Most modern wives and mothers would fail this 1939 Marital rating scale that you guys can't stop sending us. The scale is broken into "merits" and "demerits"; the former include playing an instrument, putting the children to bed personally, and being religious, while the demerits involve wearing red nail polish, applying face cream "over-liberally", and flirting with other men in restaurants. According to a new survey from AOL and Cookie many of today's moms are doing a lot more than flirting with other men. In fact, 36% of women who took the survey say they've had an affair since becoming mothers. And although those affairs may be retaliatory — 46% of women suspect their husbands are screwing around — the survey isn't entirely bleak.
76% of American moms are still having sex 2-5 times a week, even with their babies bawling in the background. In addition, only 24% of women fantasize about fucking the delivery man. Slate's XX factor wonders if Cookie's upscale demographic is skewing the statistics towards cheating. Hanna Rosin describes the Marc Jacobs-obsessed six year olds featured in Cookie and posits, "A mom who sends her 6-year-old to school looking like an expensive hooker could certainly not be expected to put up with a little middle-aged husband paunch or to resist the come-on from the hot new Israeli gym teacher." Hahaha, what would the 1939 Marital Rating scale have to say about that?
1939 Marital Rating Scale For Wives [Boing Boing]
Are YOU Having An Affair? [Slate]
Sex And The American Mom Survey [AOL/Cookie]