A Sassy Daughter-in-Law’s Epic Response to Her Father-in-Law’s Sexist Joke Will Leave You Cheering

The story of a daughter-in-law who responded to her father-in-law who kept making inappropriate jokes has been revealed and has garnered sympathy from netizens.

Recently, a post titled “Getting rid of father-in-laws who joke about their husbands cheating” was posted on an online community. The author of the post, daughter-in-law A, shared a conversation she had with her father-in-law, saying, “I only endured it three times.”

Person A wrote, “It was a meal with the in-laws early in our marriage. We had not originally planned to buy the meal, but since he told us to buy it, we went to buy it without thinking much about it.” She continued, “Before the groom paid, he asked me, ‘Can I buy this?’ But I think my father-in-law didn’t like the fact that my husband asked for permission from me.” At the time, the father-in-law told Person A, “If you don’t give your groom enough money and try to pressure him with money, he’ll cheat on you. Be careful.” Person A said that she didn’t respond and just walked away.

The second time was when Mr. A and his wife tried IVF after three years of marriage to have a baby. Mr. A said, “After a few IVF sessions, I started gaining weight due to the side effects of hormone therapy. I didn’t tell my in-laws about IVF, but one day, when I met them, they looked at me and asked why I had gained so much weight. They said I looked like a wrestler and told me to manage it because men cheat when women gain weight.”

Person A explained, “I explained that it was the side effects of hormones from doing IVF because I couldn’t have a child, but she said that I still had to manage it, so I said, ‘Then let’s not do IVF and live as a DINK. I’ll diet hard, take care of my skin, and spend time with myself.’ But she told me to just do IVF.”

He explained, “I endured it twice and told my husband. My husband also hates it when his father acts like that. He usually says something to his father right away when he talks nonsense. But what adult would listen to their son? That’s why I’m not particularly angry at my husband.”

The father-in-law’s last joke was after the baby was born. Mr. A said, “I went to my in-laws’ house and the topic of childcare came up. The in-laws asked my husband if he was helping with childcare and who put the baby to bed when he woke up in the morning. My husband said he didn’t do anything and my wife did everything. Even in the morning, my wife put the baby to bed and praised me.”

Then the father-in-law joked, “If you make your husband do all the housework and childcare, the men will run away. Since the wife is at home, it’s right for her to do everything. If you don’t want the man to start a separate household, the wife has to do well.”

Person A said, “I wanted to end it here today so that it wouldn’t come up again,” and asked her father-in-law, “You’ve been saying things like, ‘The husband is cheating, he’s starting a new life.’ Has Mr. X (your husband) ever cheated on you?”

The father-in-law replied, “That’s what they say. It’s something that men can do, so the wife should be good to them.” However, Ms. A said, “I don’t think so. It’s not the first or second time, but it’s been happening repeatedly. There must have been something that made you say that. When you were dating me, was my husband two-timing me? Who did he cheat on me with?” and persistently pressed him. In the end, the father-in-law apologized, saying, “I’m sorry. I made a slip of the tongue.”

However, Ms. A pretended to suspect her husband, saying, “That won’t work. There must have been something in the past. If there wasn’t, there wouldn’t be smoke coming out of the chimney. I should call my parents and ask them.” Her father-in-law was embarrassed and said, “I’m really sorry. It’s a joke, so you should take it as a joke. Why are you calling your parents?”

Finally, when Ms. A said, “Who would joke like that? Or is your husband cheating on you? Did he start another household? Everyone knows about it now, but I’m the only one who doesn’t? I absolutely cannot forgive cheating. It’s divorce. I’ll raise the child too.” Her father-in-law apologized again, saying, “I was just joking, so that wouldn’t happen. I’m sorry.” After that, her father-in-law’s inappropriate jokes stopped.

In response to a netizen’s comment asking, “Isn’t that a made-up story?”, Mr. A responded, “It’s kind of funny to hear that. There are quite a few older people who make thoughtless jokes that aren’t even funny.”

Then, she added, “A few years after we got married, I told my husband, ‘If it were my dad, I would really tell him something.’ He told me to just say whatever I wanted to say. He said that I thought you were having a hard time, and that he would listen if you spoke for yourself, so I said, ‘How can you do that?’ Then, I let it all out like that.”

Reporter Song Chi-hoon, Donga.com sch53@donga.com