According to this report, monogamy has been rising in a period from 1975-2000, based on a study of 6,864 straight and gay men and women… who live in monogamous couples. What the study really seems to be measuring is the rate of fidelity, as in, how often partners reported cheating. Coupla problems here: first, with self-reporting a stigmatized phenomenon like cheating it is tough to gauge accuracy; and second, the study didn’t seem to look at non-monogamous formations (in order to have something to compare monogamy to), ranging from singles to polyamorous folks to swingers. So if there’s less cheating happening in monogamous relationships, great–it just doesn’t necessarily mean that the phenomenon of monogamy is increasing.
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