Gentlemen, start your vacuums

According to a new study and this Wall Street Journal article, Housework Pays Off Between the Sheets, husbands might want to start helping out around the house a little more.

Excerpts:

Many husbands and wives I interviewed offered an additional explanation—that housework may be a proxy for a general willingness to invest in shared interests, a symbol of commitment to home and hearth. Perhaps “working on the same task … makes the couple remember why they married—to be on the same team, to build a life,” Ms. Danis says.

Tom Doran, a Plymouth, Mich., engineer, says doing housework “promotes friendship and intimacy” for him and his wife, an executive assistant. And John Rogitz, a San Diego attorney who has been married for 30 years, says, “If you’re both around doing housework, that also means you are alone together, and in a place where both are relaxed and comfortable.” He adds, “It’s pretty hard to have sex when you’re not together in a place that permits it.”

My favorites:

One husband, Mr. Chethik says in an interview, reported that his wife enjoyed flowers or a candlelit dinner out; but “if he wants to be sure of a romantic evening, he goes for the vacuum cleaner.”

But another married man, a communications manager attending a panel discussion at which the research was mentioned, quickly announced that he was leaving. “Gotta go,” he said. “I need to run home and put in a load of laundry

This reminds of the very popular book, Porn for Women, that depicts men in various (fully clothed) house cleaning poses.

This has always been a very popular gift along with the Porn for New Moms: From the Cambridge Women’s Pornography Cooperative

My wife’s favorite line from this one is:

“Don’t worry honey, your mom and I will take wonderful care of the baby while you and your girlfriends are at the spa.”

Or

“Damn! You look hot in those sweatpants”