That's just basic science. (Vagina needs oxygen and light which it doesn't get with closed legs.)

[EmbarrassingAdmissions]

There are lots of conversations here about people's level of health literacy and what they understand by particular terms.

The tweeter's handle is redacted.*

I am always surprised by people's level of knowledge of their bodies and what it means for contemporary discussions and hot topics. The fact that this man felt confident enough to mansplain what is otherwise a beginner's understanding of photosynthesis as a scientific gotcha in a discussion of rape is remarkable.

No, women cannot get pregnant with legs closed. If your legs are closed then your vagina isn't gonna get enough oxygen to optimally function. Besides, you also need light, which you aren't gonna get with your legs closed.

That's just basic science.

I frequently mention that the best available estimate of average adult literacy in the UK is that of a 12 yr-old, and the numeracy is that of a 9 year-old. Health literacy is taken to be somewhere between the two but in context depends on the level of numeracy involved (e.g., medicine dosages).

This is an extreme example but I think about this in the context of the need for clear language and very basic principles in health communication.

*NB: The tweeter's handle is found easily but that's not my main point although this was a conversation about rape. He intruded into the conversation and there is Twitter coverage from people indicating that he has a profile similar to that of incels. He has negligible followers and he doesn't need the oxygen (no pun intended).

Oh gosh me too, was thinking about how normal that was just now!

Surely he’s proof some cunts shouldn’t have oxygen?

Reminds me of the screenshot of a tweet that I saw everywhere in the aftermath of the Texas abortion ban that said 'what kind of woman doesn't know if she's pregnant by six weeks? A whore. That's who'.

Said tweeter was indeed 'assigned male at birth' as the TRAs would have it. And that was very evident from his complete ignorance of female biology and the reality that pregnancy is counted from the date of your last period, not from when you know you're late or have symptoms.

Few men seem to have any real idea of how women's bodies work. Which is strange considering how many of them seem to want to control or appropriate women's bodies and weigh in on Twitter discussions about our biology.

Well Position of the Week was once sex with your legs crossed and it was pretty fine.

Anyway, this is why I have a light box (badum tish!)

@DialSquare

At my age, it's more likely to expel air than take it in!

🤣🤣🤣🤣

@TourneeDuChatNoir

I still see comments on AIBU threads about the perennial dilemma of whether you should wear knickers to bed, to the effect that you need to "let your bits breathe". This doesn't seem a million miles away from that!

Exactly. How does a vagina get fresh air under a duvet?!

I've also heard of women who think you pee out of your vagina and there isn't a separate opening.

I've also heard of women who think you pee out of your vagina and there isn't a separate opening.

Yes, there are some threads on FWR where posters say this about themselves - and say that this was despite having gone through the process of pregnancy and giving birth.

I do wonder about this whenever I see some public survey results etc. that leave me scratching my head and wondering just what the people who answered the questions understood by them.

Which circles back to my interest in how very clear and unambiguous health communication needs to be.

It just seems common sense. You can hold in urine and wait until you go to the loo. You cannot hold menstrual blood in.

If you use tampons, you can still pee when you have one inside.

I don't get it!

You can hold in urine and wait until you go to the loo. You cannot hold menstrual blood in.

I agree. However, on this same message page are 2 posters who can hold the menses in and control it. (Unrelated to the belief.) Which doesn't take away from your point. But I sometimes wonder if those helpful diagrams are only helpful to people who understand diagrams and they're nowhere near as intuitive as they're assumed to be (usual cliché about a picture being worth a thousand words etc.).

Someone DH was at school with thought they pushed the placenta back in ready for future pregnancies 😳

Reminds me of the screenshot of a tweet that I saw everywhere in the aftermath of the Texas abortion ban that said 'what kind of woman doesn't know if she's pregnant by six weeks? A whore. That's who'.

I hope he was set straight! Roughly speaking 'two weeks pregnant' is pre-ovulation, 'three weeks pregnant' is pre-implantation and 'four weeks pregnant' is 'my period is now due, assuming I have a menstrual cycle that runs like clockwork and I've been paying close attention'.

Who are these idiots??

Even a pregnancy test can give you a false negative at four weeks!

