Same-sex couples tend not to take things so personally. Negative comments don't bear as much weight as positive comments do. Straight couples tend to be more affected by and upset by negative comments.
All relationships involve conflict, negotiation, and compromise. Same-sex couples, however, tend to be happier than heterosexual couples. What's a significant difference between same-sex and straight couples? Equality is typically a shared value among same-sex couples. Same-sex couples are dramatically more egalitarian, leading to fewer power struggles, less anger and aggression, and more humor in the relationship. Same-sex couples are also more likely to share childcare and household duties. Tasks are divvied up according to preference, and not on the default of gender roles. With more equality also comes better communication. Why? Because both partners feel like they have a voice.
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Joanne Bagshaw is an award-winning professor of psychology and women’s studies at Montgomery College. She is also an ASSECT-certified sex therapist with a private practice in Maryland, and she writes the popular feminist blog, “The Third Wave,” for Psychology Today. Before respecializing as a sex and relationship therapist, Joanne was a trauma therapist for 20 years, working primarily with rape and sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and adults who were abused as children. When she’s not smashing the patriarchy, or traveling around the world with her husband and daughter, Joanne can be found curled up in a comfy corner with a good book, a steaming cup of coffee, or even better, a full glass of wine.
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