“Farting in Front of Your Partner Is Good for the Relationship”: Where the Viral Claim Came From and What the Survey Actually Showed

A claim is circulating on social media again: that couples who don’t hold back from farting in front of each other become closer and happier. It’s sometimes even presented as the finding of a scientific study. But the source of this story is far more modest: a small online survey by Mic conducted back in 2016, which didn’t measure relationship quality at all.

Mic surveyed just over 125 people aged 20 to 39 via Google Forms. Respondents were asked when, in a new relationship, they stop hiding flatulence from their partner.

The most popular answer was a period of two to six months, chosen by 29% of participants. Another 22.4% stopped feeling embarrassed after just a few weeks, while 25.2% waited six months to a year. About 10% said they don’t try to hold back at all from the very start of a relationship.

It was these numbers that later turned into headlines about the “perfect moment” and the benefits of such behavior for a couple.

The survey said nothing about happy relationships

The problem lies in how the results were interpreted. Mic didn’t compare relationship satisfaction across different couples, didn’t study trust levels, relationship duration or the likelihood of breaking up. Participants were simply asked about their habits.

So the survey can’t establish causation: it doesn’t show that farting strengthens relationships or makes people happier. Even the phrasing “the study proved” is incorrect here — this was an editorial online survey, not a peer-reviewed scientific paper.

The link to closeness appeared only at the level of commentary. Clinical therapist Robert Huizenga told Mic that a person who stops constantly controlling such natural functions around a partner may feel freer and less driven to maintain a flawless image.

A few days later, Teen Vogue picked up the story, using a louder framing about the benefits for relationships. That’s how a simple survey gradually acquired a reputation as “scientific confirmation.”

More a sign of comfort than a way to create it

A more careful reading sounds different: the absence of embarrassment may be a consequence of a sense of safety and closeness that already exists, but it doesn’t create them on its own.

Relationship expert Michael Sartein, commenting for Scary Mommy, takes a similar position: for some people, such behavior means being able to relax and be themselves. At the same time, he says, not wanting to do it in front of a partner doesn’t indicate a lack of closeness at all — personal boundaries vary from person to person.

So there’s no universal “rule for strong relationships” here. If partners are comfortable with each other’s natural functions, that may indeed reflect a high level of comfort. But this viral advice contains no evidence that farting itself makes relationships stronger.