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It's bad enough that Congressman Anthony Weiner had been taking photos of his naked self and sending them to women who weren't his wife. It's worse when we learn that his wife is three months pregnant.
"Aha, that it!" some cynics claim. Now that Weiner's oats are sowed, he's exploring new (and, if the twittering teen rumor is real, very green) pastures. It's only natural.
But is it? Are men really more likely to cheat when their wives are pregnant? Turns out, the answer is that it depends on the man.
Reviewing the studies of pregnancy and sex, it seems there are three categories of expectant fathers.
- Type Z cheats or wants to cheat (the Weiners).
- Type Y desires his pregnant wife more than ever.
- And then there's Type X — a man who has a decreased sex drive and a lower risk of cheating on his wife.
The bad news is that at least one study found that, yes, the risk of a given man to cheat on his wife increases during pregnancy, even if he is otherwise satisfied in his marriage. His reasons? He may feel ambivalent about the pregnancy or the changes that go with it. His partner, especially in her first and third trimesters, may not feel like having sex. Her sex drive may diminish. She may think her body is unattractive.
(Incidentally, bodily dissatisfaction happens to be the number one reason why most women have less sex during pregnancy. Most of us think pregnancy is a turn-off for men. That's a misconception.)
But here's the good news for pregnant women. The fact is, many men — the majority, as indicated in this study — desire their pregnant partner more than ever before, even if they aren't having as much sex as before. They find her as physically attractive as she was prepregnancy, if not more so. These are usually the Type Y guys. Another study found that, while couples had sex less frequently in the third trimester, the only circumstances under which men change their sexual behavior is if they are older or worried about the safety of the fetus. (Note: Sex does not raise the risk of miscarriage in pregnancies that are not high risk.) Otherwise, men desire sex with their wives as much during pregnancy as they did before.
From an evolutionary perspective, this makes some sense. Women benefited from having their mates around to help support them through pregnancy and childrearing. Sex helps men stick around.
The Type X expectant father — the one with a low sex drive and a lower risk of infidelity — may overlap with Type Ys. These are men who, at some point over the nine months, are afflicted with pregnancy symptoms: nausea, weight gain, mood swings, fatigue, even vomiting. Hormones are the culprit. These men have higher levels of prolactin, a hormone associated with sluggishness, weight gain, and bonding and parental behaviors. Their testosterone levels plummet, making them less combative and sexually aggressive.
There's an upside to Type Xs. It turns out that these faithful, fattening men display the most fatherly behavior when the baby arrives. As new dads, they're more likely to hear and respond to their infant's cries. They're more compassionate and tolerant. They make better fathers.
One might speculate that Weiner's Type-Z behavior while his wife is pregnant doesn't bode well for his fathering instincts. It's clear that if any hormone is raging in the man, it's testosterone — not prolactin. He is probably not sharing his wife's morning sickness and taking turns with her over the toilet.
There's no crime in what Weiner has done; he's just another politician caught up in power more than paternity. But he is making us a little nauseous.
See my previous posts and read a description of my book, Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes?
