Husbands vs. Dogs

I flipped on the radio in my mini-van yesterday and landed right in the middle of a discussion between morning show hosts Todd and Stacy. As a self-described (as of just this moment) Zesty Nesty Happy Marriage Cheerleader, their conversation immediately caught my attention.

"C'mon, wives," Stacy was saying. "Isn't there anyone out there who'd like to defend the husbands in this thing?"

Me! Me! I want to defend the husbands! I'm always up for a Defend-the-Husbands Campaign, even if it means stepping on wives' toes the world over (my own notwithstanding). Now, what exactly am I defending them for?

A few seconds later, Todd and Stacy caught me up on what I'd missed. Some poll had been conducted somewhere, and the super-scientific results showed that 73% of wives feel that their pets are better listeners than their husbands.

Then Stacy offered up her challenge again, "Who wants to stick up for the husbands here? Anyone?"

I reached for my cell phone (all while keeping both hands on the steering wheel and my eyes on the road) and waited for a phone number. They didn't give a phone number! They kept talking and talking about it, a couple wives called in and complained about their selfish husbands, and I was screaming at the radio, "WHAT IS YOUR LOUSY PHONE NUMBER?!?!"

I know what you're thinking, "What on earth does any of this have to do with sex??"

Everything, my dear friends. Everything. And 800 words is barely enough time for me to climb upon my little soapbox, grip my podium with both hands, lean in and start spouting off.

So, I'll just say this: the Marriage Bed is complicated enough already without adding things like husband-bashing into the mix. I am so saddened and sickened by the pervasive (and persuasive) balderdash in our culture that says it's perfectly acceptable to bash on our husbands (and men in general) whenever it suits our fancy (and elicits snickers and giggles from our girlfriends).

Can you even imagine if our husbands sat around with their buddies and laughed about the dinner we burned or our saggy boobs or how dumb we are about computers or the tummy pooch we just can't get rid of? Oh, the horror! Yet, we feel perfectly entitled to prattle on and on and on about their incompetency and (perceived) selfishness and immaturity.

Ladies, hear me on this one. If your sex life with your husband leaves something to be desired AND there is ANY kind of husband-bashing going on, STOP RIGHT THERE. I'm a firm believer that you and your husband's bed is never going to know its full potential if you've got a sinful attitude of disrespect going on. Believe me, I speak from much, much, much experience.

If you're totally cool with the respect stuff and sex still isn't working for you, then we can move on to the other issues. But you've really, really got to work the husband-bashing out of your system first. Capiche?

Continuing this conversation over at my blog today if you're interested. And next time here at the Zesty Nest? I'm all over the Sassy Spicy Sex Stuff!