Shawn, My wife worked 20+ years in an ICU as a RN, 12 hour shifts that ended up14 hours some days only to come home and have to do it again in 7 hours.
She worked as hard or harder than I did while I was teaching, coaching and painting houses.
We worked together raising the 2 children during those years. Toilets need cleaning I did it, clothes needed to be washed, I did it, the carpet vacuumed I did it. But guess what if my wife thought that it all needed to be done, she did it. Cooking meals we both did it. If someone was tired the other chipped in.
That is how it is supposed to work. Marriage, marry the right gal if you are a guy and treat her like she should be treated as an equal and as your wonderful lover!
Too many Boys are not thinking. That is just what I said there are too many boys out there. They need to become men and grow up.
If your wife was a man, newspaper articles would be calling her lazy for not doing more around the house. That was the take of the article that started this thread. However, men are not lazy. They make great sacrifices at work and at home for their families. Male-bashing will be taken to task.
You have a very idealistic view of how marriage is supposed to work. While this is admirable, it's not reality. This is obvious considering 50% of marriages end in divorce. "Until death do us part" has no meaning.
My mother divorced my father, who is probably the most honorable man on the planet. Her reason was that "she wanted something more." Well, she got it. After 4 failed marriages, she is now all alone. My mother calls the divorce the biggest mistake of her life. She wanted to get back with my father 3-4 years after the split, but it was too late. He had found someone else, a widow. They've now been married for 35+ years. Cosmic justice in action.
I do not understand your comments about boys. What I'm hearing you say is that someone who does not wish to get married is not grown up (and someone who dresses differently than you is not grown up). Want2retire frequently mentions that she has no plans to marry Frank. Is she not grown up, or do you apply this rule only to men?
If my interpretation of your comments is correct, you are not alone. When men say that they do not wish to get married, it is attributed to immaturity. When women say that they do not wish to get married, it is attributed to wisdom and independence. It doesn't matter that there are no data to support these beliefs, because men are always bad and women are always good. Political correctness gone amok. But political correctness has consequences.
More and more young men (and older men) are coming to the conclusion that there is little advantage to marriage, especially considering the high risks. They see no point in working their butts off, being criticized for the sacrifices that they make, and then losing it all in a divorce. This is a very mature and logical decision. And it's not confined to the United States. It's a phenomena throughout the west.