Study finds link between house chores and sex

A study published by the Journal of Family Issues has found that there is a link between household labor time and sexual frequency — the more men help out with chores at home, the more sex a couple tends to have. Lead researcher Constance Gager: "We're not saying that housework causes sex; rather there are groups who 'do it all' and other groups who do not."

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Anonymous

This makes lots of sense, if you think that equality and cameraderie is sexy. Which you should, despite the massive marketing of female submission/male domination as the definition of sexy (and of good partnership).
Anonymous

In my house this is called Choreplay but still rarely actually shows concrete results…
Anonymous

I know this is not on the main point of the post, but I find the phrasing of “the more men help out with chores at home [...]” kind of objectionable. It presupposes that chores are women’s work and that anything men do is just providing assistance.

Just as you don’t “help out” at your place of employment, but do something that is your responsibility, men working at chores around the house should be considered to be something that’s expected, not extra assistance.
Brother Provisional

@#21 You beat me to the whole “correlation does not imply causation” tip.

All the same, personal experience tells me that in this case the correlation is rather robust.
Anonymous

I find equality QUITE sexy.

Feminism FTW.
Unexploded

The one thing the study doesn’t mention? It’s gay sex.
Great news if you’re into that, but otherwise something of a surprise.
- nealpolitan
  
  @#15 Hey-oh!! +1
dm10003

i think the study finds that women want men to work for sex with them. men need a reward for work which is a sex or paycheck which buys sex with women.

women: put a tv over the sink if you want the dishes done. boredom plus lack of reward is a turnoff from chores that you’re not emotionally invested in.
- Gloria
  
  Yeah, as a woman, I don’t find dishes “exciting.” Nor do I invest myself “emotionally” with rinsing plates, dusting, or loading laundry. I’m not Cinderella or Snow White.
  
  I find it amusing that a complaint of chores is that they’re not “rewarding.” You get clean dishes, dust-free air, clean clothes — what more do you want? Have we come to a point where people need congratulations for taking care of themselves?
  
  @26: I have the same peeve. I know he’s trying to be nice, but when my boyfriend says he’ll “help out” with chores, it drives me crazy. We both have dirty laundry and dishes — so am I helping myself out when I wash them?
- Anonymous
  
  So, you think washing dishes is something most women are “emotionally invested” in? :\
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I think that the study finds that women don’t like to be treated as a maid and a masturbation aid after spending a full day at work.
Anonymous

For what it’s worth…

http://xkcd.com/552
Anonymous

There are actually a lot of reasons (some of which may not be distinct from one another) that could explain this correlation:

#1: People in more egalitarian relationships have more sex, and share in chores.

#2: There are studies that have shown that liberated, feminist women have more sex. Such women are probably also in relationships where both partners share in the chores.

#3: Women who are not tired out from doing all the housework have more time and energy for sex.

#4: Women who are not resentful about having to do a lot of housework while their partner sits around watching Dr. Who want to have sex more.

#5: Men who do housework tend to be more active and energetic generally, and such men like to have sex more.

#6: Men who share in housework are more attentive in all aspects of their relationship, including sex.

Etc..
turingcub

*calls out* Honey? Turn off Dr. Who – it’s time to do the dishes… YES I MEAN RIGHT NOW
js7a

“But it also turns out that the same applies to women.” (from source cited above)

“The results contradict the hypothesis that time spent on household labor reduces the opportunity for sex. The authors find support for the multiple-spheres hypothesis suggesting that both women and men who ‘work hard’ also “play hard.” Results show that wives and husbands who spend more hours in housework and paid work report more frequent sex.” Gager and Yabiku (2009) “Who Has the Time? The Relationship Between Household Labor Time and Sexual Frequency” Journal of Family Issues

I’m going to need to see the numbers on this one.
Anonymous

Hahaha ‘Anonymous #1′… Nice one, very good!….Again?(wink)
Anonymous

I call bull$hit. From experience.
js7a

When are we going to have a frank and open discussion about the fact that, “despite the wide increase in availability of pornography to children, not only was there a decrease in sex crimes with juveniles as victims but the number of juvenile offenders also decreased significantly,” (Diamond and Uchiyama (1999) “Pornography, Rape and Sex Crimes in Japan” Int J Law Psychiatry 22(1):1-22, Review) and subsequent studies showing similar declines in child sexual victimization and perpetration after the introduction of lolicon in the U.S.? When do we get a discussion of these topics in the context of the fact that a third of teens are apparently involved in sexting leading to 14 year olds being the largest age group being added to sex offender registries where real-life pedophiles can look up their names, pictures, and addresses on the web? When will we be allowed to address the moral panics with a body count?
- Sekino
  
  What are you talking about?? Off topic much?
  - js7a
    
    @Sekino “Culture, Family, Sex”? Not much.
gmoke

Sounds like Dr Phil’s advice, “Housework is foreplay.” Don’t bring her chocolates and flowers but vacuum the living room and do the laundry then you might get lucky.
bitman362

Study find link between ‘A’ and ‘B’. Insert whatever you want for A and B and I’m sure there is a study, or will be one that finds a link.
Its not science, its not research, its Numerology and a waste of time and money.
Anonymous

Oh no. This means I have to start washing the dishes.
dimockn

Clearly, more frequent sex encourages more doing of chores. Positive reinforcement works every time.
Cowicide

I smell a conspiracy. Were all these researchers female?
Anonymous

This is fail. My hubby does almost all the chores and still doesn’t put out. At least he was sweet enough to get me a new shower-head with massager wand one year…
SpookyFM

Well, it’s obvious most people here would call bullshit: People who live in households in which the correlation holds probably don’t post at BoingBoing – they have, well, at least two kinds of better things to do.
Anonymous

To the people calling bullshit because they do chores and it doesn’t result in instant sex, you fail… pretty much all kinds of logical thought.

The study does not say: in every single household where the couple starts sharing housework they immediately begin having more sex. That would be an impressive and incredible result, and yes, this not happening in your house would disprove that result.

But they’re not saying that. At no point does the linked article say that increasing the degree of shared housework increases the frequency of sex. It’s not a causative link. Even if there were a causative link between the two (instead of say, a third factor), there’s nothing to say it isn’t the other way around.
It says that there is a positive correlation between shared housework and more frequent sex. This only means that these traits are found more often together than random chance would suggest.
It is trivially obvious that your single household does not have the statistical power to contradict the Journal’s study. It just means that you are in that group where there is shared housework but not more frequent sex.

The world would be a better place if more people tried to understand what studies are actually saying.
- Anonymous
  
  THANK YOU for the thoughtful comments – the bullsh$t ones aside. Yes as one commenter eruditely points out, the authors didn’t say every couple who spends more time on housework has more sex, rather they find a group of couples in this category. And yes, they point out that likely these couples have an underlying trait of being high energy go-getters, which both fuels there greater expenditure on housework and more frequent sex. The effect is not causal, simple correlational. But it is not true that correlations can be found among any two variables. If you understand how real social science research is practiced and how carefully these surveys are conducted and analyzed you might not be so quick to dismiss carefully constructed research findings.
JimEJim

If you saw how I did chores, you’d understand.
Anonymous

You can’t imagine how funny your comment is. I stumbled onto this link and was reading it…..at the same time I was watching TV. Just so happens I was watching Dr. Who. I haven’t watched Dr. Who in 15 years. The other funny thing is I am a Mr. Mom who is going through a divorce …and I cooked and cleaned etc. I will tell you this theory is bogus! If I had sex in relation to how much work I put in around here I wouldn’t be able to walk.
lost feliz

Maybe I didn’t do the chores right. I also ‘call bullshit.’