Marriage

I've noticed that Ace has weighed in on the article I parodied earlier:

It is true men are lazier about housework. This isn't fair, I guess, but there is a mitigating factor: We don't give a shit about cleanliness. Or, to be more nuanced than that, we do care about a de minimis level of basic suitability for human habitation but beyond that it's just gravy. Sometimes literally gravy, like on the floor, hardened into an attractive dollop of animal fat that makes for instant conversation starter.

Men and women simply have differing opinions as to what constitutes "clean enough." Quite frankly, doing half of what you ask in this regard is already quite a compromise, because, honestly, It looks fine to us, honey.

No, we're not just saying that. We mean that. It looks fine to us, honey.

He goes on and all of it, every word, is true. Men, if distributed on a bell curve alongside women, have a significantly larger tolerance for mess and disorder. Often something will be described as disgusting and I honestly didn't even notice it until it was pointed out. This, of course, comes with the disclaimer that I'm a person who once had to be told the color of his house (blue, by the way).

This cleanliness discussion (as amusing/divisive as it is) completely misses the point, however. The important point is civility and respect in a relationship. Men will always avoid marriage if they feel that the woman thinks of a husband as a child to be trained and controlled. Similarly, women are surely wary of dealing with any man that carries the attitudes described in my earlier post. No healthy marriage could possibly be based on either perception.

Ladies, if you want your husband to do more around the house perhaps talking to him in a calm and respectful manner might get better results than withholding sex or yelling at him.

Gentlemen, we have to be honest with ourselves on this one. We clean the sink or toilet mostly because it makes our significant other happy. You know when you were single that toilet didn't get cleaned every week. Thing is, I just don't see that as a problem. One of the beautiful things about love is the willingness to sacrifice time and effort for only the happiness of another.

The problem occurs when something like having sex is compared to doing dishes implying it is a unwanted chore and not a mutually enjoyed aspect of the relationship. This is where a man begins to doubt the value of the arrangement.

Bottom line: If we all talk to each other like adults and equals none of this shit matters. The man will clean the toilet because he loves his wife and she'll mow the lawn because she loves him. Or whatever.

Now, how do I make this post offensive? Oh yeah: