Deadly poaching

Last week's horror tale of a scorned ex-wife burning down the wedding tent of her former husband's current bride resulting in the deaths of 43 women and children has shocked the region.

Not only are authorities now looking closely at the safety aspects of private tents in public places, but, some men contemplating second marriages are pre-empting such a spine-chilling experience by demanding police protection.

Second, third and fourth marriages are pretty common these days despite the bank-breaking recession, because humans will not stop looking for love and companionship or a challenge.

According to a study published in Psychology Today, David Schmitt of Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois has said that up to 20 per cent of long-term relationships begin when “mate poaching'' happens and a poll of 16,000 individuals in 53 countries as part of the International Sexuality Description Project have found that stealing someone else's partner/ fiancé/ spouse is prevalent across continents and cultures, except it is less common in East Asia.

Schmitt also adds that women are equally biologically wired for infidelity as men; only males will admit to it more freely because while a man is expected to brag about his conquest, a woman would be seen as a home breaker, or worse still, a prostitute.

Another recent study by Doctors Melissa Burkley and Jessica Parker of the Oklahoma State University backs Schmitt's theories, but go on to add that 90 per cent of women participants were interested in a man even when told he was in a relationship, compared to 59 per cent when told the same man was single. So why do they do it?

According to Michael Douglas, a relationship expert “Men usually attempt to steal attractive women and women typically try to ensnare wealthy and emotionally generous men. But, a Philadelphia psychologist warns that marriages resulting from sexual double-crossing more often than not are unstable.

Arlene Goldberg says “The odds are always high that a cheater will cheat gain'', or as the news from Kuwait has shown, the cheated may not silently disappear. If women are wired for infidelity just like the men folk it is quite possible that they are also wired for a violently deadly fight.