Men and fidelity

Spare us men's natural urges - Comment - Times Online

Caitlin Moore's commentary on a new book on the (alleged) impossibility of men being faithful to one partner is pretty funny, and accurate.

Some examples:

On how the author is hardly qualified to write about successful relationships:

His parents were locked in a loveless marriage, which he was able to observe only during the summer holidays from his boarding school.

Subsequently, when Blews attained his majority, his first lover became so agonised in the final stages of her multiple sclerosis that she blew her head off with a shotgun. In any other age, Blews would probably have abandoned any further attempt at trying to deal with human relationships. He would simply have become a sad-eyed and slightly bitter monk, tending a vat of hyssop liqueur and kicking the priory’s chickens out of the way.

However, in the 21st century, the coping mechanism of the troubled middle classes is slightly different: they come up with a theory about how awful people are and then get a publishing deal. And, so, here we are with Marriage & How To Avoid It, which some cultural commentators (primarily the men’s magazines Nuts and Zoo, albeit that their commentary consists predominantly of “phwoar!”), have hailed as a great truth.