A Marital Rating Scale from 1939: How Would Your Relationship Have Fared?
Is your marriage in 2012 as strong as it would have been in 1939?
Couples therapy is no big whoop these days. You might be in it, or you might know another couple who attends.
Therapy is certainly not a new concept, but 70 or so years ago some couples had another, simpler way of assessing their relationship: a marital rating scale.
There was one scale specifically for wives, and another for husbands—both created by a Ph.D./MD. Merits and demerits were rewarded based on topics that might just make your eyes roll and your head spin (it might also make whatever you’re currently drinking shoot out of your nose when you burst out laughing). But you may also stop and look a little closer and wonder if they might just have been onto something. Maybe. Maybe not.
Take a look at the scales below (courtesy of BuzzFeed) — one for the husband, one for the wife, and see how you and your partner add up (and let us know your “score” in the comment section!):
For the wife
For the husband
Top photo credit: iStock
Image credits: BuzzFeed
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This is hilarious! I love that a woman gets merits for going to church with her kids while letting the husband stay home and sleep. I did all right regarding demerits, but I would not get a lot of merits either. And the husband one is just funny.
I’m actually really surprised to see the husband gets a merit for helping with the kids and around the house.
There’s something funny about the scoring system: how does a wife ever get more than 25 points?
My husband is a friggin’ saint compared to me using this test.
I think these are truncated images Samantha. (do I get a point for vocabulary, you think?)
“Slow in coming to bed, delays until husband is almost asleep” cracked me up. What a very polite way of saying “tries her damnedest to avoid sex”!
full test
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiabla/sets/72157605047200616/
Hilarious. Some of these are dated, but some (puts cold feet on husband; compares wife unfavorably to mother) are timeless!
OMG! I answered honestly and yet Im a minus 4!!!! Hes a 22! We are doomed to failure! lol thank god most of this is irrelevant in todays day and age…. holy cow!
Red nail polish? HAHA! Does that signify she’s a devil worshiping slut or something? hahahaha
We’re perfect for each other. We both fail.
The top score is 47 unless you go to church or add more than one date a week. Everyone fails. Oh, and you’re supposed to add the scores together, folks.
I think this is funny how the wife is supposed to be up for church and take the children but supposed to let the husband sleep late! Rather contradictory specailly as the father is supposed to be the spirtual head of the household . Yes, I am a christian. I find it interesting how men gets points for helping around the house and with the children, and also the concept of a weekly date . We tend to think of date night as a modern american concept, bu this shows it isnt. Very nteresting.
Confused…if you would happen to receive the maximum points (I only looked at the “wife” test) allowed, it would be 53 points, yet, there’s a category for 76 and higher??? Plus, you’re subtracting the columns? It’s impossible to even reach a fairly high number! Maybe it’s the sly way of the doctors telling everyone that their marriages are all doomed…dun dun dunnnnn….
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Well CLEARLY if my pantyhose aren’t perfect, I’m unfit to be a wife or mother!
I don’t even think I’ve worn hose since I was about six.
You obviously were mistaken
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