Inspired by the culture’s latest cheating scandals, the girlies unpack monogamy as a social norm and explore what happens when we break the rules. They explore theories of mononormativity, investigate the psychological consequences of being cheated on, and try to answer a pressing question: why are we still attempting monogamy if people keep having affairs? Digressions include the NYC earthquake, kindhearted midwesterners, and one listener’s love of Hoop.

SOURCES:

• Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation

• Anatomy of Love 

• Compulsory Monogamy and Polyamorous Existence

• Forgiveness of Sexual Cheating in Romantic Relationships

• Greater Wealth Inequality, Less Polygyny: Rethinking the Polygyny Threshold Model

• Love Is Not a Permanent State of Enthusiasm: An Interview with Esther Perel

• Once A Cheater, Always A Cheater? Marriage Therapists Weigh In

• Post Infidelity Stress Disorder

• Sex at Dawn

• That’s Revolting! Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation

• The Aftershocks of Infidelity: A Review of Infidelity-Based Attachment Trauma

• The Red Queen

• Was That Cheating? Perceptions Vary by Sex, Attachment Anxiety, and Behavior

• What’s Wrong With Infidelity?