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I'm being nitpicky, but these are the exact moments when statistical findings get turned into forced conclusions: "The risk of divorce is lowest when the husba

I'm being nitpicky, but these are the exact moments when statistical findings get turned into forced conclusions: "The risk of divorce is lowest when the husband does 40 percent of the housework and the wife earns 40 percent of the income." It's not that some risk is lowest, it's that, of the divorces studied, apparently regardless of demographic, there seems to be a statistically significant smaller amount of divorces coming from that particular configuration of earning and housework. Emotional write ups, of everyone's favorite subject, like this are destined to be rife with opinion and forced conclusion. That entire write up, IMHO, is just as valid as answering the question with the word "no." Like everything else in life you need to ask yourself, "does my sex life suck?" and then "What can I do to change it?" If the answer is, "Tell my wife to make less money and do more chores" then go for it.

hedgew 13y ago
How much money would you bet on the answer to the question being "no"? Based on the evidence we have, couples in more equal relationships seem to have less sex and are less satisfied with the sex. This is a conclusion based on statistical inferences made from sample containing about 4,500 marriages. It is much more valid than a "no", even if it is imperfect. If we return to our bet, how would you propose that we resolve the answer? How large would the sample size have to be for you to be satisfied?
- shittyanalogy 13y ago
  "How much money would you bet?" Is not a good way to start a healthy argument. Opinions and statistical molding are not conclusions in this sense. They are just opinions. There is no possible way to "resolve the answer". Every every person is an individual, relationship is different, and they change over time. There's absolutely no way to prove or conclude that equality in home and monetary responsibility are emasculating men and ruining sex lives. People should be evaluating their sex lives on an individual basis, not blaming them on any broad "conclusion" posted to the internet based on poor statistical inference.
WildUtah 13y ago
"... of the divorces studied, apparently regardless of demographic, there seems to be a statistically significant ..." Most generally, correlation is not causation. Maybe people who are more attracted to each other sexually form more asymmetric marriages or maybe people with stronger sex drives are more likely to follow gender stereotypes. Just taking a sample from a self-selected population doesn't even indicate anything about causation. What we need is a study where the researchers randomly assign men and women into marriages with partners chosen by the researchers where they will divide up roles according to gender stereotypes or divide up responsibilities evenly. Then the researchers will return a decade later to see how they're doing.

hedgew 13y ago

How much money would you bet on the answer to the question being "no"? Based on the evidence we have, couples in more equal relationships seem to have less sex and are less satisfied with the sex. This is a conclusion based on statistical inferences made from sample containing about 4,500 marriages. It is much more valid than a "no", even if it is imperfect. If we return to our bet, how would you propose that we resolve the answer? How large would the sample size have to be for you to be satisfied?

shittyanalogy 13y ago
"How much money would you bet?" Is not a good way to start a healthy argument. Opinions and statistical molding are not conclusions in this sense. They are just opinions. There is no possible way to "resolve the answer". Every every person is an individual, relationship is different, and they change over time. There's absolutely no way to prove or conclude that equality in home and monetary responsibility are emasculating men and ruining sex lives. People should be evaluating their sex lives on an individual basis, not blaming them on any broad "conclusion" posted to the internet based on poor statistical inference.

WildUtah 13y ago

"... of the divorces studied, apparently regardless of demographic, there seems to be a statistically significant ..." Most generally, correlation is not causation. Maybe people who are more attracted to each other sexually form more asymmetric marriages or maybe people with stronger sex drives are more likely to follow gender stereotypes. Just taking a sample from a self-selected population doesn't even indicate anything about causation. What we need is a study where the researchers randomly assign men and women into marriages with partners chosen by the researchers where they will divide up roles according to gender stereotypes or divide up responsibilities evenly. Then the researchers will return a decade later to see how they're doing.