You seem to be missing a more obvious explanation here, even if you assume 100% heterosexuality. Robin Hanson refers to it as hypergamy. According to the theory, the most desirable males have lots of female mates, frequently including a lot of cuckolding of less desirable males during the females’ estrus.
Editing to add, since I decided this wasn’t clear: A simple model of this situation would have many men with 1 sexual partner, many women with 2 sexual partners (husband + highly desirable lover), and a few men with a huge number of sexual partners.
Assuming 100% heterosexuality, and that there are roughly the same number of males and females, the average number of sexual partners should be the same for men and women, by a simple counting argument.
You seem to be missing a more obvious explanation here, even if you assume 100% heterosexuality. Robin Hanson refers to it as hypergamy. According to the theory, the most desirable males have lots of female mates, frequently including a lot of cuckolding of less desirable males during the females’ estrus.
Editing to add, since I decided this wasn’t clear: A simple model of this situation would have many men with 1 sexual partner, many women with 2 sexual partners (husband + highly desirable lover), and a few men with a huge number of sexual partners.
ETA: Eh, never mind, the math still doesn’t work.
Assuming 100% heterosexuality, and that there are roughly the same number of males and females, the average number of sexual partners should be the same for men and women, by a simple counting argument.