Chip Chick
This 34-year-old man and his girlfriend, Ella, 36, have been in a relationship for more than a year and just moved in together in December. She works remotely, and he commutes to the office for work each day.
“I’m generally a very organized and clean person, so I find myself picking up after her frequently,” he said.
He’s told Ella several times that she must put her dirty dishes in the dishwasher, but she always argues with him. So, he ends up having to do all the housework on his own. He changes their bedsheets, cleans the bathroom and the shower, and folds her laundry for her.
“She believes she’s trained her body not to get dirty and showers only every two weeks, in contrast to my daily showers,” he explained.
Before they moved in together, he and Ella were in a long-distance relationship, and whenever they got together, she always looked fantastic, as if she took care of herself and how she looked. He only discovered that she didn’t have good hygiene when they started living together.
Since he also does all the cooking, when Ella informed him that she invited some of her friends over for a girls’ night, he made a lasagna ahead of time. All Ella was tasked with was putting it in the oven before the get-together. On the night her friends were over, he got home early from work and immediately realized that the kitchen was a disaster with food messes all over the place.
When he asked Ella what happened, one of her friends called him “‘Martha'” as a joke, and at first, he thought she just misunderstood that to be his middle name (it’s Martin). Then, his girlfriend told him that she called him Martha in reference to Martha Stewart.
“She was mocking me for being too ‘girly’ and a good housewife, insinuating I’m not man enough. I expressed my confusion, and they insinuated I avoid hooking up with Ella because I miss my ‘boyfriend,'” he shared.
He was baffled by this and said he didn’t understand how completing basic tasks could earn someone prejudiced comments like the ones Ella’s friend directed at him. Then, he said he refused to hook up with Ella because she had “bad hygiene,” which is the truth. He’s repeatedly told Ella that she needed to shower, but she hasn’t improved her hygiene.
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