The author erroneously makes rejection about what he calls sex, when for women rejection is almost always his preference for such things as TV, sports, and other people, as explained in (5)----Do you talk to strangers in a kinder tone than you do your spouse? That is, do you reply in an annoyed, impatient tone to your spouse but show patience and kindness to complete strangers?
Your response to the question, "do you punish your spouse for telling the truth?" is very perceptive. The 'egg shells' phenomenon indicates a spirit of pride, resentment---even perhaps envy of spouse for their excellent qualities--and rejection of responsibility for weakness, faulty judgment, etc.
I Know that sex is an area of contention for many married couples and your observation about the man rejecting the woman in favor of TV, friends etc, is very insightful. The woman sees or senses that rejection and yet then the man comes along and wants sex at the end of the day, and after a whole day of rejecting her, expects a warm welcome in bed.
NOT going to happen.
The reason, for all the men who screech and howl about it, is that the woman just sees it as the man, even if it’s her husband, using her. He ignores her all day until he wants something from her and then gets put out when she won’t.
Women know what sex means to a man (in priority somewhere between breathing and eating) and how much he wants it and there’s no way a man is going to convince a woman that he’s making some kind of great sacrifice by having sex with her. SHE knows it’s not about her.
Well, nobody feels like being used just to satisfy someone else’s desires and the man who tries to claim that he’s thinking of his wife after ignoring her the rest of the day, isn’t fooling anyone.