Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
53 Things Women Wish Someone Had Explained To Them Before They Had To Figure It Out Themselves
It’s no secret that science has a gender problem — most of what we know about human biology comes from research on men, conducted by men.
So, is it really any surprise that so many women grow up knowing surprisingly little about their own bodies?
When a Threads post asked women for the facts they wished they’d learned sooner, the floodgates opened. One woman with a Master’s degree confessed she had no idea ovaries aren’t actually attached to fallopian tubes. Others talked about unlearning body hair shame or discovering basic facts doctors or teachers never bothered to explain.
Understanding the female body isn’t a “girly” topic — it’s essential knowledge for every gender. Whether you want to know about your own health, support loved ones, or unlearn bad advice, these eye-opening answers prove how much we all missed.
This post may include affiliate links.
RELATED:
Some people believe that gender inequality is a thing of the past… for all kinds of shortsighted reasons. But if they spare a moment to read, there is a glimmer of hope they might understand a bit about what people outside their bubble experience every single day.
The World Economic Forum’s report, released in September, found that global gender parity is 120 years away at the current rate of progress. Across 145 countries, true equality remains out of reach in political power, education, economic opportunity, and — most glaringly — health and survival.
Women make up half of the world’s population, yet their medical care still lags far behind men’s. The irony is that, despite living longer on average, women spend significantly more of those years in declining health and pain.
#4
Invest in cotton underwear. These underwear stores always be trying to give you "deals" on the plastic stuff that can cause yeast infections. Sweat less, let the skin breathe more.
It all ties back to how little we prioritize the female body in both medicine and basic education. For centuries, medicine has treated male bodies as the default and female bodies as an exception.
While policies started shifting in the 1990s, women are still routinely left out of medical studies. Shockingly, many researchers even avoid using female lab mice because they fear fluctuating hormones will “complicate” their data.
#5
that when we breastfeed the milk ducts soak up the babies saliva to make the next batch based on what nutrients the baby needs. CRAZY.
#6
A cortisol imbalance can mess up your weight more than any lifestyle habit you have. You can go to the gym 5 days a week, but if you're too stressed out, that cortisol will make your body hold on to everything and anything.
This neglect shows up directly in funding. Out of nearly $2.9 trillion in private healthcare capital, only 6% goes toward women’s health. Almost all of that tiny slice is funneled into just three areas: women’s cancers, pregnancy, and reproductive care.
That leaves widespread, debilitating conditions like endometriosis, menopause, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) fighting for under 2% of total health investment.
#7
How much my menstrual cycle affects my inner thoughts. I was only taught that periods happen. Not what they can do to your psyche, and how to plan your life to hack that cycle.
In the UK alone, PCOS affects over four million women, causing infertility, diabetes, heart risks, and leaving up to 40% of patients with clinical depression or anxiety. Yet, erectile dysfunction still has 22% more published studies written about it than PCOS.
“PCOS and other chronic conditions affecting women remain significantly under-researched compared with male conditions that impact similar or even smaller populations. We urgently need to broaden the scope of medical research better to understand these conditions and their effects on daily life,” says Danielle Brightman, medical director at online healthcare provider Numan that commissioned the study.
Between 2019 and 2023, eleven startups focused on erectile dysfunction raised 28 times as much capital as eight companies tackling endometriosis.
#8
When lactating, the milk doesn’t come out of one hole. It comes out a bunch like 5-10 tiny holes at the tip. The first time I pumped and the milk was spraying in multiple different directions I was so confused lol.
#9
I have a masters degree and have taken many courses on the human body, sexuality, anatomy, zygoye development, etc.... and never once was i taught that the ovary is not attached to the fallopian tube.
The research void trickles down into the most basic products women rely on every day. For instance, researchers didn’t conduct the first-ever study using real blood to test period product absorbency until 2023. Before that, manufacturers relied on water or saline solution — liquids that look and behave nothing like actual blood.
It took “experts” until 2023 to realize that water wouldn’t yield accurate results. This oversight is mind-boggling when you consider that an estimated 800 million people around the world menstruate every single day, and up to a third suffer from heavy bleeding.
#11
I wish I knew earlier that you’re not really finished filling out as a teenager. There’s like a second puberty in the 20s where you really start looking like a WOMAN.
Even educated professionals miss basic facts due to how science is taught. Experts point out that male biology is still treated as the standard “default” in classrooms. In contrast, female biology — from organs and hormones to cellular structure — is often treated as a “special interest” elective.
Fixing this gap requires a complete overhaul of how we train future doctors.
