I just read an article claiming that single girls think men in relationships are more attractive than their single counterparts. It sounds to me like the authors are trying to both frighten married women and compare single women to Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction types at the same time. 

The dynamic duo, Jessica Parker (who may or may not be related to Sarah Jessica Parker) and Melissa Burkley seem to have taken their inspiration from Sex & the City and even mention in the study that many women claim all the good ones are taken and  cleverly called the art of mate-theft "mate poaching", which doesn't necessarily make it sound any better.

That doesn't mean they didn't do their homework for the study; according to the authors,  past studies have demonstrated that women in relationships are hot for "taken guys" but only when they are fertile and that men stay away from women who are surrounded by other men.

This means two things. Women are potentially crazy during ovulation and it is definitely not a good idea to take more than one male wing-man with you are out looking for guys. If the men surrounding you are gay, it may be ok, but not necessarily. You should determine this for yourself on a case by case basis.

In their own study, Parker and Burkley started out with the assumption that a single woman would be more likely to "poach" a taken man than a married woman, which was "proven" correct.  The authors believed that the single women would realize that the men in relationships were already relationship-worthy, but there seems to be a hole in that argument. If a man is so relationship-worthy, why is he deemed so poachable?

As the NYT writer questions, it could just be that the women themselves have intimacy issues and would rather face off with a man not quite so available.  It also could be that the study was flawed to begin with. (For those preferring more stats and heavy analysis, the NYT links to the study as well.)

Is the moral to the story that women should guard their men like hawks? I don't think so. There may be single girls on the hunt for your man, but if you are in a happy relationship with open, and honest communication, you should be ok. As for advice to the single girls out there, having your own man is much better than having to share. There are more than enough men to go around and your friends' husbands might just have someone in mind for you.