“The most frequent dynamic I encounter among straight people, both in pop culture and in couples I know, is that of the annoyed wife and the clueless husband”

The most frequent dynamic I encounter among straight people, both in pop culture and in couples I know, is that of the annoyed wife and the clueless husband. I’ve heard female acquaintances lament — to name just a few examples — how frequently their husbands want sex, how infrequently their husbands want sex, how bad their husbands are at fixing their daughters’ hair, and how gracelessly their husbands endure upper respiratory infections, a.k.a. “man colds.” Meanwhile, in a scene in the new Pixar movie “Inside Out,” as the wife in the family sensitively tries to understand her daughter’s feelings, it’s revealed that the husband thinks a lot about sports and leaves the toilet seat up.

Curtis Sittenfeld, “Wedded Bliss for Everyone!”, The New York Times (28 June 2015), SR8.