By Jack Peat

One put bleach into a dark load so he’d never be asked to do it again

Men are using ‘weaponised incompetence’ to avoid doing everyday chores in the house. The term has become so popular on TitkTok that is has already amassed a whopping 148 million views, suggesting the age-old hack might be a secret no more. Passed down over the generations, ‘weaponised incompetence’ refers to one partner in a relationship pretending they aren’t capable of doing everyday tasks such as laundry, cooking or washing up in order to avoid it. The other partner, usually known as the ‘competent one’, is therefore forced to take on the jobs so they are done properly. And judging by social media reaction to the trend, it seems to be pretty commonplace. One person said: “My ex put bleach in a dark load intentionally. When I asked why, he said, ‘Because I don’t want to do laundry, and you will never ask me to do it again!’” While another added their ex said they couldn’t even boil a kettle to avoid getting out of the tea round.

A third said their dad still doesn’t know how to use the washing machine aged 73, while others said their partners would bemoan “high cleaning standards” to get out of basic tasks. And the recent social media topic is backed up by data. A 2020 Gallup study conducted in the US found that even among egalitarian-minded millennial couples, women are still more likely to clean the house, shop for groceries, cook meals and make decisions about furnishing and decorating the home. The study found that while men do take on a few domestic responsibilities, they take their cues from older generations and pick up tasks that can be done on their own schedules, like car maintenance and garden work.

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