I nominate this book for the as-yet-to-be-established "Hamster of the Year Award."

I Almost Divorced My Husband, But I Went on Strike Instead

TL,DR: Woman decides that she has had enough of her husband and children not helping out with the housework. Rather then divorce her husband, she goes "on strike" and refuses to do anything around the house. Her husband caves in after two weeks of this, and she makes him sign a "union contract" that equally divides up the chores, and provides rules for how the work is divided up. Later on, she writes book about it, and goes on to espouse choreplay as the secret to a successful marriage.

Highlights I gleaned from her personal page:

  • She is a hairdresser who would come home from her long, stressful job yapping with the other hens in the hen house, get mad that she had to do dishes, cook diner, clean up, etc.. and that her husband and children do nothing to help out.
  • This wasn't an issue for a long time: "To show what a good wife she was, Sherri Mills eagerly took over all household and child rearing duties at the beginning of her marriage. Years later, exhausted and angry from doing every chore in an increasingly complex family life, she’d had enough."
  • She had enough, apparently, of her loyal husband with what looks like a good job, two typical kids, and her own business, in the suburban nirvana that is Eastern Utah. She thinks about getting a frivorce.
  • She fancies herself a psychologist, and tries to solve her client's family problems while she is cutting their hair. She calls it being a "psycosmotologist."
  • After her children neglect to bring home some random ingredient she needed to make dinner one day, she snaps, and refuses to do anything else at home except eat, sleep, and watch TV. (Like she says her husband did.)
  • After two weeks, her husband caves in and suddenly understands how hard it is to do all of the household chores. He begs her to help out again.
  • Since her husband works at a factory, and apparently negotiates union contracts, she declares that she has been, "on strike," and proceeds to make him sign a union contract that divides up the household duties, among other things.
  • Everything in the world is magically better, she starts fucking him more, and life is great.
  • She goes public with the whole story, and it gets on the front page of the Salt Lake Tribune lifestyle section.
  • All of that takes place in 1982. Fast forward to 2011, she is now writing books, giving speeches. Apparently this little incident, along with years of unlicensed psycology on her customers, makes her a relationsihp expert.

Analysis:

  • None of the articles I read gave his side of the story. We only hear what she has to say about the relationship, from her perspective. Given that he not only caved in to her after two weeks, but also consented to this story being published in the newspaper, he sounds like a complete beta schlub.
  • Based on the pull quote above, I think she was stay at home in the beginning, then got bored with it and decided she needed to "work outside the home." If this is the case, then she is the one who caused the "increasingly complex life" in the first place.
  • She claims she did everything, including yard work. I find that a little hard to believe. Was it because he was working overtime to support the family while she was playing amateur shrink?
  • Not a lot is known about the husband's job, other than it is at a factory, and he negotiates union labor contracts on a regular basis. I bet this puts him in upper management, and probably making good money. She apparently owns her own salon and cuts hair. Based on how she describes her job, I have the impression that she probably was not making a lot of money with the business, and she was probably only able to indulge this little thing of hers because her husband made good money. If she were making good money from it, why not hire domestic help?
  • One of her husband's job duties was negotiating union contracts for his company. I am sure her cute little display went a long way to showing the union thugs that he is a tough negotiatior who will not back down when threatened with a strike.
  • She advocates choreplay. 'Nuff said.
  • What the fuck is a "psycosmotologist"? Maybe if she spent more time cutting her customer's hair rather than trying to fix their issues, she would make more money and could hire some help.

What would I do if my wife ever pulled some shit like this on me? One word: scab. (Especially for the bedroom.)

P.S. She is not the blonde 6/10 on the cover of the book. The actual author looks like she belongs on Awkward Family Photos.