If the Gene Fits

Are men genetically predisposed to cheating?

By Liza Persky

The other day I was sitting in Starbucks drinking my six-dollar milkshake that was posing as coffee, and I overheard a conversation at the next table between two guys.  One seemed to be consoling the other and telling him, "It was all OK."  Because I had nothing better to do (other than wait for my barista to put out free samples of crumb cake), I listened in.  It seems the sad guy had cheated on his wife, and was now clearly regretting his decision.  He hung his head and said, "Well, I guess on some level I was destined to do it because of my DNA."  

OK, I was waiting for this.  Ever since a new study came out that a gene variant in men may predispose them to cheat, I've been wondering how soon it would be before men used this as an excuse to go wild.  The study says that men with two copies of the gene, called Allele 334, had twice the risk of experiencing marital dysfunction, with a threat of divorcing, compared to men carrying one or no copies.  Every article I've read on the subject stated just about the same thing:  That 2 out of every 5 men possess this gene, and therefore, are predisposed to cheat in their marriage.  

So, according to this study, when it comes to John Edwards, Elliot Spitzer, Peter Cook, Balthazar Getty, and Detroit Mayor Kwame Fitzpatrick, two of them were predestined to cheat. What about the other three?  What happened there?  If they did a DNA test on all of them, what do you think the odds are that two of them would even have the gene?  Or how about the millions of men that do have the double gene, that don't cheat.  What's their story?  Are they just stronger willed, or is it maybe that, just because we may have the urge to do something, we also have the good judgment not to do it.  

After all, if our genetic predisposition for our behavior meant we had no self-control over our actions, Alcoholics Anonymous would never have been created, we'd all be running around in loincloths, and, according to the PMS defense, women would be exonerated for killing their husbands. I can't even get away with having a backache.  

Helen Fisher, a Rutgers University biological anthropologist, who has conducted extensive research on the evolution and gender differences in the brain and human behavior says, "No one can say biology is destiny," and she's way smarter than I am.  But, in my own research, I've discovered that 5 out 5 men have no self control when it comes to checking out a pretty girl who walks by. Of course that's not cheating, but doesn't it make sense that there would be some connection between the two?  

I'm looking forward to the study that explains why women are genetically predisposed to certain behaviors. Like the gene that justifies needing to know where men are every second of the day. Or the gene that explains why we are genetically programmed to not order our own desserts, but share theirs.  And of course we can only blame our genes for the complete inability to hold ourselves back from asking, "What are you thinking?"  I'm sure the scientists are hard at work as we speak.

When it comes down to it I do believe that men may have a predisposition to cheat.  But it's not about their genes.  It's in their jeans.