Of marriages and mating strategies

Now after silently watching all the big, fat weddings, both Indian and international, certain thoughts are creeping into my mind. How long do most of these marriages last?
If you stop to crosscheck, the answer will be disappointing. Most of the much-hyped marriages turned out to last only for a brief period.
It is in this context, fellow blogger Samantha’s question looks like appropriate. “Does the entire wedding industry these days seem like one big racket to you?”
Yes, Samantha, it does for me. Millions of dollars have been spent. A lot of oohs and ahs are being made over the gemstones and jewelries. Think of the amount you spent on the occasion of a big, fat wedding where you were one of the important invitees.
According to experts, just in the US, only 40 percent of marriages last. In India, it is believed that people in general are monogamous. Yes, socially, but not of course sexually. Samantha in her post mentioned about anthropologist Ulrich H Reichard’s book, Monogamy: Mating Strategies and Partnerships in Birds, Humans and Other Mammals. Ulrich defines social monogamy as “a male and female’s social living arrangement (e.g., shared use of a territory, behaviour indicative of a social pair, and/or proximity between a male and female) without inferring any sexual interactions or reproductive patterns,” and further establishes that for humans specifically, “social monogamy equals monogamous marriage.” He characterizes sexual monogamy as “an exclusive sexual relationship between a female and a male based on observations of sexual interactions.”
So, monogamy is only in principle. A majority of married men are unfaithful to their spouses. And if you thought all women are so loyal, you are wrong. A good number of women are adulterous too.
Samantha says that statistically, men are more likely to be unfaithful to their spouses than women are, though married women’s track record is far from squeaky-clean overall.