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Being humble enough to accept when you’ve been wrong, and being curious enough to keep learning new things (even when your ego wants to get in the way) are two very good qualities to have as a human being.

It’s important to know the basics of life on Earth. Sadly, one area of knowledge that seems to be very much neglected is what some men know about women’s bodies and reproduction. In some cases, the misinformation they take as fact is simply staggering. You've been warned.

Sabrina Fonfeder, a development executive, noted that men should not make any decisions about women’s bodies, and gave an example of how little about biology some men know. One of her exes, for example, thought that all women got their period on the 15th of the month. The tweet quickly went viral and other women pitched in with similar horror stories.

Sabrina, who created the viral thread, was kind enough to answer Bored Panda's questions. She believes that men having major misconceptions about women is a problem with education.

"We're not taught anything about women because we're supposed to be these beautiful specimens. Get rid of your body hair, periods are gross, and don't get me started on pregnancy and labor and all the things women aren't taught their own bodies until they've given birth," she told Bored Panda. "There is so much shame about just existing as a woman that we don't ever talk about anything that makes us look like less than a supermodel."

Image credits: Sabrinafon

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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Horrible man - and some government reps agreed with him. Basically, the bill defined a fertilized egg as an “unborn child” - so a blastocyst has more rights than the woman carrying it. The bill also included life imprisonment and the death penalty for abortions.

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In Sabrina's opinion, changing the education system in a meaningful way can definitely be done. "More women in charge would be a good start. But also it's not that hard to look at what other countries do and just do that. We don't need to reinvent the wheel here," she said that there are already great examples out there. All it takes is the courage to follow in their footsteps.

Bored Panda also wanted to get Sabrina's opinion on what grown men can do to educate themselves about basic biology. In her opinion, there's no excuse for ignorance, considering the wealth of information at everyone's fingertips.

"Men can simply... read? There has never been more access to information on any topic, so I'd tell any man to do some googling and they'll get what they're looking for. Otherwise, ask a woman in your life questions and come from a place of humility," she said.

"If you scroll through the replies of my Tweet, many women talk about their male partners being adamant even when they are wrong about basic biology, and then yelling when they're told they're wrong. That's extremely annoying. I don't think they'll face any sort of shame if they ask questions from a place of genuine curiosity and a willingness to learn."

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The situation when it comes to knowledge about reproduction is pretty sad in some parts of the United States. According to SIECUS, only 29 states and the District of Columbia actually mandate sex education. Meanwhile, 35 states require schools to focus on abstinence when talking about sex ed.

Shockingly, a whopping 15 states “do not require sex education or HIV/STI instruction to be any of the following: age-appropriate, medically accurate, culturally responsive, or evidence-based/evidence-informed.” What this means is that in some areas of the country, students might be misinformed at the school level.

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NsG
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ooh, so this is the corresponding argument that a C-section means you aren't a real mum. So C-sections result in entirely fictional people! I'm sitting on my hands reading these so I don't facepalm myself into a coma.

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Nathaniel
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Look at all us men queuing up for prostate exams, because of course it is so pleasurable.

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This isn’t the first time that Bored Panda has written about the misconceptions that men have about women. Earlier, 21-year-old Cataleya Jackson went viral after tackling the topic. She gave us an in-depth look at the reasons behind all the wrong info, cultural stigmas, and sex ed.

"One of my friends had a hilarious misconception about periods and my friends and I had laughed about it. They thought that periods just never end, that we'd be 99 on our death beds and still bleeding out,” she told Bored Panda about the extent to which some people are misinformed.

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Trillian
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

D***s are related to pregnancy too so no alcohol for you guys

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"In my country, we do have sex education at ages 13, 15 and again at 17 (if they've opted to study biology in 11th and 12th grade otherwise it's just at the former 2 ages). It's very scientific and doesn't leave space for questions about things that actually matter, things that happen in real-life,” she said that the education part is pretty sterile and removed from reality.

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Lovencaress
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My ex boyfriend asked did I need winter or summer pads because it was in the spring time he thought bigger pads were for winter and smaller size for summer like the bigger they we're they kept you warm

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“Most people don't even learn, they just memorize it to be able to reproduce it during the exams, and then they forget all of it. We need better education, and it has to be more informative and relatable than scientific," Cataleya said.

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According to the woman, there’s a lot of stigma surrounding sex ed. And it needs to be erased. She shared an example of what happened when she was in the 6th grade.

"They called away all the girls from classes, brought us to an auditorium to discuss periods and what they are, why they happen, what we should do, etc. They gave us packets of pads and told us to keep them in our lockers for emergencies. Their heart was in the right place, but by only asking the girls to attend this, they ensured that periods became some sort of mythical and curious event in the minds of all the boys," she said.

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adiiantryx
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

periods came before calendars would be a small hint to some on this list

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"[The boys] were not educated, they remained ignorant to what should be essential information to them. And of course, we all scrambled to hide our pads because we all thought we would rather be caught dead than holding a packet of them. They teased us about it and we, being only 11, had nothing to say to defend ourselves because the stigma around periods is very strong in my country."

