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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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viviane_katz avatar
-
Community Member
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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zora24_1 avatar
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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Rahul Pawa
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Imagine this guy, the guy who thinks it happens on the 15th and the guy who thinks it happens on the full moon all meet.

dirkdaring99 avatar
Dirk Daring
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"this is why i can't talk about feminism with you". Yeah, because you lack the ability to engage in a two-way conversation, dude.

noneanon avatar
Random Anon
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What's up with these guys assuming a human body would conform to a man-made system for telling time? Or did they really believe our calendar was designed to work around the menstrual cycles of women? Even if that's the case, which woman? You cannot facepalm hard enough at that totally bizarre logic.

dontlook avatar
Don't Look
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, it’s pretty hard to talk to someone who doesn’t know what words mean (feminism is just equality and a poor word for it at that). But other than that, duuuude. what the f**k.

dawnsardella-ayres avatar
Mrs. Jan Glass
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The number of conversations like this that I've had with men is too damned high. No one cares what you think of our periods, pregnancies, reproductive choices, any of it, dudes. Shut up.

meganoneill avatar
Megan O'Neill
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He wants to talk about feminism the way it should be discussed, with other dudes ;)

bryleegalloway avatar
RandomFrog
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ok so people have a wrong belief, kinda annoying but fine. Then they talk to a person who has been through whatever they’re believe is about, and they don’t beleive them??

kathrynbaylis_1 avatar
Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Feminism? Wow, he’s REALLY clueless. He’s probably also a republican senator now.

aluty-cat avatar
CATMONSTER2018
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

(Joke) English question... if male + fe = female. then would talking about men be called "minism" ??? because ur removing the fe.......

giovannat1979 avatar
Giovanna
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ahah that's what I thought when I was, like, 6 yo, because my mom noted her periods on a calendar hung on the wall. I thought she had it always at the end of the month and I told her. She laughed and explained to me why it wasn't like that. I will never thank my mom enough for being completely open and fully informative about everything related to women's health and body.

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Wisteria Lacoss-Arnold
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, because a Female couldn't POSSIBLY know anything about Feminism. (Sarcasm)

kytemarlee avatar
Kyte Marlee
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My husband thought it was on the first…and every month he says why it’s here so early/late….

nightshade1972 avatar
Nightshade1972
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dunno what he'd make of me. Until my hysterectomy almost 20 years ago, I always had very erratic periods. Sometimes they'd come at the beginning of the month, sometimes the middle, sometimes the end. Sometimes they'd be very light and last three days, sometimes they'd be very heavy and last more than seven. I went through hell for 20 years before I finally found a female gyno willing to take my concerns seriously, and give me a total hysto (uterus, both ovaries, cervix) just before I turned 32. I found out, the day before my surgery, that my maternal great-grandmother had a hysto at 26--yet, during my entire childhood, my emotionally abusive mother was always at the front of the line of ppl telling me, "Grow up, every girl gets cramps, it's not that bad, you're just selfish." When I told her that the gyno agreed I needed a total hysterectomy, her only response was, "Oh."

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

No, you can't talk about feminism with OP because you're a f*****g idiot.

rickseiden avatar
Rick Seiden
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, he wasn't wrong. People who don't know about basic stuff like that can't talk about feminism with women because they are too stupid.

vjsmart2001 avatar
Valerie Smart
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Parents. I blame the parents . This whole thread is just godawful .

gale41_1 avatar
Alan Gale
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Honest to god. After my first gf/wife had been on the pill for a few months, she would start between 9:30 and 11:00 on a Saturday morning! You could almost set the clocks by her! The Saturday morning lie-in was never wasted!!

stephanietrosch avatar
Scotira
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The reason is the pill. Though there are women who have really regular cycles, I haven't met any, but I know there are... 😅🤣

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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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