It's a YES from us.
When you live with your
partner, what do you think determines the amount of sex you have? How
busy your schedules are, how stressed you might be, or, simply, your sex
drive?
Well, according to a study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family,
housework and chores also have a part to play. Apparently, the cleaner
you both get in the house, the dirtier things can get in the bedroom.
Couples who share house
responsibilities equally, including laundry, washing up, and scrubbing
the loo, have better and more regular sex.
Cornell University professor Sharon Sassler and one of the authors of the study, explains:
'Contemporary couples who adhere to a more egalitarian division of labour are the only couples who have experienced an increase in
sexual frequency compared to their counterparts of the past. Other
groups – including those where the woman does the bulk of the housework –
have experienced declines in sexual frequency.'
Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to us - equal responsibility, a happier relationship AND more sex.
This
contradicts previous studies which have claimed that more 'traditional'
relationships where the woman does the majority of the housework are
happier and more sexually satisfied. But Sassler has concluded that this
ideal is evolving.
Other
academics, including historian Staphanie Coontz, have supported this
idea saying that the entire definition of a 'successful'
heterosexual marriage has changed over recent decades. She says,
'[Sassler's] study — and others — reflect more equalised power between
men and women. In marriages of the 1950s and 1960s, wives often reported
having sex more often than they wanted because they were dependent on
their husbands.'
Snaps for that.
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