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Women Are Sharing The Most Ridiculous Things They’ve Heard Men Say About Their Bodies (30 Tweets)
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High school biology doesn't teach guys how to understand women. But it at least gives them an idea of how their bodies work. Pass that and you won't infuriate your girlfriend by telling her to "keep it in" when she asks you to buy her some tampons. Recently, Twitter user @brownandbella asked women to share the most ridiculous things they've heard men say about "sex, reproductive health, menstruation, etc" and BOY did they deliver! As of this article, the thread already has nearly 20K upvotes and over 3.5K comments, many of which will make you wonder if men are really that stupid or are they just being dicks. Maybe the first, maybe the latter, maybe a bit of both.
Image credits: brownandbella
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Almost a quarter of men have admitted that they have "no idea" what a pelvic floor is or what it is supposed to do. About 1 in 20 believe it's just another name for your pelvis and some even think it's a dance move. A new study has confirmed that men really are clueless when it comes to their female partner's body.
The study, released by pelvic floor experts INNOVO, found that nearly 4 in 10 men don't feel comfortable talking to women about it, too. 4 in 10 men also admit they have no understanding about the health issues their wife or girlfriend faces and are stumped when it comes to the length of their period.
Periods can be a horror show for sure. Cramps, messy underwear, acne, bloating, not to mention the mood swings.
The same magical 4 in 10 men don't feel comfortable talking to women about intimate health issues and as a result, more than a third try to avoid all conversations with their partner about subjects such as periods, intimate screening tests, and even sex.
Damn monthly subscriptions. Never can stop them. I hear you can pause them for 9 months, but it is SO not worth it.
"Intimate health issues can be a difficult subject for many to discuss," Jane Wake, women's health and fitness expert, said. "'It may be funny to think men have no idea what a pelvic floor is or does, but it's a subject which needs to be taken seriously – especially as men also have a pelvic floor and can suffer the same problems as women."
Either he has a very small penis or thinks tampons are far bigger than they are. Either way.... wow.
Besides...what kind of intrusiveness is it if a girl old enough to use tampons is stopped from doing so by a parent?
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My ex husband said the same to our girls.. I set them straight!!!
Sounds like more religious extremism to me on the part of her pathetic father.
"Walking around with a penis between your legs"... Does dad even know how sex works?
I was unfortunately told the same thing by my own mother. She thought masturbation would "make me gay", and I was punished and humiliated by the family discussing "catching me". I cut her out of my life.
My parents were both the same way. I had to drive two counties over to buy my tampons. My friends and I called the pad contraptions Bible Belts.
The women in Bible time would have LOVED to have anything near to the pads we have available. What they went through--yuck.
Load More Replies... My father has 5 daughters and never said a word to us about any of this. He just tried to steer clear lol
Don't worry, my mom also thought that tampons "would take my virginity". Not only a dad problem.
"Landover Baptist Church" is a fictitious online spoof (that many Christians believe is real). Mrs. Betty Bowers (America's Best Christian) writes some of the most bitingly funny articles and tweets. One of her most memorable articles is "Tampons: Satan's Cotton Fingers."
Satan's Cotton Fingers!! Hahahah! Sounds hilarious. I'll have a look for that!
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My mom refused to give me a tampon when at 14 I had a very important sports qualification event at school. I forget what it was, but something like making the short list for the varsity team... I bled heavily so pads were not an option, but no matter how much I begged, she refused to give me one of her tampons and never explained why. I missed the event, never made it on the team, never got an explanation from mom and only years later I realized she was afraid I would "lose my virginity" but was too scared to talk about it to me. Granted, I was born in the Soviet Union and the year was 1991, but still!
This is so sad, intrusive and upsetting. Not just the sheer stupidity but the dad feeling ge gad any right to dictate his daughter's choice in monthly hygiene. And just WERE was her mom in that whole story?!
This is true. It’s how me and my gf decided to lose our virginity together. Tampons inside both of us. It was magical
Time to take control over your body in every aspect. It’s YOUR body NOT his!
