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Original poster

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:
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TeacherMcTeacherface · 02/12/2023 19:03

The ignorance is shocking!!
Thankfully, we are starting to address it in schools.

My school teaches kids from Y4 upwards about periods. Then there's a more in depth session in Y6 where boys and girls stay together that covers anatomy and periods. This was specifically recommended to try and remove some of the ignorance and embarrassment away from what are completely normal human bodily functions.

(We do later have just all girl and all boy sessions in case the children want to ask anything)

Tequilamockinbird · 02/12/2023 19:04

Cloudisi · 02/12/2023 18:57

TBF, I do remove my tampon when I pee, otherwise I find the string can get in the way and get wet or some pee dribbles to the tampon area and inevitably then gets soaked into the tampon. I change mine every time pee.

Your pee gets soaked into your tampon? How is that even possible? The string I get, but the tampon is inside you?

StrictlyAFemaleFemale · 02/12/2023 19:05

Am honestly in awe of all you fart withholding people.

Cloudisi · 02/12/2023 19:05

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

That would depend on flow and how often you change them, there isn't really a correct answer, but I would have thought 100 would be way too many. I think the average is 4-8 tampons a day, depending on if you change every 3 hours or every 5 or whatever.

ChimChimeny · 02/12/2023 19:08

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 02/12/2023 18:50

Can’t say I’m surprised. I doubt that dh once ever had a clue about periods, apart from the extreme basics. An all-boy family, attending all-boys schools, and he hardly studied any biology - unless they were planning on being medics, it was considered a girls’ subject!

It wasn’t that long ago that I realised he knew zero about such a basic fact of life on earth as photosynthesis! And his senior school was an elite, very academic one.
But that was decades ago - I fervently hope things have changed.

My DH is similar, only has a brother, MIL would never have talked about anything "embarrassing" but we have a daughter now so we talk about periods and the like very freely.
DD thought tampons went up your bum when she was about 2/3 but I've always been open about that sort of thing so she's very prepared for when she starts

Siha345 · 02/12/2023 19:08

I read a Reddit post about a man who berated his daughter in public because her tampon leaked and she should have held it in. The post was from an onlooker. But this was in America and I would like to think we are better educated here. It just makes me so sad that there are some adult men who just don’t give a shit about what the women in their lives go through every month

Cloudisi · 02/12/2023 19:08

Your pee gets soaked into your tampon? How is that even possible? The string I get, but the tampon is inside you

If some of the wee dribbles rather than spurts out (usually at end or start of wee), then it can dribble down to the vaginal opening, I don't sit partly on the toilet, I tend to spread so to speak as I sit so things are more available I suppose than maybe some people if they just sit down normally.

Pebbles16 · 02/12/2023 19:09

StrictlyAFemaleFemale · 02/12/2023 19:05

Am honestly in awe of all you fart withholding people.

As am I, I have IBD and holding in is just about manageable if there is a very nearby toilet facility.
The rest of this ignorance is so very depressing and disturbing

Cloudisi · 02/12/2023 19:09

Should be "neatly" not partly.

Cloudisi · 02/12/2023 19:10

Also I think in my head I just think if it's on the string then it's gonna soak up to the tampon itself haha, logical or not it's how I feel, and also I don't want a pissy string in my knickers. It's probably more just a thing in my head than reality

thenightsky · 02/12/2023 19:11

Look up Roe vs Bros - an American woman interviewing men after Roe vs Wade was overturned to highlight why men should not be voting and making decisions on women's bodies as so many of them have zero idea how they work. Remember that senator who said women couldn't get pregnant from rape because the body has a way of 'shutting that down'.

Wow. Ultimate victim blaming there. 😭

BoobyDazzler · 02/12/2023 19:11

There are lots of parents who remove their children from PHSE lessons and never let their children see them naked, never discuss sex, tell them their body and what they do with it is something they should be shamed of so it’s hardly surprising that lots of people grown up not wanting to know anything about it.

