It’s apparent that when Harvey does talk about his personal experiences with his wife, that he is does put her on this pedestal. However, his delivery in the book was extremely possessive and depicted women as being second to the man in the relationship. It’s not clear if that was his intent, or if he was just really trying to get his point across to the women who are reading the book. Cheating is one of the ultimate signs of betrayal, whether it be emotional or physical, cheating is cheating. Harvey describes cheating throughout the novel through the lens of women who may not be doing their part to keep their man occupied or stimulated mentally and physically. He states that the “biggest reason of all [are]: there’s always a woman out there willing to cheat with him” (Harvey et al., pg. 105). He also manages to blame women who “have no standards and requirements and who suffer from serious self-esteem issues, making themselves willing to cheat and available to be cheated on” (Harvey et al., pg. 106). However, Harvey is partially correct, there are always people who are willing to step outside of their marriage, male and female. Although, the severity of their actions are …show more content…
According to, “At least with cheating there is an attempt at monogamy:” Cheating and Monogamism among Undergraduate, Heterosexual Men, written by Eric Anderson, cheating is a result of couples lacking three different types of monogamy. Each type, physical, desirous, and social monogyny, are determine by how men look at being monogamous and faithful throughout their relationship. Physical monogamy “is the easiest to categorize because it reflects participant’s bodily behaviors, or how many extradyadic sexual experiences the participant has had” (Anderson, pg. 6). While some men consider kissing to be a violation of monogamy, others feel that oral or anal sex is not a violation. Physical monogamy and boundaries need to be determined in each relationship to decipher what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior for both males and females. There should not be this double standard towards monogamy that Harvey portrays throughout his novel. Secondly, there is desirous monogamy which “reflects participants’ somatic desires, or how many sexual partners they fantasize about having (or would desire to have if there were no social controls on their monogamous relationships)” (Anderson, pg. 7). Some people are content with sleeping with 40 people in their lifetime and others are content will only sleeping with three. It’s difficult for a relationship to blossom and to have trust when a couple is not on the same page. If