A ‘man-child’ is REAL… and scientists say they get less sex because it turns women off
- Scientists found a ‘man-child’ – where a partner is seen as a ‘dependent’ – is real
- Women were studied to see how dating a ‘man-child’ affected their sex drive
- It found women have lower sexual desire when they are dating a ‘man-child’
- The word ‘man-child’ comes from the role of a partner and child being blurred
Do you end up doing all the cooking and cleaning while your boyfriend or husband relaxes on the sofa?
Well you could be dating a ‘man-child’ and it turns out, they’re real.
And scientists say they get less sex because it’s a huge turn-off for women.
The term, which used to refer to an adult man who had child-like interests, is now used to describe the blurring of roles between a partner and a child.
Does your male partner still expect you to fold his clothes, cook his dinner and take care of the baby?
For example, some women perceive their boyfriend or husband as a ‘dependent’ because they provide little help with housework and nurturing.
Researchers in Australia and Canada quizzed more than 1,000 women in relationships with men about how they viewed their partner.
Participants came from around the world and all had children under the age of 12.
Women were asked to rate their agreement with statements such as: ‘Sometimes I feel as though my partner is like an extra child I need to look after.’
Another example of a statement posed was: ‘It’s too hard to teach family members the skills necessary to do the jobs right, so I’d rather do them myself.’
They were also asked about how jobs around the house were divided in their relationship.
A study found that viewing your partner as a dependent was associated with having less sexual desire for them
The tasks included preparing meals, washing dishes, cleaning the house, doing outdoor tasks, shopping, washing and ironing, paying bills, doing auto maintenance, and driving other household members to work and school.
Another statement posed to the women was: ‘Does your partner identify as a feminist?’
They were also asked about how much they sexually desired their partner.
The study was conducted by Emily Harris, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at The University of Melbourne, and Sari van Anders, a professor of Psychology, Gender Studies and Neuroscience at Queen’s University, Ontario.
They said they found that women who did more housework were overwhelmingly likely to view their partner as a dependent.
And viewing their partner in this way was associated with having less sexual desire for them.
Discussing their results in The Conversation, the pair said: ‘When taken together, you could say women’s partners were taking on an unsexy role – that of a child.’
Other factors could explain the findings, Dr Harris and Professor van Anders claimed.
Dr Emily Harris and Dr Sari van Anders said this painted a bleak picture of what relationships can involve and reflected broader gender inequities
For example, women who feel they are dating a ‘man-child’ may choose to do more around the house.
Or, it could be not wanting to have sex with their partner leads to viewing them as a ‘dependent’.
Their research was solely based on male-female relationships so it is unknown if the phenomenon can be found in same-sex relationships.
They suggested one person in a partnership may take on more of a ‘feminine’ role, meaning the ‘man-child’ phenomenon may be found in same-sex and gender-diverse relationships too.
It comes after it was revealed in March that women in Britain do 70 more minutes of housework each day than men.
Women in the UK spend an average of two hours and 49 minutes cooking, cleaning, doing the dishes and laundry.
But men spend only an hour and 39 minutes on similar jobs, according to research based on data from 200,000 people.
The full results of the new study were published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.
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