Is it any surprise when some parents are so squeamish about discussing the facts of life. DC have know girls have 3 holes (for pee, babies and poo to come out of) since they were tiny. To be fair other animals don't have 3 holes, birds only have one called the cloaca.

@ActonSquirrel

It just seems common sense. You can hold in urine and wait until you go to the loo. You cannot hold menstrual blood in.

If you use tampons, you can still pee when you have one inside.

I don't get it!

Actually I'd disagree that this is such a no-brainer. To be fair, they should have been paying attention in their biology lessons, but if they didn't then it's not beyond the realms of possibility for the urination part of the system to come down from the bladder, controlled by the nervous system at that point, and then discharge into the vagina rather than through the urethra. I remember, in those long ago days when I was both curious and brave enough to take a look, being surprised about how far down the urethra was, thinking it was nearer to the clitoris. And many women haven't used tampons.

@ThePotatoCroquette

😂

No arguing with that is there?

"And that's why we call it a flower"

@TourneeDuChatNoir

I still see comments on AIBU threads about the perennial dilemma of whether you should wear knickers to bed, to the effect that you need to "let your bits breathe". This doesn't seem a million miles away from that!

This isn't entirely untrue though. Some types of problems like yeast can be exacerbated by warm dampness, and some underwear can create those conditions, especially if they are synthetic.

It's no different than the advice to let a baby with yeast lay out without a diaper on, and it's often recommended to let them lie in the sunlight.

I’m now concerned about a sudden raise in the number of women with sunburnt privates

@EdgeOfACoin

Reminds me of the screenshot of a tweet that I saw everywhere in the aftermath of the Texas abortion ban that said 'what kind of woman doesn't know if she's pregnant by six weeks? A whore. That's who'.

I hope he was set straight! Roughly speaking 'two weeks pregnant' is pre-ovulation, 'three weeks pregnant' is pre-implantation and 'four weeks pregnant' is 'my period is now due, assuming I have a menstrual cycle that runs like clockwork and I've been paying close attention'.

Who are these idiots??

Yes, he was duly educated by women who have actually been through the process of pregnancy. And a few medical professionals as well.

It's not even the idiocy that bothers me so much as the befuddled desire to weigh in on a topic about which he clearly had no clue whatsoever. Women don't generally opine on what men do with their balls / ejaculate for the simple reason that for the most part it's none of our business and we don't really care.

Then again, women are not in the habit of taking over legislatures to pass invasive laws on what men can do with their own bodies...

@YouMeandtheSpew

There was a tweet a few weeks ago by a man asking how the baby can breathe if a pregnant woman goes swimming. Because the vagina is under water. So doesn’t it cut off the baby’s oxygen supply?

Dear god, really? He thinks the vag is a kind of snorkel tube for the baby? How come they don’t all die when we cross our legs?

@ActonSquirrel I’m constantly astonished that loads of men but also some women think that we pee from our vaginas. Whether you’ve given birth or not, surely you can feel that it’s coming from somewhere else?

All of this is a really shocking level of ignorance.

[quote Franklyfrost]@IveGotASongThatllGetOnYNerves

I bet he also thinks that women can control their period and should just hold it and go to the loo like with a wee.

I can do that! But I know I’m a freak.[/quote]
I'm sorry to get so personal but I have to ask - how on earth you do that? The vagina doesn't have a sphincter which is how urine and faeces are held in.
You actively prevent menstrual blood from exiting your vagina until you get to a loo? Without a tampon or mooncup? When you go to the loo how do you release it? Does a lot come out? Or is it that your period is light and regular loo visits allow you to wipe it away before it leaks?
I'm sorry but I am astonished and really interested.

Oh and how long can you go? Could you hold it in all day? The entire period? What about night when you're asleep?

@Jaysmith71

This patient needs Oxygen. ....No, not there. Put the mask on her face, please, medical student.

Haha haha.

I’m a science teacher. I am a little dead inside. It’s a vagina, not a houseplant.

Middlessex girl, the urethra in women doesn't communicate with the vagina so urinating through your vagina is not possible unless you have a malformation. On the other hand men's urinary and genital tracts are connected.

Sometimes I'm comforted by the fact that the internet is forever.