidelity is the only deal breaker for 90% of relationships, no matter how fucked they look from the start.

What does this mean for you? Well, if you love being single like I do, seemingly nothing. The WHY comes in here. Fidelity is something couples agree to because its the only tangible part of their social contract. Cheating is a clear action that happened that wasn't able to happen. TRP teaches you that you don't need any reason to drop a girl you don't want, but I'm here to give you them anyway. The next time you're with a girl, LTR, plate, date, whatever, stop and do this. Ask yourself what are you willing to put up with, and what you won't. Be reasonable, but unwavering. You don't like a girl who's on her phone when she's with you? TELL HER. Tell her once, and hold her to it. She'll moan and complain when you actually bounce, but your respect and principles beat any girl. Don't like girls who show up late? Say it. The next time it happens, leave her waiting and find your next girl.

The social contract we follow with women is great because it is SOCIALLY constructed. Date women on YOUR terms. In this day and age, if you aren't getting what YOU want out of women, you probably deserve whatever you're letting them give you. Stay strong and be a man in more ways than just your gym habits and your anatomy. Men lead.