May offend English to Spanish Social Sciences Psychology marital and sexual therapy

Monogamy operates differently in highly differentiated couples: it stops being a ponderous commitment to the partner (or “the relationship”) and becomes a commitment to oneself. Your partner doesn’t owe you, which makes him less likely to withhold. He can’t “get you” by having sex with someone else, since he never promised you he wouldn’t—which reduces motivation for an affair. There is no room to offer mercy fucks—and no reason they’d be accepted.