From this piece of advice, I would say the father has some serious issues about sex in general and his daughter's supposed sex life in particular! "Walking around with a penis between my legs" indeed! Daddy does not say "masturbate", but you understand that's what he is thinking. I suspect the man is an Evangelical Christian or something of the kind, and sex education for him means abstinence before marriage and nothing else. In short, this is not some advice a concerned single father might give to his daughter, it's a MORAL ISSUE for him: his daughter should remain an innocent virgin.
Wonder just why dad knew? Mine never did.If he has asked I would have ignored him.
My dad didn't get involved in my periods by dictating what I should use. That's just weird!
I am 50,when I was a teenage in the 80's,the whole "tampons take your virginity" crap was a very common things said to girls by their parents(mainly mothers) ,as was "no man will want you ,if you're not a virgin".While most of our parents tried (usually unsuccessfully) to stop us having sex with our teenage boyfriends ,many of the girls I went to school with ,who were from conserative/christian or "new Australian" backgrounds(as they were known then) were married off as early as possible(engaged at 15,married by 16/17/18) for the sole purpose of avoiding the "Shame" of teen pregnacy! Things were thankfully very different by the time I and the man who had been my teenage boyfriend had our 3 daughters(and one son).
I am so happy I was blessed with a father that would buy me chocolate and not bother me about what kind of sanitary products I used.
The problem is men like that father, ignorant and controlling, end up trying to control the women's bodies despite the lack of knowledge and common sense
If it was her mom that told her that, I would be wayy more conserned. But, still...
OMG. I am so sorry you were raised by such an ignorant jackass.
😲😲😲!I don't care that he's your father, it's not up to him. But, I guess his own perverted ideas have caused those ideas.
Wow... There are no words for the stupidity of a grown man saying this to his Daughter.... Just WOW
Oh God...didn't your Mom ever clue him in? He probably wouldn't listen to her either!
Omg... how degrading for you as a young woman! I am so sorry you had to deal with that kind of thought process from your dad!
as a boy i am intrigued to know more but i am also recoling in disgust at the same time for what the dad said. what did this dad say to her when she asked "hey dad did you ever masterbait?" how did he respond then?
It's my mom who'd say that to me xD although i don't necessarily agree, i just can't put tampons. Tried once, when i was 13, it was a nightmare and i said "never again".
This is why brothers and sisters shouldn't get married. The gene pool becomes so shallow you couldn't even wade in it
Jane added that both men and women find it embarrassing to discuss their private health concerns with someone of the opposite sex, even if it is their own partner, but that being as open as possible with each other is the best way to gradually break down the taboo.
When I was about 14, over 20 years ago, I was reading the problem page in a teen magazine. A girl had written a letter, in a total panic, because her periods weren't blue. She thought she had some terrible disease.
This sounds like he was willfully neglecting his duties as a doctor. Like he was just too lazy to try and find out what was wrong and that's scary as hell.
As a young girl who hadn't had " the talk" yet, we knew my girlfriend would give us the facts. Her parents were Doctors! Well, she said.." First you lay this egg... suggesting it was size of an ostrich egg( made sense), and then you bleed for about a week. You also grow hair in weird places. It's called PUBLIC HAIR! At that point we all swore we would just get to a Nunnery!! Somehow, reality reached us by high school.
Why on earth should father express his opinions about daughters sexual life?
I think you dodged a bullet with that one. Just because you are in college, does not mean you are educated.
Ummm... does he only know 50 foot tall women? How big/heavy does he think the egg is?
So to sum up: You girls/women don't only bleed from your vagina's, but also have to suffer from uneducated pains in the ass.
Yep and the dozens of other symptoms that go with the bleeding. If it was just blood it honestly wouldn’t be so awful. Cramps, headaches, hormones etc are even worse.
I used to feel like I was coming down with the 'flu on the first day or two. Did I mention how wonderful menopause was?
just about. but the mansplaining is the worst. Thank goodness some men have empathy and curiosity, and their only sin is ignorance, not out-and-out malignant intent.
yeeep
These are the reasons that Sex Ed and health should ALWAYS be taught in school. Lots of parents don't education their children; my mother never did.
