93 Times Men Did Not Know How Simple Things About Women Work
There’s nothing at all embarrassing about having a few blind spots in our knowledge base—we can’t know everything about everything, after all. However! There are certain things that any school-educated adult with at least a dollop of common sense should know. Like the fact that the Earth is not flat, that 5G does not cause Covid, and… that women cannot control their periods.
Reddit users shared the most bizarre, funny, and downright confusing misconceptions that they’ve heard men have about women, and we’ve collected the best comments for you to read, dear Pandas. It’s a wild ride, caused as much by a lack of proper education as by myths perpetuated by women, so make sure you’re ready for truly peculiar beliefs. When you’re done reading the article, let us know in the comments about the strangest misconceptions about any gender that you’ve personally heard.
I reached out to the author of the thread, redditor u/CataleyaJackson, and she was very happy to share her opinion about the misconceptions that men have about women. 21-year-old Cataleya told me that she's a big fan of Bored Panda and has been reading the online magazine for the past 8 years.
"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. It inspired me to want to ask people about other misconceptions they had faced," she told Bored Panda in an interview. Scroll down for her insights about the problems with sex education, cultural stigmas, and how nobody should feel ashamed to learn something new, whatever age they might be.
#1
Really religious guy at work said periods last a 3 weeks so his wife could only share a bed one week a month. Sis I will take your secret to the grave
Image credits: parmsandwich7
The author of the post, u/CataleyaJackson, believes that it's certainly a lack of education that leads to misinformation and misconceptions about women. "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)," she shared.
"It's very scientific and doesn't leave space for questions about things that actually matter, things that happen in real-life. 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," she told Bored Panda that there has to be more meaning to education than just passing tests and exams.
#2
He said, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” - Todd Akin, Republican, 2012.
Image credits: cdnmoon
#3
Went on a date with a guy whilst on my period. We ended up kissing on the date and he asked if we could do the deed.I told him that I was on my period and didn't really feel up to it. He rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Can't you just hold it in? I promise it's worth it."
I didn't have any words, just left.
Image credits: TheLittleCas
According to Cataleya, there's a stigma surrounding sex education that needs to be erased. She shared an example of how ridiculous things can get. This particular scene happened while the redditor 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 pointed out where the problem lies.
"[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."
#4
My male friend told me that I don't necessarily know what blood looks like. And that when period blood gets soaked up by a pad or tampon it's no longer visible and soaks into the product losing the blood colour. So pads are always white and dry.
Image credits: sweetpotatonerd
#5
Periods are painless. We all overreact.
Image credits: ionfckingwannabehere
#6
"Women have no inner life"and flat out refused to believe or entertain other points of view. It was the saddest and most frustrating thing I've ever read.
He legitimately asserted the women have no inner consciousness. He wanted to pretend that 50% of the population were not quite fully human.
Image credits: Cultural-Feedback-53
The stigmas surrounding periods go even deeper. "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 said.
"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 revealed to Bored Panda.
Cataleya believes that it's always best to own up to a misconception about women and have it corrected than continue staying ignorant. "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," she said.
#7
Men. Sweet, summer children. We have three holes. The urethra is between the clit and the v**ina. It goes a-hole, rectovaginal septum (perenium) , vagina (introitus), vestibule, urethra, clit.We don't pee from our vaginas. We pee from the urethra. Which - again - is a different hole. We can control whether we pee. We cannot control whether we bleed. Sneezing, coughing, etc, can shoot forth an amount of blood. Our uturine lining is shedding, and it happens whether we like it or not (hint: we don't).
Just because your brother's girlfriend had mild cramps and said that women were overreacting doesn't mean that is true. For some fortunate souls, their cramps are light and barely noticeable. For others, it is truly debilitating. You cannot imagine. There is no good comparison. That said, there are cramp simulation units. Keep in mind when you're using those that it's only one aspect of the full picture.
If you find any of this too gross to contemplate, you are not mature enough for sex.
Image credits: SJ_Barbarian
#8
That an intact hymen means you're a virgin and a torn/broken one means you're not. You can have sex and your hymen remain unbroken and you can tear your hymen running, jumping, doing splits, stretching, etc.
Image credits: TicklesPickles
#9
I (woman) once argued with a guy who kept saying that women aren't into p**n for the p**n part but for the story and aren't turned on by sex or naked bodies at all. He definitely thinks that to this day because my argument that "I'm a woman and skip any story part in p**n" was met with "Just because you're a woman it doesn't mean you know what women like."
Image credits: Saberleaf
Owning up to our mistakes might be difficult, but it makes others like us more. When we show that we’re embarrassed by our slip-ups, instead of running away from them, people tend to empathize with us more. That’s great news for anyone who has any blind spots regarding gender or any other topic.
"We spend a lot of time and effort presenting an ideal version of ourselves to other people. When something happens that contrasts with the image we’ve been projecting—when we say or do something that shows we actually aren’t as graceful or as smart as we’d like people to believe—we feel embarrassed," Vanessa Bohns, an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at Cornell University, told me what happens when people are confronted with the fact that they’ve made a mistake, during an earlier interview with Bored Panda.
#10
That women who have multiple partners do not deserve any chance of a faithful partner. Or her partner is crazy to be with girl with a “loose hole”I told the guy that I will never talk to him ever again. It has been 16 years.
