It s late, the booze is flowing, the woman is beautiful. Flirting and kissing are followed by a hook-up. All of that wouldn t be a problem if Max wasn t married. His wife doesn t know about her husband occasionally having sex with other women. The sexual partners don t mean anything to Max, he says — he s merely letting his sex drive take over every once in a while.
"I know it s a natural thing," Max said to DW. "But it s definitely wrong as well."
Gertrud Wolf is a couples and sex therapist. "Humans aren t monogamous by nature," she says.
Roughly one third of Wolf s clients come to see her because one of the partners cheated. For most couples, sexual fidelity is very important.
"I often work with people who had always said that they d never cheat, and that they could never forgive their partners if they would," Wolf told DW. "And then they sit here with hanging heads because they did cheat after all."
Many people — especially young ones — wonder whether monogamy really is the only meaningful form of a relationship. Some consider it outdated and predict its imminent demise.
"Monogamy is a cultural achievement of man, an invention," Wolf said. "But one that makes sense."
