Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be horrified to learn that there are men .. TMI warning

448 replies

Doingtheboxerbeat · 02/12/2023 18:03

This is not a men bashing thread
There are actual adult men that are unaware that periods can't be controlled like other body fluids and that pads and tampons are there in case of leaks. That we can hold it in until we visit the toilet.

At first I thought bullshit, then I realised, actually how would they know unless someone specifically pointed out the difference. I can't remember ever being told this, because I started in primary school before I learned about it at school.

I discovered this from a Reddit post so probably bs that a single parent man who was probably quite poor and thought that his daughter was wasteful/ too lazy to just not wait to visit the toilet.

I have never in my life met any man that thought this, but then again, I have never asked, but then I think about how many millions of people are uneducated about things that don't really affect them.

This is batshit, right ?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
WanderingWitches · 02/12/2023 18:35

suntannedsnowball · 02/12/2023 18:17

I have to remove my tampon to pee though

I can't fully empty my bladder with one in Sad

She thought they ended up full with wee as we only have 2 holes.

Ponoka7 · 02/12/2023 18:35

We were on a remote training course in work. The sanitary machine in the bathroom wasn't working. So one of the women said that she'd have to go to the shops. The male tutor, who was at least in his 40's was amazed when she answered that, no, she couldn't hold it in.

LittleGreenDuck · 02/12/2023 18:36

Santaiswashinghissleigh · 02/12/2023 18:29

A bf in his 30's asked if I had to remove a tampon to wee... When I got married my dh first saw female genitals when i was giving birth to his first dc...

Eh? How did the baby get there without him seeing your genitals?!

MolkosTeenageAngst · 02/12/2023 18:36

enchantedsquirrelwood · 02/12/2023 18:16

There are actual adult men that are unaware that periods can't be controlled like other body fluids and that pads and tampons are there in case of leaks. That we can hold it in until we visit the toilet

There are actual adult women who think this too. See any thread about girls needing to go to the loo during lessons at school. Teachers say the girls can hang on until break. MNers agree. Admittedly they are a minority. But they exist!

See also farts, apparently you can hold those in, too.

I can hold in farts, I thought that was pretty normal?

Neveraga1n · 02/12/2023 18:36

When I went to antenatal classes one man said he thought you pressed the women's belly button and the umbilical cord retracted. We were talking about the placenta, cord cutting etc. I think he was serious.

Doingtheboxerbeat · 02/12/2023 18:37

Lucyintheskywithadiamond · 02/12/2023 18:33

I am not surprised men don’t know but I don’t expect them to know in all honesty.

Edited

Same, except my example in my OP about the the single parent dad who refused to buy his daughter san pro because he didn't think she really needed them. Horrendous 😕.

OP posts:
TomatoSandwiches · 02/12/2023 18:37

You can absolutely hold a fart in.

WanderingWitches · 02/12/2023 18:39

enchantedsquirrelwood · 02/12/2023 18:16

There are actual adult men that are unaware that periods can't be controlled like other body fluids and that pads and tampons are there in case of leaks. That we can hold it in until we visit the toilet

There are actual adult women who think this too. See any thread about girls needing to go to the loo during lessons at school. Teachers say the girls can hang on until break. MNers agree. Admittedly they are a minority. But they exist!

See also farts, apparently you can hold those in, too.

Erm, most people can hold in a fart.
I could hold it all day if I wanted to. It would come out in my sleep though.

Doingtheboxerbeat · 02/12/2023 18:39

MolkosTeenageAngst · 02/12/2023 18:36

I can hold in farts, I thought that was pretty normal?

I sometimes can, but I don't care anymore since I learned better in than out.

OP posts:
stepintochristmas1 · 02/12/2023 18:41

Mistymist · 02/12/2023 18:06

I had an university colleague who thought women peed through the vagina, probably thinking that our anatomy is similar to men's.

I had a female colleague ( we were about 19 ) at work who said the same until I produced the leaflet from my box of tampons to show her that women don't wee through the vagina .

Devilsmommy · 02/12/2023 18:41

TomatoSandwiches · 02/12/2023 18:28

There are men that think you stick a sanitary pad to your vulva, sticky side up like and that the size of tampons refer to the size of the vagina.

🙄good grief 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Geneva12 · 02/12/2023 18:41

Mistymist · 02/12/2023 18:06

I had an university colleague who thought women peed through the vagina, probably thinking that our anatomy is similar to men's.

When I was around 15/16 I hade a male friend ask how we wee if we have a tampon in. He thought that because wee and sperm come out of the same “hole” in the male body it would be the same for wee and periods in the female body.

TimeIhadaNameChange · 02/12/2023 18:41

I had a male flatmate who asked to look at the info sheet from a pack of tampons so he could learn about them, in case he ever needed to help someone put one in. I pointed out it was unlikely he'd need to put one in as he came out as he was gay. No idea what he was thinking. He was surprised, looking at thr diagrams, that the urethra and vagina are not one and the same.

The worrying thing was, that by this point, he'd done a couple of years of med school!

Thomasina79 · 02/12/2023 18:42

Surely the answer is for mothers to educate their sons from a very early age?

IceAndLemonPlease · 02/12/2023 18:43

@LittleGreenDuck I was thinking the same. How is that even possible that her boyfriend had never seen female genitals before ?!

Munchyseeds2 · 02/12/2023 18:43

TomatoSandwiches · 02/12/2023 18:37

You can absolutely hold a fart in.

Depends how good the pelvic floor is.
Holding a fart in can be painful, I'd rather let it out if at all possible!

Imperfectp3rf3ction · 02/12/2023 18:43

I read a free flow thread once where some women believed they could at least predict when a flow was going to happen. I don't know about anyone else but I get around a 1 second warning for a heavy flow but continual flow

LittleGreenDuck · 02/12/2023 18:45

@IceAndLemonPlease Perhaps he always had his eyes shut 🤷‍♀️

Doingtheboxerbeat · 02/12/2023 18:45

This thread is so illuminating and depressing. Especially the Ill Informed women , who this affects and have birthed and raised children.

OP posts:
kittensinthekitchen · 02/12/2023 18:46

Thomasina79 · 02/12/2023 18:42

Surely the answer is for mothers to educate their sons from a very early age?

You mean parents, right?

Sunbird24 · 02/12/2023 18:46

Remember that NASA asked if 100 tampons was the right number for a woman going into space for a week…

Doingtheboxerbeat · 02/12/2023 18:47

Better out than in 😖😖😖, obviously.

OP posts:
Theunamedcat · 02/12/2023 18:47

I dont understand? I'm 48 (female) the boys were taught the mechanics of it all in our seperate lessons we had in detail girls anatomy for girls and basic anatomy of boys, boys were taught in detail boys and basic girls the boys lesson got loud and rowdy when they were doing the girls part we all heard the member of staff yell at them quit your whining most of you came out that way stop being such Nancy boys its PATHETIC

Maybe I went to a progressive school?

Baircasolly · 02/12/2023 18:48

With regards to anatomy, I'll be honest - I don't know whether the wee and the sperm literally travel through the same tube, or whether there are two different tubes inside the penis....