You then quite predictably dug up a citation about contemporary women, which my earlier post noted are post-feminist, post-liberation, post-birth control women. There is simply no comparison. As women have become more equal to men in society, their behavior has started to be more equal as well: women now have almost as many heart attacks as men, they drink as much as men, many earn as much or more, there are now more women in college than men, and finally, women screw around as much as men these days.
But I repeat: we were talking about our great-great-great-grandmothers. That was an entirely different story. History did not start yesterday. At one time, marriage truly was the gold standard for American women and men as well -- around 92% of Americans were married in times before WWII; and divorce was rare. It was that way in Christian Scotland, as well.
There is as yet no citation you have offered regarding sexual infidelity rates by gender over time. Until you do, you are conjecturing. I am a good student of history and literature. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Shakespeare’s “Merry Wives of Windsor” to name just two sources give a good account of morals across quite a span of history.
Humans have always been imperfect and both sexes have always cheated. I suspect that rates have varied over time and perhaps rates for men have been slightly higher but not much
It is well known that the moral pressures for faithfulness are inversely related to property ownership; if there is something to inherit, the child had better be legitimate. The feudal system of Europe made sure that the bulk of the population had nothing to inherit. Legitimacy had far less significance among the lower classes than it did among the very few nobles.
Cite something, I’ll be happy to read it.