Why do men have to take the trash out?

They don’t have to. I make my girlfriends take the trash out. They also tie my shoes for me, too.

The trash should be taken out by anyone. It’s not based on gender….

They do it because they love you, as a form of ‘protection.’ Especially at night. I read this book written by a man, that’s what it said anyway.
I also see it as a form of respect.

@Blackberry Perhaps read the tags “fun”. And keep on asking your girlfriend to tie your shoe laces.

I thought this was just something that men did on sitcoms… it’s never been my experience in real life that the guy was expected to take out the trash.

I’m quite happy to take the rubbish out and now we have to split it all up for recycling so I have a selection of bins to put it in.

@TheProfoundPorcupine This question was inspired by a show with a couple married 50 years. The only argument they ever had was that she had to remind him to take the trash out! I wonder how many people on here or around us have been married that long. But yes, it got me thinking, as to why it was his job!!

@Shippy If I think of my grandparents (who were married for just over 50 years) it was my grandfather that took it out on most occasions but this was just due to habit more than anything else. I know that he was never ordered to do it just most of the time he was going out to his garden so was passing the bin anyway.

It’s funny how the couple in that show were like that though.

This is a man’s world.

Because I’m busy cooking your dinner, dammit, and more importantly, I SAID SO.

It’s not that we aren’t bothered by smelly trash it’s just that it’s good for our self esteem. This is how taking the trash out makes us men (especially the married ones) feel. lol

@zensky But it wouldn’t be nothing without a woman or a girl.

Source

I take the trash out most of the time. It’s dirty work, and I don’t want my wife to do it.

It’s in a bag. How dirty could it be?

Seriously, there are so many more unpleasant chores to do in a household, I don’t know how taking out garbage became the one that defines maleness, even by the stupidest standards.

I mostly don’t want to bother with putting on shoes or dealing with dirty feet.

Somebody has to do it, and do it right.

@filmfann Thanks man. You always got my back.

My husband, because he can more easily carry the heavy containers.

I take the trash out and I don’t mind doing it. Our driveway is over 500 ft long. I use a wheelbarrow to take the garbage to the end of the drive and I sometimes need to make the trip twice. It’s a nice little workout for me.

The only time I expected my husband to take the trash out is when I was 8 months pregnant.

I’ve taken out the trash all my life. But I guess I’ve got to start watching out now.

The trash took out my dad.

From what I see in my parents’ household, my mom does the cooking and cleaning. My step father does the garbage (most of the time) and cleaning the garage.

So they can complain to their wives about just one more thing.

Traditionally, the house is the woman’s sphere. Tasks that are performed entirely in the house and don’t involve mechanical or electrical aptitude are “women’s work”. Tasks that require going outside are “men’s work”.

Shippy, your comment about your girlfriend was interesting. Do same-sex couples divide chores in ways that mirror traditional gender roles? Does the division of labor correlate to other aspects of the relationship? Does it matter if one of the partners is bi?

Being white trash, I feel a great affinity for what’s in the garbage can, and the fact that some of the trash goes in the recycling bin and gets to live again is very affirming.

In our house, it’s my husband unless he’s away from home the day it needs to go out. This is because our trash pick-up happens around 6AM and he leaves for work at 5:30.

Growing up, my mom took out the trash. My dad’s back was prone to going out when lifting anything heavy, so mom took care of it.

I’ve never expected my boyfriend to take the trash, or bins (as we sayin the UK) out. In this house it’s who ever gets pissed of with the overflow first!

Personally, I take the trash out, because if I take out the trash – I know that it will get done & I won’t miss the trash pick-up when the garbage truck comes by.

I’m usually the one who takes the trash out.

@ETpro white trash? WTH?

Division of labor in my home is determined by less by gender and more by who isn’t traveling that week. This week I was home and he was away for work – so I took the trash out (along with doing all the laundry, cleaning, cooking, homework patrol, driving kids around, etc.). Next week I’m gone and he’s home – so the roles swap.
There are very few things that are done exclusively by one or the other of us..

What a load of rubbish, whoever it’s more convenient for at the time gets the gig, for us anyway.

I take the trash and recycles to the town transfer station (aka the dump) without giving it a second thought. Of course, if I didn’t, it wouldn’t get done.

I also am in charge of the compost pile, Milo having stopped pulling his weight (or anything else that wasn’t connected to food) a long time ago when he discovered that I could do it all.

