夫妻共同朋友圈可致丈夫性冷淡
You might think a man's life would be made that little bit easier if his wife gets on well with his pals. But while it might be good for the social life, it could spell disaster in the bedroom。
Middle-aged men whose partners get on very well with their own friends can suffer a severe loss of sex drive, a study claims。
Scientists say that even though these relationships are normally completely harmless, they can have a negative effect on the husband's feelings of power and masculinity。
The researchers looked at the health records and details of social activities of 3,000 men aged between 57 and 85. They found that men who reported problems in their sex lives were much more likely to have the same circle of friends as their wife。
The scientists, from the Universities of Chicago and Cornell, in New York, have labelled the problem "partner betweenness"。
Writing in the American Journal of Sociology, the authors said: "In such cases, a man's female partner has stronger relationships with his confidants than the man does, which can lead to him losing his self-esteem and sexual desire."
"In effect, partner betweenness undermines men's feelings of autonomy and privacy, which are central to traditional concepts of masculinity. This can lead to overt conflict or problems with partner satisfaction and attraction."
Separate figures show that as many as one in five men have a low sex drive, which is often caused by age, illness, certain medications or even lack of sleep。
In some cases a low sex drive can be a sign of a more serious health problem, such as heart disease or diabetes, and experts believe that a husband or wife's low libido is one of the main reasons why marriages break down。據英國《每日郵報》8月10日報道，人們通常認爲，如果某人的妻子與他的朋友相處融洽，這個男人會活的更輕鬆。雖然這樣融洽關係有利於人們的社會生活，但卻可能給兩性關係招致災難。
一項研究稱，中年男子會因爲妻子與自己的哥們關係鐵而導致對妻子的性冷淡。
科學家們說，即使兩者的關係完全正常且無害，這種關係也會對丈夫的男權主義情懷產生負面影響。
研究人員查閱了3000名年齡在57歲至85歲男性的健康記錄和社會活動，結果發現，那些被記錄的有性生活障礙的男性更可能與他們的妻子有相同的朋友圈。
來自紐約芝加哥大學和康奈爾大學的科學家把這種情況定義爲“中間配偶”。
將這項調查發表於《美國社會學雜誌》的作者寫道：“在這種情況下，男性的伴侶與其朋友之間的關係可能比男性與朋友的關係更好，這樣會有損男性自尊，降低其性慾。”
“實際上，‘中間伴侶’會威脅到男性的自主權和隱私權，而這些對傳統概念上的大男子主義極爲重要。這樣的情況會與伴侶帶來的滿足感和吸引力產生衝突並引起問題。”
其他數據表明，五分之一的男性因年齡、疾病、特定藥物和缺少睡眠而導致性冷淡。
在一些情況下，性冷淡可能是心臟病和糖尿病等嚴重健康問題的症狀，專家還認爲，夫妻一方的性冷淡是婚姻破裂的主要原因。
