Are Humans Naturally Monogamous?

Do you think humans are biologically wired for one partner? Or have we been socially conditioned into monogamy? We deep dive into the science and history of human relationships to figure out whether pairing with one person for life is our natural state of being, or if we’re actually biologically predisposed to be non-monogamous. SHOW NOTES: Our biology wants us untethered. So why does society place so much emphasis on monogamy?: Monogamous Animal Study - where humans rank: PODCAST: Science Vs - True Love: Is Monogamy Unnatural? PODCAST: Lives Well Lived w/ Anna Machin: Monogamy Is Unnatural BOOK: Esther Perel - Mating In Captivity BOOK: Sex At Dawn - Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá BOOK: Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution - Cat Bohannon VIDEO: Helen Fisher + Chris Ryan + Esther Perel DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: thehookup@abc.net.au The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

You can listen to Are Humans Naturally Monogamous? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Are Humans Naturally Monogamous? is an episode from The Hook Up by Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

This episode is 0:34:32 long.

This episode was published on Mar 23, 2026.

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