Straight folk could learn a whole lot from the marrying gays.
Various studies indicate subtle, yet important differences between the ways in which gay and straight married couples interact. And the findings could prevent some marital headaches.
Notably, same-sex relationships, whether between men or women, were far more egalitarian than heterosexual ones. In heterosexual couples, women did far more of the housework; men were more likely to have the financial responsibility; and men were more likely to initiate sex, while women were more likely to refuse it or to start a conversation about problems in the relationship. With same-sex couples, of course, none of these dichotomies were possible, and the partners tended to share the burdens far more equally.
While the gay and lesbian couples had about the same rate of conflict as the heterosexual ones, they appeared to have more relationship satisfaction, suggesting that the inequality of opposite-sex relationships can take a toll.
Other studies also show that gay couples are more likely to work through an argument, rather than taking cheap shots and low blows, which surprised us…
Dubwise
Hard to assign or fall into gender roles when you don’t have both genders present. I LOVE that movie!!
My mom is a lesbian, (second generation queer here) and she and girlfriend didn’t ever seem to let society tell them what was required of them as a couple. If it needed to be done they did it together.
Progression
Excellent article. Very timely.
l
Great pic for the topic!
Kid A
One of the greatest movies of all time.
And great post too.
SeaFlood
Um… partiarchy *does* assign us gender roles –usually from… no. I don’t like the way the study was done. There is SO MUCH going on within same-sex couplings that to simply dismiss some parts because the pairing isn’t opposite-sex obscures what ‘mo and het relationships have in common.
chuck
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf was where I learned the games “Get the Guest” and “Hump the host”. Liz was fab.