Toilet seats up or down?

This is a bit tangetial to Prager's argument, and yes, I'm aware of it.

Ten years ago I was astonished to learn that most men believe that women who complain about the toilet seat being up are doing so only because they're afraid they'll fall in.

There may be women who actually make this claim. They're not good thinkers; they just plain dislike seeing the thing yawning at them, and it bothers them, and they want to argue with the husband that he ought to do it her way, and she understands at least that she needs a real reason for her request. He's already belittled her to death about this issue, and she resorts to these mystery "feelings" in the hope that he stops arguing with her. In other words, she wants what she prefers, he has already belittled her preference, so she has to resort to lying to him about why she prefers it.

I know plenty of women who are not the slightest bit bothered by the sight of an open toilet. I'm not one of them.

When I walk into a bathroom, I don't want to see the humans' equivalent of a doggie doolie open and gaping at me. I imagine things falling into it--your toothbrush, my hairbrush, an electric appliance getting knocked off the counter, a cell phone flying pretty easily off the edge of the counter, or how about a whole tube of toothpaste going to the dogs? A jar has a lid to cover it with, and you put the lid on because that's where it belongs. When you're done using the toothpaste, you put it back on the tube. If your wife asks you to stop leaving the cap off the tube, you don't belittle her for preferring it that way.

The toilet lid belongs in its place as well--in the down position. There it can do its job of covering the inside of the toilet, which is a rather unesthetic place, even when it's sparkling clean. If you've had a recent male visitor who dribbled on the front edge of the bowl, the seat being down will hide the drops, and the lid being down will hide the seat. It's mostly a matter of aesthetics.

So there we have two solid reasons to put the lid down: practically, as a shield to cover the gaping maw and prevent things from falling in; and aesthetically as it conceals a place that is usually dirty and is always unsavory.

I'm going to add another practical reason: the fire departments across the country tell us this is a way to reduce drowning deaths for toddlers who wander in without an escort. Good enough for ya, hubbies?

But Prager's main point was one of kindness. It doesn't really hurt you to put the seat down, why not do it lovingly for your wife?