“I think that’s where we can try to solve things. In medical education, [students] need to be educated on sex differences, not just about heart disease, [but for] every organ system, there should be a component about what is the same, what differs, and what is unknown. Students need to leave medical school understanding these differences,” says Martha Gulati, MD, a cardiologist at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.
#15
Your privates all look different, some have lips and some don’t and it’s all NORMAL and BEAUTIFUL! My younger self was always so shy around this.
#16
Everybody has hair, all over. Toe hair is normal, nip hair is normal, finger hair is normal, peach fuzz is normal. Hair is NORMAL.
In many parts of the world, basic reproductive health is completely left out of school curricula. Menstruation remains a deeply hushed topic, wrapped in shame and silence. In fact, global studies show that millions of young girls enter their first period with zero prior knowledge of what is happening to their bodies, often feeling terrified or ashamed.
At the same time, girls are conditioned from a young age to believe that severe abdominal pain, extreme fatigue, and heavy bleeding are just natural parts of womanhood. Because doctors and society often dismiss these symptoms as normal, women rarely learn to recognize when something is actually wrong, like endometriosis or fibroids.
#17
During ovulation, your body has a biological imperative to reproduce. That man ain’t that fine. Your ovaries just tryna trick you.
#18
That mother's carry cells from their babies forever.
The cells cross from baby to mama and embed in the mom's tissue. They are truly a part of us always.
#19
I just recently learned from a man (the gasp I gusped) that WE HAVE SEVEN HOLES THERE NOT THREE. three of the seven are GLANDS and one of those three is for natural lubricant. ALSO women can blue ball and get EXTERIOR CYSTS because of it.
For generations, period product commercials used mysterious blue liquid to represent blood, treating menstruation like a sanitary hazard rather than a normal bodily process.
Beyond advertising, products like “feminine hygiene” washes push the false idea that the intimate area needs chemical cleaning, ignoring the basic biological fact that it is a self-cleaning organ.
Commercial pressure on female bodies is nothing new. In the early 20th century, Gillette launched a marketing strategy to double its customer base by convincing women they needed to shave. Before this campaign, American women did not routinely remove underarm or leg hair. Gillette’s advertisements strategically framed natural body hair as an “embarrassing personal problem” that was both unhygienic and unfeminine.
This manufactured insecurity created a cycle of shame that persists today. Now, women in many cultures are expected to spend extra time, effort, and money managing natural body hair.
#20
Stop thinking that you’re going to look the same you did at 21 if you “just lose the weight” when you’re in your mid 30s. You are no longer built like a 19-21 year old and that’s FINE AND NORMAL!
The silver lining is that the tide is starting to turn. Social media platforms and viral online threads are creating open, judgment-free spaces where people can finally ask questions, share personal experiences, and bypass decades of institutional silence.
Yet, relying on viral threads to teach basic health class is not a cure. It remains frustrating — and frankly alarming — that in an era of artificial intelligence and space exploration, millions of people still have to turn to social media to discover fundamental facts about how their own bodies work.
#23
The only reason we don’t lay eggs is bc our ancient ancestors caught a retrovirus that created our placenta.
#24
Hydrogen peroxide is good for blood stains. The enzymes eat and attack the exact spot if you have an accident. It's not a body tip per se, but it may help someone. HP is mad cheap too! Win-win!
#25
Moisturizers. For your labia sure, but also for internally. Osmolarity and pH balance in products, don’t ever use lube with glycerin, and massaging your will keep her happy.
I’m a pelvic floor PT and the things I didn’t know until my POST-DOC education could fill a book. I’m writing said book because I’m pissed I didn’t know this stuff at age 12.
#26
Pubic hair turns gray, too. Consider laser hair removal before it does to stop the hair from growing. Once it’s gray, laser won’t work. Waxing will remove it, but it’ll still grow back gray.
#27
Working in Women’s Health… I have too many to count.
1. It smells like what you eat… yes that includes onions, garlic etc.
2. Also cranberry can help with pH balance. If you are avoiding sugar, skip the juice, opt for cranberry pills.
#29
That when we ovulate, our dried saliva forms ferning patterns.
I struggled with fertility for years. Got a saliva ovulation kit, basically a microscope you put on your tongue daily. Day 8, the most beautiful, frosty ferns in the lens. Shagged like rabbits for 4 days, positive pregnancy test day 26. She's 22 next month.
#30
Finding out that our menstrual blood is so full of stem cells that it has enormous healing agents 5 months post hysterectomy is pure comedy.
