Short term mating strategies

Over time, sexual selection has favoured different strategies for mating. These strategies can be divided in Long Term Sexual Strategies (LTSS), and Short Term Sexual Strategies (STSS). This page focuses on the Short Term Sexual Strategies.
These STSS differ between men and women. Of course they also vary within men and women, but when we generalize certain strategies are more profound in men than in women and visa versa.
Men and STSS
Men have more reproductive benefits when it comes to short term mating than do women. A man can easily increase his reproductiveness by mating with a female just once. If a man successfully mates with different females over the course of a year, it might result in several pregnancies (hence increased reproduction), while women can have just one pregnancies a year, independent of the number of sexual encounters. Therefore men will prefer STSS over women.
Men will benefit most of a STSS when they prefer females who are willing to have sex in their fertile period. Therefore men who are pursuing STSS will focus on these signals, and avoid women who are not likely to mate.
Women and STSS
As described above the benefits for men are an immediate increase in their reproductivity. Because woman can only have one child per year they do not benefit the same reproductive increase so they would never prefer a STSS over a LTSS (unless their partner was infertile). In the fact that men pursue STSS lies that women do so as well. If women had never agreed upon sexual contact with men they never met, it would never have occurred, and so men could not evolve this adaptation.
So what are the benefits of STSS for women?
* They are more likely to have an orgasm which retains 5% more sperm, enhancing pregnancy.
* They can benefit from the resources of another men.
* She might be able to take revenge on the promiscuity of her partner, which makes him not doing it again.
* She practises her flattering and mating skills.
* She might benefit from children with different genes.
Besides the benefits, women endure also costs when they pursue a STSS. While male costs are only little (time, energy) female experience extra risks. They might indeed get pregnant, witch requires a lot of energy and time, and potential long term partners might lose interest in her. For these reasons women less often pursue a STSS.
 
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