Less Housework Means More Sex For Men. Great!

It's a good thing we don't really buy into all that feminism stuff, otherwise this study would really rub us the wrong way. Oh, wait, we do, and it does.

Researchers at the University of Washington, after reviewing self-reported data from the early '90s, found that more sexual activity took place per month in households with traditional gender roles regarding chores and household tasks (men raking, mowing, and looking rugged in the shop; women cooking, sweeping, and looking cute in aprons). This invaluable research is just proof that us ladies should know our place as combined vacuum cleaner sex machines in the modern era!

Of course, the study does have its flaws. First of all, self-reported data is always sketchy. For example, one might venture a guess what men who don't do much in the way of "women's work" are also prone to brag about their sex lives. And it's not as if keeping it traditional turns married life into some hedonistic sex paradise — those couples only reported 1.6 more "sexual encounters" (sounds appetizing, right?) than other households where men took on about 40% of stereotypically ladylike jobs. While the work has been criticized for its dated data, the authors of the study say things have changed a lot less between the '90s and today than they did in the 20-year period between, say, the '50s and the '70s.

Of course, there are a lot of buzzwords in this study that make us nervous, and perhaps we're overreacting. Certainly there are couples out there who have equal, happy relationships that just happen to match post-war stereotypes when it comes to housework. Maybe those traditional gender roles tap into some subliminal, brainwashed part of our society that actually gets off a Don and Betty Draper lifestyle? There is some data to support it, even if it's flawed data — which is why we're taking the poll to the people. Have you ever experienced this phenomenon in your own life, whether married or just rooming together? (The Star)