#32
When the doctors say you will never have kids…. Take it with a grain of salt cause my child is 6 and I’m still confused on how this happened.
#33
Drinking beets will drastically reduce your period time line and pain by nearly 50%
On the contrary, bad food makes the pain and flow worse.
#34
And if you catch it right after it happens, cold water will get it out before a stain sets.
#35
I got pregnant from my left ovary via my right fallopian tube cause the left one is defective. I found out during my HSG procedure that they aren't attached to the ovaries. Women's bodies are amazing.
#36
ANDDD if you have adhd your pms symptoms can be so much worse than regular women...and it gets worse with age/post children. You are definitely not crazy and you should talk to your Dr about PMDD...wellbutrin (or similar) can help control the symptoms!
#37
Chlorophyll and coconut water daily makes you taste like water, Sleep NAKED, hibiscus tea helps you smell good if drank daily, you taste like what you eat, longterm use of ibuprofen will take you outtttt lmfao (take Tylenol instead), and it’s weird how your body reacts to some ppl compared to others. But in a way, it’s intuitive so i listen and fw it. The female body is amazing in all honesty.
#38
Your brain also doesn't fully develop into an adult brain until the age of 25..so really you're still an "adolescent" until that age. That's why looking back you can see how dumb you were when you thought you were grown.
#39
That I can fit a lil cup inside my vg, collect all my menstrual blood, making it odorless because the vacumm prevents the blood from oxidizing. I can remove the cup, dump the blood and go on with my life. I can also swim and sleep naked while using it. Why the standard was a diaper that smells so bad after 1h?!
#40
That the body you had at 16 is NOT going to be the body you have at 25+ and that’s OK. We need to stop comparing our adult bodies to the bodies we had when we were still growing.
#41
If you plan to have children, ask your mother her birth story. There’s a big chance your labor will mimic hers.
#42
Ladies, open those hips!!! We carry so much tension there, physically and energetically. Hip openers can feel like a release of stagnant energy, stress, and emotions your body has been holding onto.
zububonsai 26 minutes ago (edited)
Yep, can confirm you'll feel much better after. Ask Auntie Googula and Uncle Youtube for "hip opening exercises" or "how to learn straddling" (Spagat lernen). A lot of yoga asanas/poses opens you up as well.
#43
Your body only repairs and heals itself at night during sleep. Most women need an average of 7-9 hours of sleep a night to be regenerated and fully functional for the next day. Get your rest, girlies!
#44
That your mom had all of her eggs developed inside of her, when your grandma was pregnant with her. Which means your grandma carried you too.
#45
1. Learn your blood type to learn what to eat. What you eat dictates how you look, how your body works, can influence hormone levels so be conscious of that.
2. Get a bidet
3. Body wash is for skin, only water for your private area
4. Over 30 ovulation cramps are real
5. Only wear panties outside the house or not at all in my opinion, depends on attire, let's your girl breathe
6. Exfoliate twice a week your skin
7. Sunscreen
8. Women over 30 should be lifting weights.
#46
When you're pregnant and start forgetting everything, it's because the baby is utilizing the fat from your brain. Use ghee to help with memory retention during pregnancy.
#47
Those little bumps on your nipples are called Montgomery glands - and they serve a purpose! They release natural oils to keep the delicate skin of your areola soft and protected. The oil also has a scent that helps babies find their mamas nipples!
#48
Breastfeeding takes all day in the beginning. Newborns eat super slow and by the time they’re done, it’s almost time to start again. I thought it was just a pop on, pop off a few times a day situation, even after taking breastfeeding classes!! They explained HOW to do it but not that I’d be doing it constantly.
#49
Have an ex who used to make fun of what he called "The tuft." You know the spot you have to become a contortionist to properly get? Shaving blind, by feel alone? I missed like 3 hairs. Grossed him out and he (50 at the time) told TikTok Live all about it. Said it was like Snuffelupagus. Everyone we were friends with was watching. I was made fun of for months. He got DMs from women who "would never be so nasty" and who would "would stay smooth every day" for him. He showed me every message.
#50
Plan B doesn’t work for women over 120-150 pounds. you have to go to your doctor & ask them to prescribe you the Ella tablet! - A Pharm Tech girly.
#51
I recently learned defective s***m is what causes miscarriages yet everything is blamed on a pregnant woman for a miscarriage happening.
#53
I know it says it on the box but I’ve been about 200lbs for years and it has always worked for me (ask me how I know lol) I forgot to take it one time and got pregnant lol.
Related on Bored Panda
