Independent Perspective News - We’re Not In the Mood

Marriage experts say there’s no single reason we’re suddenly so unhappy with our sex lives. Many of us are depressed; last year Americans filled more than 200 million prescriptions for antidepressants. The sexual landscape may have been transformed in the last 40 years by birth control, legalized abortion and a better understanding of women’s sexuality. But women have changed, too. Since they surged into the workplace in the 1970s, their economic power has grown steadily. Women now make up 47 percent of the work force; they’re awarded 57 percent of all bachelor’s degrees. About 30 percent of working women now earn more than their husbands.

Like never before, women have the financial clout to leave their husbands if they choose. In his new book, “Mismatch: The Growing Gulf Between Women and Men,” sociologist Andrew Hacker says women are less and less inclined to stay married when they’re not emotionally satisfied. Wives say they were the driving force in 56.2 percent of divorces, according to Hacker, while men say they were the ones who wanted out only 23.3 percent of the time. When women have those kinds of choices, marital “duties” become options and the debate over how much, or how little, sex to have is fundamentally altered.

Meanwhile, families have changed. The year after the first child is born has always been a hazardous time for marriages—more divorces happen during those sleepless months than at any other time in a marriage, except for the very first year. But some researchers say parents are now obsessed with their children in a way that can be unhealthy. Kids used to go to dance class or take piano lessons once a week; now parents organize an array of activities—French classes, cello lessons and three different sports—that would make an air-traffic controller dizzy. And do you remember being a child at a restaurant with your parents and having every adult at the table focus on your happiness? No? That’s probably because you weren’t taken along.

Working parents who wish they could spend more time with their kids often compensate by dragging their brood everywhere with them. That means couples are sacrificing sleep and companionship. Parents of infants sometimes stop thinking of themselves as sexual beings altogether. Gottman recalls treating a couple with a 4-month-old; the wife was nursing. One morning the husband reached over and caressed his wife’s breast. The woman sat bolt upright in bed and said, “Those are for Jonathan.” “They laugh about it now,” Gottman says. “But you can understand why a guy might withdraw in that kind of situation.”

There’s another theme winding through popular culture and private conversations. Because let’s face it: no one is really too tired to have sex. Arguing over whether you should have sex can easily take longer than the act itself. For many couples, consciously or not, sex has become a weapon. A lot of women out there are mad. Working mothers, stay-at-home moms, even women without kids. They’re mad that their husband couldn’t find the babysitter’s home number if his life depended on it. Mad that he would never think to pick up diapers or milk on his way home. Mad that he doesn’t have to sing all the verses of “The Wheels on the Bus” while trying to blow-dry his hair. Those of us who were weaned on “Fear of Flying” or “Our Bodies, Ourselves” understand that we’re responsible for our own orgasms. But then couldn’t somebody else take responsibility for the laundry once in a while?

Researchers say women have some legitimate gripes. Most two-income couples without children divide up the household chores pretty evenly. After the kids come, however, men may be happy to play with Junior, but they actually do less around the house. Men’s contributions to household chores increased dramatically in the ’70s and ’80s, but haven’t changed much since then, according to Andrew Cherlin, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins. And it isn’t just that Dad isn’t doing the dishes. Researchers say many new fathers—55 percent—actually start spending more time at work after a child is born. Experts can only speculate on why: fathers may suddenly take their role as breadwinner more seriously. Others may feel slighted by how much attention their wives lavish on the new baby.

But men are mad, too. “The big loser between job, kids and the dogs is me,” says Alex, a 35-year-old financial executive from Manhattan. “I need more sex, but that’s not the whole story. I want more time alone with my wife and I want more attention.” They may not be perfect, but most husbands today do far more around the house than their fathers would have ever dreamed of doing. They’re also more involved than ever in their children’s lives. And they want points for it, points they’re not getting.

Experts say very few women openly withhold sex. More often, lingering resentments slowly drive a wedge between partners. After two kids and 10 years of marriage, Bill, an actor in his 50s, loves his wife, Laurie (not their real names), though he’d like to have sex more often than the once or twice a month they average now. Laurie, a graphic designer in her 40s, agreed to hire a babysitter and make a standing Saturday-night date. But when Saturday rolled around, she was too tired to go out. They missed the next week’s appointment, too. She’s tired, she says, but resentful, too. “I get angry because he doesn’t help around the house enough or with the kids. He sees the groceries sit-ting on the counter. Why doesn’t he take them out of the bag and put them away? How can I get sexy when I’m ticked off all the time?”

Maddie and Roger Weinreich went to a therapist to rekindle their flagging sex life.

Advice on how to stay connected, however, varies widely. Traditionally, marriage counselors have focused on bridging emotional gaps between husbands and wives, with the idea that better sex flows out of better communication. More important than a fancy meal at a restaurant (where you can still have a rip-roaring fight, of course) is to just make time to sit down and talk. The Weinreichs managed to rekindle romance after their sons, now 18 and 21, got a little older. All it really took, Maddie says, was being more committed to intimacy.

But a new breed of marriage therapists take a more action-oriented approach. Regena Thomashauer, a relationship counselor and author of “Mama Gena’s Owner’s and Operator’s Guide to Men,” agrees that scheduling time together is essential. Use the time to have sex, she urges. Michele and Marcelo Sandoval, 40 and 42, respectively, sought help from Thomashauer when they were expecting their first child; now they make two “dates” a week. “We call them dates,” says Marcelo, “but we know it means sex, and we make it a priority.”

Author Weiner Davis has a similar strategy: just do it. Don’t wait until you’re in the mood. And view thoughtful gestures, such as letting your spouse sleep in, as foreplay. Chris Paterson, 31, and his wife, Tara, 29, say Weiner Davis has helped them. Early in their marriage, they had sex nearly every night. But after she gave birth to their first child, Tara lost interest. Their nightly sessions became infrequent events. In addition to raising the kids, now 6 and 2, both Tara and Chris run their own businesses—she has a Web site called justformom.com and he’s a general contractor. Tara says she’s just exhausted. Chris also shoulders part of the blame. “I haven’t always been the most romantic, getting-her-in-the-mood kind of individual,” he says. Since talking to Weiner Davis and reading her book, Chris and Tara say they now have sex almost once a week, when they “try really hard.”

Most therapists do agree on one thing. You can’t force a sexy situation. There’s nothing wrong with dressing up like a cowgirl or answering the front door in “black mesh stockings, and an apron—that’s all,” a la Marabel Morgan’s 1973 classic, “Total Woman.” But if it feels silly, it won’t work. Rosemary Breslin, 45, a writer and filmmaker in New York, says she still has a great relationship with her husband, Tony Dunne. “But one of the things I ask him is, ‘Are we going to have sex in 2003 or are we shelving it to 2004?’ I asked him what he would do if I put on a black negligee, and he said he would laugh.” Maybe she should persuade him to help out a little more around the house. After all, we know there’s nothing sexier these days than a man who takes out the trash without being asked.

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