Stephanie Coontz : Male politicians repeatedly step into illicit sex situations . Why ? She says at one time they were encouraged . Yet many of our romantic fantasies and cues for sexual arousal are still shaped by the unequal division of roles , power , resources and prescribed character traits that prevailed from the early 19th century up through the 1960s . Now infidelity scorned , but old habits persist . She says in an unequal history , men learned to expect adoration ; women to admire men 's power . 00:52:09 Retro pattern persists , draws men to young adoring women , women to older men .
Stephanie Coontz : Male politicians repeatedly step into illicit sex situations . Why ? She says at one time they were encouraged . Now infidelity scorned , but old habits persist . She says in an unequal history , men learned to expect adoration ; women to admire men 's power . 00:52:09 Retro pattern persists , draws men to young adoring women , women to older men .