I can't speak for all women just myself and either I am in the mood or I am not and if I am not, winning the lottery wouldn't get me that way. I will always be incredibly greatful for help with the house and it may leave me with more energy for sex but I think both spouses should do chores anyway. I don't believe in giving a special prize to someone for doing something they should have done anyway. Sex should be done out of mutual desire, not as a reward for something either spouse should do anyway. Make your wife feel cherished by you if you want her to show her sexy side. That being said I have a different level of need than my spouse. I love him and will have sex even if I am not in the mood. I would say 90% of the time we have sex I didn't really want to. I just never tell him I didn't really want to. It is done out of love for him however not out of gratitude.

Marcy, Lincoln, NE

From a male perspective, women and men need to agree on a level of housework acceptable to both parties - frequently the woman has far higher (unnecessarily so) expectations in this area. Women need to take more responsibility in the more traditionally masculine types of home chores.
As a counter argument, sex has been a contentious issue in the past for me, and other men, who frequently resent the lack of initiative taken by women in the bedroom. I'll spell it out - most men like a partnership in the bedroom where women take initiative and initiate sex on equal terms, and inject some variety and forethought into the couple's sex life-taking interest in it, basically. Sex is not simply physical for men - there is a lot of psychology behind it for men too.When cared for in this way,I am happy to wash up as I feel in a partnership
So this article's title should be:
Men: if you want more sex, do the dishes!
Women : If you want the dishes done, take a more active role in the bedroom!

Dan, London,

Haven't found this tidbit of advice to be true. I've done the bulk of the cooking and cleaning around the house for all 18 years of our marriage. The expectations simply rise along with the amount one does. A wife must have an innate desire and need for sex. Those needs change with time, for at least some wives, and definitely change with the rearing of children.

Mark, USA,

Guys, if you want more sex then get a mistress.

You are guaranteed the best of both worlds.

Jimbo, Surrey, England

If I may add, doing the chores can be a turn on for the woman if the hubby dresses sexy for the job. Show some muscle with a sleeveless top, and some rump with some old snug jeans. Use your imagination, lad!

George Mazzei, St Pete, FL, USA

Marrige is a partnership which has a division of labor. Men typically do the outside stuff, mowing 1/16 of an acre to several acres as well as landscaping, fertilizing, planting, maintaining vehicles, remodeling, hanging drapes, redecorating -- the heavier and more masculine interest chores. Women tend to do the interior stuff -- cooking, housekeeping, children related things, meal planning, chosing appliances, social planning, family vacations the more feminine interest things. In some familes the women do the major spending and bill paying which go nicely together. This is a juristictional thing in some families. But as a partnership one partner has to be willing, to the extent of their abiities, to take over 100% for the other in a pinch or emergency or illness. It's worked for us for 52 years.

jim, Roscoe, USA

Get the children to do the housework.

Wallace, Alexandria,

I do the dishes, put the bins out, see to the garden, walk the dog and do all the maintenance jobs around the house. We pay for somebody to do the ironing and the cleaning and yet we still have no sex! That stopped some years back after we moved into separate beds ostensibly because of my snoring. Both my wife and I work hard at our jobs, but it's a nonsense to say if you fit in with everything a wife wants you will get a sex life back. Some women are content with complete emotional isolation when the spark goes out and I sometimes suspect that a husband doing the full 'new man' role can be counter-productive. Children get the attention and that's just the way it is.

Jim, Cardiff, Wales

Certainly has not worked for me. My other half only finds more for me to do. Result - I am then too dam tired to follow my instinct. My remedy - a few glasses of wine with some choice food - breaks the tension and opens the right boxes.
Result - four children and lots of grandchildren. The old methods are best.

peter, ammanford, uk

I think women want to feel that they are in a partnership, not always having to take the initiative in all the mundane tasks that are part of our daily lives. Ideally ,that partnership would be reflected in all aspects of the relationship not just housework. I'll say this; we hire a cleaning service to clean our home....and it hasn't had either a positive, or negative, affect on my sex life at all. So maybe it's not really about the dishes and toilets after all.

Lynn P., Center Valley, USA

That doesn't sound entirey true. I make my lady breakfast in bed every morning, pack her and the kids' lunch, take the kids to school, fetch the little bastids, go shopping in the evening, cook dinner and do the dishes. She has a longer commute than I do, which gives me an extra 90 minutes a day to take care of these things. We share other tasks. We probably have sex three times a week.

There is some correlation - sharing the load creates more free time together (so a higher chance of sex) - but I would respectfully suggest that sex will only be a 'reward' for doing housework when there is no expectation that housework will be done. Vaccuum once and she'll rock your world, do it every day and she, or he, will take it for granted. So the study in question seems flawed and rather pointless.

Mike, London,

I have often wanted to initiate a campaign entitled: "10%+ = 1xsex". What does this mean? First of all sexual activity declines once there are kids and the excuse is "Darling, I'm too tired!": this standing joke is no joke at all to the millions of women who are in double employment. Hey, you guys, we've relieved you of part of the burden of being the sole breadwinner - do your bit, won't you? What does that mean? It means that if you want sex - every man wants sex, every woman wants good sex: even the women with 'headaches': Ever stopped to think that that headache might be true? After separation, by law men have to do 33% - one day a week + alternate weekends + half the school holidays! If men did the same % of work in a relationship and we followed the rule 10%=1xsex, there'd be a lot more sex! SO THE SOLUTION IS a man should at least do his part : if there are 2 kids, a man has to do at least 25% - that's dignity! For every 10% +, there'll be sex darling! If u do 50% you get ...!

Anne D, Barcelona, SPAIN

So, let's ask the question -- are women devoting their two new hours of time to spending more with the kids? I think the Big Revolution will come when men (and women) do not define men's participation in housework as "helping with" it. After all, we help the people who are primarily in charge, don't we? Let's hear the language as "doing the dishes" and "doing the vacuuming" and maybe even "cleaning the bathroom." Then we'll know that the Big Cultural Change has arrived. Got to go -- need to scrub the toilet.

Lynn Hughes, Bucks County, PA