Jezebel: domestic duties

Mike & Juliet Guests Purport To Have The "Secret" To A Happy Marriage

Jessica — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:00:00 EDT

On this morning's Mike & Juliet show, they had two yahoos masquerading as "experts" doling out marriage advice. Not surprisingly, the most appalling counsel was doled out by "stay-at-home-wife" Ro' Black. She was bragging that her marriage works because her husband gets a home cooked meal every night. "I do this because I love him and support him," she argued. She also said she picks up his socks after he's done working out and washes them, just so he knows she cares. Even bobbleheaded hostess Juliet asked incredulously, "Why doesn't he put the socks in the washing machine himself?" Clip above.

Domestic Disturbances

Jessica — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:45:00 EDT

A new study shows that chore-disparity between men and women still remains. Married ladies do, on average, seven more hours of cleaning than their hubbies. University of Michigan researchers found that being married saves men an hour of housework a week, while married women with children do even more than their fair share of cleaning than the female half of a childless couple. According to Reuters, scientists "found that young single women did the least amount of housework, at about 12 hours a week. Married women in their 60 and 70s did nearly twice that amount, while women with more than three children spent 28 hours a week cleaning, cooking and washing." [Reuters]

Do Men Who Do Housework Get Laid More?

Dodai — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:00:00 EST

"Men Who Do Housework May Get More Sex," the headline of this AP story reads. Well, duh. Anyway, a report released today by the Council on Contemporary Families states that men's contribution to housework has doubled over the past four decades. Let's hope so! Because a modern wives, as the Daily Mail so helpfully points out, are "a long way from the regimented unselfishness of the idealized wife" of the 1950s. Plus, the Telegraph reports, 59% of modern men think it's important that their woman stand up to them. Retro-submission be gone! The AP story quotes Joshua Coleman, a San Francisco-area psychologist and author of a book called The Lazy Husband: How to Get Men to Do More Parenting and Housework. He says: "If a guy does housework, it looks to the woman like he really cares about her - he's not treating her like a servant. And if a woman feels stressed out because the house is a mess and the guy's sitting on the couch while she's vacuuming, that's not going to put her in the mood." Also, guys look hot when they're doing dishes, laundry or vacuuming. That's been established.

Unfortunately, the report also found that there is still a gender gap for "invisible" household work: Women still do the majority of the management stuff, like scheduling children's medical appointments, buying gifts for birthday parties, arranging holiday gatherings, etc. Still, the overall findings in the report suggest that couples are moving towards more equitable partnerships. "The younger set of dads have their own expectations about themselves as to being helpful and participatory," says Carol Evans, founder and CEO of Working Mother magazine. "They haven't quite gotten to equality in any sense that a women would say, 'Wow, that's equal,' but they've gotten so much farther down the road."

But is the media trying to convince men that dirty dishes = potential blow job? Do men who do housework get laid more? Is it because they're not selfish jerks? Do you think we'll ever get to place where all men and women share the housework (visible and invisible!) equally? Or are there some things that will always be "the woman's job"?

Men Who Do Housework May Get More Sex [Yahoo! News]
Honey, You're Out Of Date: Why Men No Longer Want A 1950s Wife [Daily Mail]
Today's Perfect Wife: A Good Cook Who Argues [Telegraph]

Related: A Fifties Wife? No Thanks, I've Got One [Daily Mail]

Earlier: Is A Hot Guy Hotter When He's Doing Your Laundry?
The Porn Ultimatum

New Sex Toy Means That Vacuuming Doesn't Have To Suck

Tracie — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:30:00 EDT

We love multi-purpose appliances—especially when one of those purposes is getting us off. Such is the case with Vortex Vibrations: A plastic device made to fit on the end of a vacuum cleaner hose that concentrates the airflow to "create a rapid and gentle vibration." And supposedly, using the Vortex enables one to not only climax in 10 seconds, but orgasm over and over again, without the device even touching the skin. Since necessity is the mother of invention, our dirty minds were wondering whose mother invented this sucker. Turns out it was Joanne Drysdale, a 49-year-old divorcee from Utah who got the idea when she became turned on by watching the vibration of the nozzle on her vacuum cleaner. But to be fair, she hadn't had sex in 15 years.

I'm Vacuum Screaming [The Sun]
Earlier: Procter & Gamble Loves Clean Teeth, Hates Dirty Thoughts