Mate retention, semen displacement, and human sperm competition: a preliminary investigation of tactics to prevent and correct female infidelity

Sperm competition is the competition between the sperm of two or more males to fertilize a female's egg(s). We examined how men under a high recurrent risk of sperm competition might attempt to prevent and correct their partners' sexual infidelity. Three hundred and five males drawn from universities and surrounding communities rated their partner's physical attractiveness and personality characteristics (to assess their recurrent risk of sperm competition), and reported their use of tactics designed to prevent partner infidelity (mate retention tactics) and their use of specific copulatory behaviors arguably designed to displace the semen of rival men (semen-displacing behaviors). As hypothesized, men at a high recurrent risk of sperm competition were more likely to use mate retention tactics and to perform semen-displacing behaviors. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.