Here’s an interesting finding from the land of “motherhood and apple pie.” It seems, if you believe this survey, that American mothers are taking the idea of “you can have it all” into the most intimate areas of their lives.

According to an article by Colleen Dealy and Taylor Baldwin (“Sex And The American Mom: 1 In 3 Report Getting Action On The Side”) one third of married women with children who responded to a survey admitted to having an affair. Worse still for both the moralists and those of a sentimental attitude towards the All-American Mom, 77% of the respondents said they want more sex.

As a society, it seems as though we’ve become less judgmental about affairs in general. Maybe we’ve realized how hard marriage is and have simply gotten more realistic. But, maybe the scope of the issue is bigger, and what’s happening is that we’re in the midst of redefining marriage as we have known it.

Of course, if you look at nature this is hardly surprising. It’s been known for some time that birds and animals frequently raise groups of offspring with multiple fathers; and that it’s the female who tends to seek out sexual encounters outside the pair bond (though neighboring males have to be willing accomplices, of course). Even those creatures who “pair for life” aren’t immune from looking for “something on the side.” In terms of evolution, I guess all variety tends to be helpful at producing the random variations that drive the process — though going too far and breaking up the bond needed to raise offspring successfully would be harmful.

So maybe these enterprising mothers are doing no more than what comes naturally.

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