What Gets Mom in the Mood?

"You want to get me in the mood? Help out!" says one mom I know.

"Watching my hubby cheerfully, without my prodding, take care of household duties totally puts me in the mood," says another.

Why is this? It's certainly not that male domesticity is dreamy -- you'll never find me, or any of my mama friends, watching videos of scantily-clad men putting plates and bowls in the dishwasher and tucking the kids in bed. Scrubbing toilets isn't fun no matter who's doing it. It's not the work in and of itself. It's the helping. It's the fact that you don't have to do it all yourself. And perhaps most importantly, it's about recognizing and appreciating your partner's hard work. That alone is a powerful aphrodisiac.

When you first partner with the man of your dreams, it seems easy -- or, at least, possible -- to separate your wifely self from that of career woman, sporty gal, best friend, craft maven. As a wise woman told me recently, "Before I was a mom, I was Gandhi: I was generous with my time and resources. If my husband wanted to go on a hike, that was great!" But after … every half-hour had to be portioned out, with a responsible parent "on duty" at any given time. Once I became a mom, my identities were no longer separate and certainly not equal: I was mom first and foremost, and 24 hours a day. Suddenly my partnership with my husband was that of boss and executive assistant. And that’s just not sexy.

In order to get in the mood, I had to step out of my mom role. In the first months of a child’s life, that’s nearly impossible; and for the rest of toddler-hood it’s just really, really hard. So when I read Lainie Keslin Ettinger’s essay in The New York Times (she’s the wise woman of whom I spoke), I thought, yes! Someone understands exactly what I’m going through.

And I discovered that, for moms, porn is not so racy after all.

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