Stupid trash, can’t it take itself out? Damn old lazy and smelly garbage.

They don’t. I’m usually the one who takes the trash out in our house.

@woodcutter Born in the South, and after the business losses I suffered in the Great Recession, my bank account says I qualify. And you all know how often my mind’s in the gutter. Just waiting for some generous soul to donate a beat-up old trailer I can take up in. :-)

Shit, that’s what it takes to qualify? Hmmm
I need to re-evaluate myself

@submariner If you were bi you would take half the trash out silly!

I think it is really sweet when a guy takes the trash out. It is a bit like the old days when a man would walk near to the sidewalk to ensure the lady would not get splashed by a wagon hitting a puddle. I am so glad chivalry is not dead.

I want men to take the trash out. I have no idea why.

In our house, usually I’m the one who empties all the trash cans throughout the house and deposits the bags in our laundry room (where the back door is). Then Mr. Augustlan takes it all from there to the alley out behind our house the nights before pick up. Of course, sometimes it goes the other way around, too. We’ve never really had a clear division of chores, but we both have things we tend to do more often than the other. He washes far more dishes than I do, and I’ve cleaned the bathroom far more often than he has. It just…happens, for whatever reason.

Ah when I had live in boyfriends or when they regularly stay the night I have been known to tell them to take the trash out.

Though they never grab all the trash just the kitchen one.

Sometimes they are smokers. Not allowed to smoke in the house, while you are out there take out the trash. Other times they are waiting on me to be ready because I like to straighten the house when I leave..

So it’s a if you aren’t going to help me, or can’t because you don’t know where things go then get out from under my feet for a few minutes.

When I am at their house and waiting on them I take the trash out if I am waiting on them. I grab all the wastecans trash though.

Small contribution without messing up their whole system. I also frequently ask them to make the bed, or at least assist if the bed is in the middle of the room. We can conversate, flirt, plan our day, or just get distracted. The vacuum or the mop is another chore I throw at them from time to time. I may not do much housekeeping other then straightening and washing dishes during the week depending on how busy I am.

In a relationship we frequently stay with each other on the weekends if at no other time. If we have plans to spend time with each other I feel better if my routine housework is typically out of the way.

I usually wake up before them but might make breakfast or do yoga or go for a run. If we don’t spend some of the morning cuddling and tearing up the bedsheets, so while I can get started on it they might have to chill unentertained for a bit while I clean the bathroom sweep and mop do the dishes, if they don’t. Throw in laundry dust change linens etc.

I think that guys are simply being nice and showing respect for their ladies. Garbage can be nasty, smelly, and heavy to lift, so the men willingly step up and take care of this unpleasant chore.

@rosehips Ha ha the poor guy must be exhausted after a visit!!

I think it started with the idea that men were too clumsy to handle the china and glassware, so washing dishes was out. Hauling trash was a manly chore like mowing the lawn, raking leaves and shoveling snow. Of course, we know that is a fallacy now and ignore the old rules. Equality of the sexes changed everything!

@Sunny2 Agreed, though It is dependent on the male. Sometimes if they buy into the stereotypes or enjoy those chores its easier to go along with it.

@Shippy the lazy need not apply : )

We live out in the country, so we have a compost pile. The food scraps go in a coffee can, which gets taken out every day. The garbage doesn’t get stinky, so we girls don’t mind doing that. We mind taking the compost out, though, because it can be stinky, or because the compost pile is at the tree line of the woods, away from the house, in the dark of night. We don’t like going out there, with all that stays in the woods.

We live in the city, so we have a compost pile. The food scraps go in the compost bowl, which gets taken out whenever it gets full. The garbage gets stinky occasionally, by the woman of the house takes it out most of the time. She puts it in paper bags, which she staples shut. Paper is more biodegradable than plastic. The compost pile is under the deck, so it’s only a walk of 15 feet. No one is ever worried about what might be out there, although there are possums and raccoons and squirrels. Not to mention human vermin sometimes sneaking around or getting arrested in our back yard.

The boys in the house dispose of mice and rats and really heavy things. But everything else is the province of the woman. Not the girl. The girl is in her room studying. Or being on Facebook. Hard to tell which.

The man does all the yard work, though. He climbs the trees, and swings down from them, whooping like an Orangutan. Sometimes he carries his chainsaw with him. The woman is never around when there is chainsaw activity. She is down in the basement communing with laundry. Or up in the bedroom communing with laundry.