I had a have a boyfriend who thouggt period blood all came out at once. Wouldn’t that be easier!

RudsyFarmer · 02/12/2023 19:13

When I was in my late teens I remember sitting with a guy in his early twenties in a pub who said he thought a girl/woman went to the toilet and basically weeed their period out in one go. Oh how we laughed.

Pizdietz · 02/12/2023 19:15

Well, despite sex education at school (in the 70s), when I first started my periods I thought I must have syphilis. Which I thought I must have given myself through wanking 🤯

Ignorance is where we all start from at some point. I would have hoped things were better nowadays (internet etc), but maybe for some boys it starts off a bit like talking about the overhead camshaft or something, not really within their sphere of expertise.

Also one of the horrific things in life is realising how many adults are actually incredibly stupid. It's scary.

mantyzer · 02/12/2023 19:16

I don't know how you could be in a relationship with a woman and have sex and not know this. Do these men never have sex with women during their periods? Because of you do would you not wonder why she used say a towel to stop the sheets staining if she could control it?

ChimChimeny · 02/12/2023 19:16

Cloudisi · 02/12/2023 18:57

TBF, I do remove my tampon when I pee, otherwise I find the string can get in the way and get wet or some pee dribbles to the tampon area and inevitably then gets soaked into the tampon. I change mine every time pee.

That must cost you a fortune and is so wasteful!!
Why don't you try a menstrual cup and save some money & stop sending hundreds of tAmpons to landfill!

CarrotCake01 · 02/12/2023 19:17

In fairness there's also a growing number of men who believe guys can menstruate so 🤷🏼‍♀️ clearly no hope!

thenightsky · 02/12/2023 19:18

CarrotCake01 · 02/12/2023 19:17

In fairness there's also a growing number of men who believe guys can menstruate so 🤷🏼‍♀️ clearly no hope!

😂

Abbimae · 02/12/2023 19:18

Girls can hang on until break. Just like the female teachers do my dear

almondflake · 02/12/2023 19:20

@Mistymist I actually had to put a young male colleague straight on this recently , it's amazing how little physical biology is taught in schools today .

EtiennePalmiere · 02/12/2023 19:20

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.

Edited

Like a Hoover lol.

HellInABasket · 02/12/2023 19:20

the problem with ignorance is that you aren't aware of it until you encounter it.

most people hang round with people of a similar educational and professional and social level as themself.

so if you are a dr and all your friends are drs, lawyers and accountants then you won't regularly come across people who are very ignorant on basic stuff because it won't come up in conversation with other you encounter. LIke you aren't going to discuss periods with an 18 yr old boy working on the tills.

people who are uneducated and often linked with poverty will be very ignorant of stuff like this - I think it is very common for example for men to think urine and periods and babies all come out of one hole - but also other things that are shocking - think of Jade Goody thinking East Anglia was abroad and some one asking George Galloway if the house of commons was teh one with the green seats. if you know you think everyone knows but plenty of people will not know and not care who Rishi Sunak or Kier Stamer are or where Paris is or where your liver is or anything about stuff to do with the opposite sex biologically.

stepintochristmas1 · 02/12/2023 19:21

And that period blood isn't made of mostly blood but the lining of the womb that is no longer needed .. might make men a bit squeamish though .

Cloudisi · 02/12/2023 19:21

That must cost you a fortune and is so wasteful!!

How many times do you wee in 24 hours? I' day I use about 5 tampons a day hardly excessive.

AmazingSnakeHead · 02/12/2023 19:22

ChimChimeny · 02/12/2023 19:16

That must cost you a fortune and is so wasteful!!
Why don't you try a menstrual cup and save some money & stop sending hundreds of tAmpons to landfill!

Show quote history

This again speaks to how women-related concerns are always last on the priority list. This lady has explained why she takes it out every time. On many days this would be about right anyway, every few hours for both. But it's wasteful and landfill horror, unlike the vast amount of things produced and used in modern society, presumably.