TRADING sex for favours damages your relationship by making one partner too powerful, a study suggests.
Agreeing to clean the kitchen or go to a party in exchange for a quickie risks upsetting the balance between the “giver” and “receiver”.
And it could suck the joy out of love-making, say researchers at Haifa University in Israel.
Surveys of people in long-term relationships found two-thirds of couples admitted having used sex as a reward.
And nearly three in ten of the 675 involved said it happened regularly.
But sexual satisfaction was lower in those who reported more use of the tactic.
Researcher Dr Wafaa Sowan said: “While occasional sexual reward may not impact relationships, frequent use appears to undermine both sexual and relational well- being.
“Sexual rewards may become a transactional or alienating experience.”
Experts also suggested that for some people sex was a goal, while for others it was just a means to an end.
A British poll in 2013 found that two-thirds of women also admitted to using sex as a reward.