Cooking used to be a manly activity. But when the woman retired, she felt guilty that the man would work all day, and then come home and cook. She she made him teach her how to cook. She is a passable cook, but this is good because the man is not motivated to eat so much any more and has actually lost ten pounds. Someone here said they found those pounds and offered to send them back. The man was not amused.

There is singing involved, but we won’t go into that. Also there are unmentionables, but they will remain unmentioned.

Good night.

Because it’s difficult to make any mistakes during the act. Washing clothes is far more complex and some women are not satisfied how men seem to handle this. Same goes for cleaning windows. High standards for some household chores are tough to meet and a source of conflict.

@mattbrowne that is so the truth. I am hardly stereotypically female, but I am married to ubersmensch. I got him to do laundry once, he bleached my red towels. I swear, he did it on purpose, just so I’d never ask him again.

What is so complicated about washing a window? Either the glass is clean and without streaks or it is not.

I am sitting here, looking pretty and with my nails perfectly manicured and my mascara implied impeccably, waiting for someone to volunteer to empty the litter box. How long before Lochinvar rides in and does it?

edit: That’s “applied.”

@gailcalled I kind of have a feeling you got it right the first time.

^^^Whatever the implication, I did end up doing it myself.

As is quoted in the bible—
Acts 17:31
“Because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by taking out the garbage on the fourth day of the week; before 9:00 am.”
Or something like that.

Here’s what I think of the damn trash.

@rojo ha-ha

@Seek_Kolinahr – Before we got married my world view was husband and wife have to split all duties 50/50. At my university in the early 80s women right’s groups were very active and their arguments were very convincing. Male students felt ashamed of the past and eager to work for justice. But during our marriage we both realized that a perfect split is unpractical, so we kind of developed three lists:

1) A list for stuff we decide together and do together
2) A list for stuff I’m responsible for
3) A list for stuff my wife is responsible

The shorter the first list, the fewer cases of conflict arise. Only really important stuff gets on list 1, such as were we live, how many children we want to have, long-term financial investments and planning, which general location to pick for a vacation and so forth.

As for household chores I’m in charge of trash/recycling, setting the table, and loading and unloading the dishwasher and some of the grocery shopping. Then there’s online banking, arranging service for our cars, organizing vacations (hotels, rental cars, flights etc). So my wife does most of the cooking, gardening, laundry, cleaning with the help of an iRobot Roomba.

Where that breaks down @mattbrowne Good to see you! is when two people agree on division of the chores, but one of them (or both) don’t hold up their end of the deal. In my experience, men are more likely to walk away from something they don’t feel like doing than women are. to wit, all of the single mothers out there struggling to raise children by themselves.

not to wit, because those women actually feel like being mommies. The ones that don’t, give their babies up, abort, or walk away just like the men do. The people who do what they really don’t want to do out of a sense of duty are usually men.

Whoever has the highest standards of neatness usually ends up doing most of the work.

@submariner Wow. What planet are you living on?

@mattbrowne That’s a good list there, and a great idea. I see though you are in charge of the trash hehe

@Dutchess_III – Thanks, yes, well, I took a Fluther break for a while. Yes, I think it’s true that on average men are more likely to walk away from something they don’t feel like doing. I wonder why this is so. One reason could be that on average men are less bothered about a certain chaos inside a home. Not sure… Might be worth a new Fluther question:

Why are men on average more likely to walk away from something they don’t feel like doing than women?

DON’T DO IT MATT!! THEY’LL KILL YOU!!

All right, I won’t ;-)

Scientists like to get to the bottom of things…

It is one of the edicts that come from that unwritten book entitled “Womens’ Rules for Men”; a massive tome that has been handed down by oral tradition from time immemorial. It is usually passed on from one generation to the next when the daugher is around six years old; at which time it is committed to memory and ingrained into the female psyche.

No man has ever seen this book (probably because it is unwritten) but that is of little actual consequence since they would be unable to comprehend it anyway.

What kind of rules are in this unwritten book?

I think that is another question for the collective.
I am not sure whether the women will be willing to pass that information on to us males however.

Sounds like a conspiracy…

Well, for one, you have to pretend like he’s the GREATEST mechanic or carpenter or whatever in the world, even if you’re better than him, or else he won’t help you get stuff done.

I guess because it is a ‘mans’ job.