My mom was pretty good, but also preached the "no sex before marriage" due to religious views. My son will be 11 soon and we have really good, open discussions about the good, the bad and the ugly of both male and female puberty and reproductive health. Some people might think he's too young to know about STDs, intercourse, and periods, but I say he's young enough that he won't hear it from someone else first so I can teach him the facts before he hears the myths.
I think you are doing exactly the right thing. Not that you need my approval - but you have it anyway.
Here in Italy we have the first sex ed lesson in school at 10 y.o. so it's not too soon.
I don’t know who is down voting you but I don’t think 11 is too soon. Girls start periods around 11, I was 12, and I knew nothing! I am lucky nothing bad happened to me. But I would have had healthier relationships mentally and physically if it wasn’t so taboo to know about the difference between our bodies.
Dippin Dot, your mom did you a solid, that's for sure! My mother got me a kit from one of the feminine hygiene companies with a booklet that explained a lot of things. She gave me the kit when I had a "period" at age 10.5. It wasn't a real period, but she was prepared. My mother was such a prude about sex and taught me that sex was dirty and was not a subject that polite women talked about. My stepmother was quite open about the birds and the bees, so I got a mixed education at home. On the subject of the right age to start teaching comprehensive and frank sex education is dropping into the single digits. Girls are starting their monthly cycles much earlier. It's not as uncommon as it used to be for girls to have their first period at age 9. A friend who worked at a middle school office had a student who was pregnant for the *3rd* time at age 11. She told my friend that she was keeping this one. This was 20 years ago.
My mom was similar to yours. She actually gave me age-appropriate books that were from age 6-9, explaining about puberty, periods and where babies comes from and the other was I think 11-13 where they explained in more details about sex, STDs and contraception. Well, I was curios, so I actually read the second one earlier, so I knew the facts way before I needed them. I didn't think about having sex before 16 and when I did I knew that "I'll keep you safe" isn't good enough, so if you want to have sex, you better go buy condoms.
@Dippin Dot..and that's what makes you a good mother. People are always overly-protective of their kids. I'm here to tell you, the earlier the better when telling them the birds and the bees. Why? Because the last time my sister-in-law was a counselor for a camp full of 11 year olds, her biggest problem was breaking up kids that had attempted to sneak off in the woods to have sex...some of them she caught in various stages of undress. Girls are getting pregnant at 12 and 13 now. You can't wait until you think they're old enough. It's not a conversation that you can avoid and you don't want to live with the consequences of delivering that message too late.
You made sure that he’s vaccinated against HPV, right?
You, are a great mom!!❤️❤️❤️❤️
I was 14 and found a copy of Dr Ruth's Guide to Good sex and knew more about sex than my dad ever thought I knew. It talked about sex before and during menstruation, but not what menstruation was.
Relatable. I didn't know about period until mine came for the first time. Imagine my fear when i saw it. Also, lot of the stories above are just men who don't know trying to not be rude. They just don't know cause no one told them.
Although I would not take the responsibility from the parents here. School AND parents. Parents should be a role model that bodies are just normal as they are, and that includes among others women having their period. Anyway, this series only in small parts is about outraging comments from men but really a lot about an astonishing lack of education.
Last week, when I picked up my little boy in kindergarden, a mother was upset because her elder daughter (14yo) "learnt sex" at school, she had to memorize anatomical names from pictures (in fact drawings). She was even more upset that parents around didn't see any problem with this, because school was " putting ideas in kids head" and they shouldn't talk about menstruations because this is dirty... I'm really glad for this girl ( likely to soon menstruate) had the chance to get informations on that point at school. Of course, in a perfect world, her parents would have do the job, but as we're not living in a perfect world...
The trouble is that there are parents who don't teach their children or teach them wrong or misleading things. Schools need to do this so that parents can't get away with teaching their children utter crap. I was lucky - my parents were good in that regard but I heard a lot of playground chatter from children who weren't being given good education. The school aspect is VITAL. Parents should not have the right to overule this either. Ignorance leads to some terrible things happening.
I set a lot of children straight on the playground, but I was lucky--my mom told me everything, and kids were asking questions way before sex ed caught up with what they wanted to know--it's worse now.
