Women Find Men Who Do Housework Attractive

What does the average woman visualize when she thinks of the sexiest man alive? Brad Pitt? Tom Cruise? Antonio Banderas? Not really. What the average harried, overstressed woman really finds attractive is a man who will help her with the housework. This means that whether or not a man helps his significant other with the housework can impact his sex life. The truth is that we live in a different world now, one far removed from the conservative and very ideological 1950's era where the woman's place was considered to be in the home. The majority of women, and quite a few of them mothers, work outside the home to help support themselves and their families.

For many women household duties have changed from the 1950's norm due to better appliances and a society more catered to convenience as well as some help from the males in their lives. Relationship dynamics between men and women have also changed. I must give credit where credit is due and state that many men have changed and now help with the cooking, cleaning, and child rearing. This gives their wives and girlfriends much needed and deserved assistance. This promotes harmony in a relationship. Unfortunately in most cases this added assistance is either not enough to offset the increased working hours that many women have, or the assistance is entirely absent. This strains a relationship and at best can lead to discord and at worst can lead to separation or divorce.

A couple is first and foremost a partnership which is a small team. With any team when one member doesn't do their share it creates more work for the rest of the team. In partnerships the effect of this increased workload is exacerbated by their being only one other team member that has to bear the burden of unfinished tasks. It may not seem like a big deal to a male, when he blows off his wife or girlfriend's request for help around the house but that is not how women see it. Many women are stretched dangerously thin and under tremendous stress trying to balance both work and family and the unfairness of having a constantly increased workload due to their mates phobia of household tasks leads to bitterness and anger and often to feelings that their mate does not love or respect them. Otherwise why would the woman's mate routinely add to her stress and workload by not doing his fair share? Outdated ideals about who is supposed to do what do nothing to counter what women feel when they are routinely and unfairly overburdened.

Of course this isn't the case in all relationships. Part of the problem is caused by the fact that many men just do not understand how much work goes in to managing a house, and taking care of children. They perceive themselves as doing their part, think they are in the percentage of men that does their part, and consider their wife's objections to these notions as simple nagging. A good way to settle the question and demonstrate wether or not a couple is sharing responsibilities effectively is to make a chart, and the only materials required are a pen and a sheet of paper. Use the pen to divide the sheet of paper in to his and hers columns. Beginning with one person write down everything that they are responsible for during a week and the time it takes to complete the tasks. Include everything: work, school, cleaning, commuting, child care, and any other applicable task. Repeat with other couple member. Then tally the results, if the hours are uneven then the responsibilities of the relationship are not fairly distributed.

I have suggested this method to several friends and was shocked to find that three out of the four of them had grossly unfair distributions of labor in their relationships. Their total was over twice that of their husbands! The method worked very well, because once their husbands were presented the cold facts in black and white they could not write their wives' complaints off as simple nagging anymore. They subsequently began helping more around the house. It is important to sit down together and figure out who is doing what and then decide fairly who should be doing what. Communication and teamwork helps a lot with household management. Many people have a chore that they detest: some people hate the messy experience of washing dishes while others dread the tediousness of dusting. When a couple works together they can minimize the amount of personally unpleasant tasks each person has to undertake, making it easier on everyone.

I believe that men will find that in addition to being the fair thing to do helping around the house has its advantages. Studies have found that women whose significant others help them with the housework report being less stressed and say that they find their partners more sexually attractive. That result makes sense. When a woman feels less stressed because she has help, and has good feelings toward her significant other because he is doing his fair share its only natural that she'd find him more sexually attractive. Also, because she is not unfairly overwhelmed with extra tasks she has more energy for sexual encounters. Many men end up with an exhausted, overwhelmed wife that is angry at them for not taking out the trash or walking the dog (who subsequently urinated on the floor - and you can guess who had to clean that up). And sex is the furthest thing from her mind. For most men the key to improving their sex life and their relationship with their significant other does not lie in couple counseling, the purchase of lingerie or even setting the mood, but in the simple act of washing the dishes.