Read other letters about this article
"There are women who think they are always right and their husband is some hapless boob so he better do what she says or he won't get any action. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a wife treat her husband like a child. To ignore this and pretend that it stems from mans lack of sexual ability and not some spoiled princess complex or thinly veiled man hate is shitty."
This is certainly true. There ARE women who disrespect their husbands, and that's not right, although I'm not at all convinced that this couple lands squarely in that category and there's nothing in the letter that implies that. Even if she said, "I'm never having sex with you again!" in the heat of an argument, he certainly never claimed to be innocent in the arguing, only that he wanted to "win" the argument. I would argue, as Mary Wollstencraft first hypothesized, that a lot of these manipulating behaviors come from feelings of helplessness. Many women spend their entire marriages being managed and handled by men who, after entering into holy matrimony with a woman, try to avoid relating to their wives on any level. Clearly it's a bad dynamic for both parties. But I don't think it's one-sided. I'm sympathetic to the men only to the degree that they are actually attempting to relate to their wives and have no sympathy at all from the opposite side of this man's own equation. He capitulates his point so he can get laid. That's hardly honorable. There's no mention of loving his wife or anything resembling true sympathy. He's just going along to get some. That, in and of itself, probably describes why his wife is so often angry at him. She knows that that's the only reason he relents and she feels awful. I can see why that makes them both look bad, but come ON! Why is it all on her?