My mother never did either. I was born in the Soviet Union where "there's no sex" so no one talked about it. I got my education on the street and god it was flawed! I dodged most of the bullets by self-education, but looking back now I understand how much more I needed to know before I started my sex life. I try to be different with my daughter, talking to her in clear terms and trying to give as much detail as appropriate for each age.
You've been down voted by trolls--your experience says everything, and why we need sex ed for our children
Sex ed will help just a bit, sometimes the info they give is so convoluted and watered down you would be better off looking at a PBS program. It is abysmal.
But even then the sex ed is not accurate!!! But you're right, it must be taught properly!
This just shows the lack of sexual education in general. It is scary to say the least. It ought to be mandatory that men receive education on the body of women...
Yes. And also women about the male body, and women about female bodies and men about male bodies.
Sadly, women are often no less ignorant/misinformed regarding their own bodies, sex, pregnancy, etc.
Well, a little bit less of course: you will quickly discover for yourself that really weird things like 'having a period only once in a lifetime', 'periods being blue' etc. are not correct haha. But I agree, there are lots of women that are ignorant/misinformed about female bodies: about which things impact the chance of getting pregnant, which things are just natural and not a sign that you did something wrong, what technically happens inside your body during a pregnancy, which things are normal (many women thinking their vagina looks abnormal because it doesn't look like it does in porn), which symptoms are not just a fact of life as a woman but are a medical problem, etc etc.
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Sadly, you are terribly wrong.
We had a Great Sex Ed program set up in Ontario in the past few years and the Ford Government and their backward ways cancelled it and returned to something from back in the /60's. because they thought that it wasn't proper to teach kids about same sex relationships, sexting, stalkers, STDs, AIDS & so many other things that we know some kids as young as 12 or less are involved with. We all see the stories of young kids getting pregnant because they develop as young as 9 years old.
As a male, I will never truly understand the pain that women endure. But as someone who has been with the same woman for nearly 30 years, I have witnessed the monthly struggle, and I do my best to alleviate the suffering as much as possible.
why would someone downvote this??? you are very kind
So... you stock up on bourbon and make sure there’s plenty of Advil and chocolate in the house? Because that would make you a saint among men.
Chocolate and Midol, actually
Don't forget the heating pad or hot water bottle
Correction...Godiva and Midol...with lots and lots of wine.....lol
THANKYOU. You're showing empathy, a willingness to learn, and most importantly, a willingness to support your parter (which is exactly what partnerships are about: empathy, willingness to learn, and a willingness to support in whatever ways possible). Unsure why your good intentions got down-votes.
My high school daughter told me her friends think I am the coolest dad. I asked why. She told me because I was the only dad that had no issues with bringing pads or tampons to school for her a couple of times. I am not sure whether to be proud or sad that other dads don't do this.
wow-nice dad
i once had to explain to a man in his 20s that breasts are not hollow ziplock baggies constantly full of milk. you cannot, in an apocalypse situation, cut off a woman's breast to drink the milk inside.
Jesus.
WUATT! This plays in a whole new league of sick!!!
I was dating this guy a few years ago and he got angry one afternoon because I didn't wanna have sex because I was on my period. He thought I was lying because we had sex that morning and I didn't have my period then. I tried to explain that it doesn't start in the morning and finish in the evening. The whole argument went so far that I pulled out my tampon to prove that I wasn't lying. Gross, I know but that was the only way to make him believe me.
That is insane!
You are with a guy who called you a liar. Bye!
sometimes it takes extremes
And these are the men taking our rights away
PLEASE Bored Panda - don't cut this one down to 30. The subject matter is too important.
Could someone please explain why the topic of sex education has gotten SO MANY DOWN VOTES? I'd like to know from the people who are down voting WHY they are doing so... because it seems like the majority of the comments are pro-education...
I don’t get it. I was in elementary school and junior high in the ‘70s. Starting in Grade 5 we had comprehensive sex educations taught by nurses (hats of to the VON, the Victorian Order of Nurses for doing this) that covered everything from a detailed description of the plumbing, what sex involves, how babies are made, what forms of birth control there were at the time, and how to use a condom. ...///... This was in public school, as a unit in science, and it was MANDATORY. no one was excused for any reason, including religious freakery.