In some cases, the stigma is so deeply-entrenched, that it would take more than a bit of education to change things. "I have friends whose own parents make them sit on mats on the floor when they are on their periods because they are considered impure and should not touch anything in the house," Cataleya told us.

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GFSTaylor
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was aged about 13 or 14 when our general science teacher (not one of the biology teachers) told the mixed class that the pill was something that needed to be taken every day. "If a boy offers you a single pill and tells you that's all you need to be safe, then he's lying." I can't remember how the topic came up (this was back in the early 80's), but it was sound advice.

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Poultry Geist
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We like to drag it out so we can be a bit€h longer ! I use to push it all out at once but not anymore sometimes I make it last up to 10 day just so I can be mean for a 3rd of the month ! Good times

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"Some women aren't allowed to enter the kitchen or the prayer room, they're not allowed to leave the house. A majority of women in my country have no access to pads or tampons and use cloth which causes infection and prevents them from being able to earn a living. I could go on and on about how bad it is here for a lot of women," she said.

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Nathaniel
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Marjorie, you can have a break from the housework between 2pm and 3pm, if you could just schedule to have your period then please.

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Eva
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Whenever I see a sex scene in a movie I think of the misinformation men get. I mean, 2 minutes of kissing und then the actual sex, and another two minutes later the woman has the loudest orgasm. No hands were anywhere near the clit. That may work for 1% of all women, I don't know but for most women it doesn't. Stop with the unrealistic sex scenes and stop fakeing orgasms, lol!

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Even though most people hate feeling embarrassed, there’s no shame in admitting that you were wrong about something. "There's no shame in it if you're 30 and have misconceptions about periods. It is sad that you may not have educated yourself about it, but there's absolutely no shame in asking women to educate them or to start reading online themselves. Sex Ed is so important," Cataleya told us.

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NsG
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've known women who also make that mistake regarding pad placement (so the husband wouldn't exactly be wrong!). Sex education is lacking for *both* sexes in some places.

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Anna
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"I didn't know you needed it. I just thought you like to store useless stuff in your vagina for no reason."

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Amy Taylor
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As someone who had a hysterectomy 4 years ago, I can assure you, that you still need to do gynecologist exams.

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Stephanie Federowicz
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had a total hysterectomy, uterus/cervix/Fallopian tubes, in 2009, I no longer go to GYN, no need for Pap smear. If I had issues with yeast or other infections then I would go to GYN. My GP orders my yearly mammogram. I actually stopped going to GYN bcs the damned nurses kept asking me about my last period. The last time I asked her if she had read my chart, she mumbled "No". I said if she reviewed my chart she'd see that I had a hyster done by a surgeon in their practice. I also said it was poor patient care on their part to not notate on a chart if a patient had a hyster to skip the period/pregnant questions. 3 years of that nonsense after hyster.

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A. Jones
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Big fat red flag there, hope they changed their primary doctor.

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Lori Grondin
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My family doctor refused to refer me to a gynecologist , I am 58 and one year post menopausal. He said he could take care of everything. I went to a different doctor. I have my referral now.

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Karen Lyon
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

@Lori Grondin: Okay, but post menopausal is not like having an operation. I can understand why you might want the right meds, maybe, but a GP can do pap smears and such on post menopausal women.

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Sherri Brewer
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had a total hysterectomy at 35 due to extreme endometriosis. My gyno told me I still had to do yearly pap smears because even though everything else is gone, I do still have a vagina!

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Karen Lyon
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

@Sherri Brewer: Um, time for you to get a new doctor. Or have him/her clarify. Pap smears test for cervical cancer.

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Nightshade1972
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

After my hysto, the gyno who performed it still did exams on me because A, my breasts didn't disappear just because my uterus did, and B, there's still a chance for tumors/cysts/whatever to grow in the space where uterus/ovaries/cervix used to be, so better to be safe than sorry.

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Sky Render
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh yeah, 'cause they just rip out the whole lot of it when they do that, vulva and all. Mhm, totally logical.

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Mike Ipsen
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They must just sew everything up after a removing the insides, right? ;-P

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Valerie G.
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had one GP give me a pap smear. I guess he hadn't read my file. I had a hysterectomy twenty years before. He put in the speculum, and looked up and said "did you have something done down here?"

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Karen Lyon
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Okay, for all of you who think the doctor was an idiot: not necessarily. Please stop thinking that all hysterectomies are is removal of the uterus. They aren't. I had one done, and I literally have nothing left down there. I also literally have not seen an gynecologist in years, nor have I felt the need to. BTW: Yes, I know I used the word "literally" here, which seems redundant. Not in this thread. If we're going to advocate that men understand how women's bodies work, let's make sure we're also clear on what things like hysterectomies are really like. Not to mention knowing what pap smears do. Here's a link that answers the question about whether women should have a gynecological exam after a hysterectomy. https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/pap-smear/expert-answers/pap-smear/faq-20058344#:~:text=Similarly%2C%20if%20you%20had%20a,new%20cancer%20or%20precancerous%20change.

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Suzanne Haigh
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why would she need to see a gynecologist, she had them bits removed, I do not understand?

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