The norm of promiscuityHuman beings commonly accept the idea that when in a relationship, both people should be faithful. Monogamy can be defined as “the state or practice of having only one sexual partner for a period of time” (Merriam-Webster.com. n.d.). Promiscuity is on the complete opposite spectrum of monogamy. Promiscuity can be defined as having more than one sexual partner at the same time. People like to believe that humans are among the few creatures to remain monogamous throughout their lives. This idea of ​​monogamy between two people, however, is not the human norm (Small, 1995, p. 19). Promiscuity can be seen in everyday life by promoting reproductive fitness, complicating human pair bonding, and examining primate behavior. Reproductive fitness can be defined by the number of times healthy offspring are successfully produced by an individual (Birkhead, 2007, p. 13). In this sense, the more children who can continue to pass on genes, the more reproductively fit a person is. Having sexual encounters with multiple partners will increase the likelihood of coitus leading to pregnancy. Men are physically capable of having more children than women because sperm production never stops. Women, however, are much more limited in how many children they can bear. The only factor that limits the number of children a man conceives is based solely on the number of mates available to him (Birkhead, 2007, p. 13). This suggests that as long as there are several women willing to reproduce with him, he will be able to conceive as much as he wants. This directly shows how promiscuity is a cultural norm in human society. Men have this advantage of passing on their genetic makeup to any woman who is willing to engage in… middle of paper… sexual selection. San Diego: Academic Press.Birkhead, T. (2007). Promiscuity. Daedalus, 136(2), 13.Drea, C. (2005). Bateman revisited: the reproductive tactics of female primates. Oxford Journals, 45(5). Retrieved November 13, 2013, from http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/content/45/5/915.fullGoodall, J. (Performer) (2002). Wild Chimpanzees by Jane Goodall [Theatre]. Larsen, C. S. (2011). Our Origins: Discovering Physical Anthropology (2nd ed. Ed.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Monogamy. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved November 20, 2013, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monogamyO'Neil, D. (2000). Social structure. Informally published manuscript, Palomar, San Marcos, CA, retrieved from http://anthro.palomar.edu/behavior/behave_2.htmSmall, M.F. (1995). What does love have to do with it?: The evolution of human mating. New York: Anchor Books.