Take that to early 80's. We had a sex education segment in 5th grade. That was the time they started to send permission slips home giving parents a chance to "opt out" their kids from the program. I can understand why they did since part of the class went over contraception and many of the students in class were Catholic. But there was an outline of topics on the permission slip so parents could check off certain parts of the class they didn't want their kids attending. Our school really put some thought into setting up these classes..including having the class separated down with girls in one class, boys in another. Questions were also submitted to the instructor anonymously by writing your question down on a piece of paper and putting it in a box. It prevented kids from getting singled out for asking strange questions and/or really personal questions. Maybe sex ed would be more successful if the school districts took time to set it up properly.
Reading other people's comments, I sometimes think sex education was better in the 70s. I know I got very good sex education in school, and thank goodness for that - my mother did not want to talk about it at all. Periods were a dirty shameful secret at home.
Aunt Messy, you were lucky to have grown up in one of the more rational part of the country.
My mother was raised in an uber conservative Catholic home and attended Catholic school. She knew nothing, Her period scared her...he mother came and said "this happens once a month, this is what you do, the end." My brother and I were raised by this woman and when I started my cycle, I got a special dinner and celebration. And then she told my brother! GASP! But it didn't take long to understand the benefit. He was compassionate, caring, he would watch over my needs, go to the store, be extra nice that week. (He still is, his wife adores it). I was lucky enough to get a husband who had the same sort of unbringing. Whew.
It is deeply disturbing to see how underdeveloped sex ed is in some countries. I believe a modern, civilized nation has the obligation to teach their children certain things, proper sex ed being one of them. What I read above is simply a confession of failure.
“Some countries“ in this case seems to be mostly the United States.
Wow, I got about halfway through and had to stop... Depressing, infuriating, and astounding, in this day and age. I'm so sorry these girls had to go through this shit.
Same..
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If only we could all be as enlightened as Nikki D. Said no one ever.
Reads like a long and comprehensive list of arguments for better sex ed. Now, I haven't met every fellow nGerman, but I'm pretty sure I've never, ever heard some of the BS posted here. And I'm so, so thankful for that.
In USA it’s hard to get around the theocratic government to get things like basic education.
He is love, you must not have been watching the news during the second Bush administration when gag rules were put in place that countries who wanted US foreign aid had to push abstinence only sex education and were expressly prohibited from talking about abortion. Abstinence-only education laws were passed in a number of conservative states. What passes for sex education in some states is appalling. No amount of facts mean anything to the conservative "if you educate them, they will have more sex and much earlier" believers. Facts about teenage pregnancies and abortion rates dropping when factual and comprehensive sex education is taught as a regular part of secondary education.
And then, you have this: My family has been in healthcare since before I was born. We had a good family friend who was a family doctor. He told us about a male college student who came to him, very worried, because he was in his 20s and hadn't had his period yet.
also not even ready for a real bra, huh?
XD i really worry about our species
Oh dear! Sorry, I LOL'ed at his expense. He must have been so relieved!
I see the trolls are out in force today.
That explains the downvotes so many sane and reasonable posts are getting... except for the downvote I gave Grumble O'Pug for the absurd reply to Just Curious. Talk about being terribly wrong. Women are often no less ignorant/misinformed... and equally so about men's bodies.
My fiance. .. who is actually super intelligent, thought that sanitary towels went 'sticky side up' . I thought he was joking. But, no. He was deeply serious. I had to explain how the blood would not be absorbed... and let's not forget about the pain of 'waxing your pubes' . I still love to remind him of this 4 years later whenever I slip up.
but..... why? why would he even think that?
I loved sex ed at my school. It was forthright, graphic, detailed, anatomical, and made people pass out. We had very low rates of teen pregnancy and STDs, as you can imagine...
Improved sex ed in the UK has reduced teen pregnancies. How can knowledge be a bad thing?
So much downvoting going on... what is up with that?
Ask religious people. They fear knowledge cause they are stupid. The american bible belt is a big joke. Less sex ed had led there to more teen pregnancies but they just ignore it.
That is true everywhere that has good sex education. The highest rates of teen pregnancy and STDs are in places that either have no sex ed or use an "abstinence only" variety.