Image credits: anarkiast
#11
My ex boyfriend saw a TikTok that said (as a joke) that us women have blue piss if we were really mad and asked me if he could see it I obviously said no and told him that it wasn’t true but he seemed to not believe me so now I stay up till 3am every night thinking about it, Mark if your reading this, I’m so sorry that you’re stupid enough to believe something off TikTok
Image credits: Im_Prolly_Depressed
#12
I met a guy on tinder that didn’t think we could have sex bc I was taller than him. Like he physically thought it wouldn’t work/fit together or something. Needless to say I never talked to him again.Also the first thing he said when I walked up to meet him in person was “Holy [cow] you’re a giant! Why didn’t you tell me??” It was a pretty awkward date.
Image credits: throwRA2748596
"Discovering you were wrong about something most everyone else around you has long known to be true is one of those moments. In that moment we learn, 'Wait a minute, maybe I haven’t been presenting the image of being smart or worldly that I thought I was presenting all this time,' which is embarrassing,” Vanessa explained to Bored Panda.
“One thing that’s interesting about embarrassment is that, for as much as we might experience it as painful in the moment, it’s actually very socially adaptive. Being embarrassed signals to other people that you care about what they think. And that actually draws people in to you,” the expert said.
#13
A grown ass man told me that period is actually an accumulation of all the “dirty things” that accumulate monthly in a woman’s body. And that men are clean so they don't have periods.
Image credits: winston356
#14
When I was 17, I needed to ask my dad for money to buy period products. He just said: "You needed money for this reason the previous month, it's not like you have your period every month"I just stood there in chock, and borrowed some money from a friend until my mom got back the next week. It's not like he and my mom had been married for almost 20 years, and the fact that he was 56 lol
Image credits: 18justme
#15
Debating whether the 6 week abortion limit was a functional ban in abortion.Him: No because you have 6 weeks to decide I you want an abortion.
Me: That’s not how it works.
Him: I remember my biology lessons.
Me: my menstrual cycle can be 6 weeks. I have been having them for nearly 30 years, trust my experience.
Him: That’s not right
Me: it is and I spent several years trying to get pregnant so I learnt to look for signs of ovulation and symptoms of pregnancy. It is impossible to know if you are pregnant on day one of your pregnancy because you could be a virgin. The first two weeks are shedding the lining of the womb (period) and growing an egg.
Him : quotes Web MD
Me: Oh f**k I gotta hand back my biology degree with all the exams I took in reproductive biology because a guy who googled the answer knows more than me.
Him : Oi. You better not be mean to me because I am well educated and have liberal views on abortion so you need to keep me as an ally.
Image credits: Murka-Lurka
“So blushing, burying your head in your hands, laughing, acknowledging how embarrassing something was, are all totally healthy ways to react,” Vanessa suggested that admitting to our mistakes and being honest about our feelings is the mature thing to do. Hiding our embarrassment that we’ve made a blunder, however, is unhealthy.
“The unhealthy way to react is to pretend you’re not embarrassed, that you didn’t make a mistake, or to get angry. Those things undo the positive effect of embarrassment typically has on other people by conveying insincerity and pushing people away rather than drawing them in,” she explained.
#16
A friend’s boyfriend thought that it was biologically impossible for lesbians to get pregnant. Like, once they realize they’re gay, their ovaries just shrivel up and quit, so they can never have kids. His reasoning was that he’d never met a lesbian couple with children (this was a one-horse town with like 2000 residents, he’d never met a lesbian couple, period.)I think men also tend to assume that period blood is 100% the same as the blood you see when you cut yourself—thin, bright red, etc (which I guess is a fair assumption.) Lots of men have no idea that period blood can contain clots and tissue, or that the color of it can vary throughout the cycle. They assume it’s just a constant, plain red drip like a nosebleed or something.
Image credits: ArcadiaPlanitia
#17
I’m not a woman, but from what some of them told me : Faster does not mean betterApparently a lot of guys have a problem understanding that
#18
My ex legitimately thought I could control the sex of the baby via sexual position at conception or eating certain foods.
Image credits: Delicious_Version892
#19
That we really dress for attention from men. My ex seriously thought that. Ok, some women do as there are some men who do. But I know I dress for myself, however I want, because I'm my own individual who is doing it for me because I like it. Yes, we women can do things for ourselves for that reason alone!
Image credits: minahmyu
#20
That we get a bit of sexual pleasure from inserting a tampon.#21
I met a guy who thought I had full control of the time it took my hair to grow. Basically if I wanted really long hair now I could just get long hair within like 3 seconds, and if I wanted my hair to be shorter it would just go short. Possibly the stupidest person I ever met and I have met some stupid people.#22
That women can produce breast milk on demand, even if they’ve never been pregnant. If that were true, it would be very inconvenient to say the least.
Image credits: JustAnotherAviatrix
#23
That our periods sync with the moon cycle..#24
That we are all the same and all want the same things.Despite the stereotypes, I absolutely hate going clothes shopping. I don’t want your money- I got my own. My job is just as important to as your job is to you. So quit thinking ALL girls fit in some mold.
#25
A "friend" told me women can control their periods. Mind you, he is not a doctor, nor a nurse, he is not studying medicine and is not even a woman. I told him that's not how it works, all periods are different, but we CAN'T control it. Otherwise we would have done it for years! He refuse to listen to me and said he was right cause he read it on twitter. I never spoke to him again.#26
My ex was thoroughly convinced that women have more ribs than men. You know. Because apparently Adam gave his rib to make Eve. Even after I went through med school and showed him countless images to the contrary.#27
That I’m too pretty to be a lesbian. I’m a big lesbian, a BIG Lesbian, Mate.#28
I saw a sign at a women’s March here in Texas that read “Men still think we bleed and pee out of the same hole.”#29
You can just turn your period off. Alternatives to this are "the big egg" theory where you have a period in a toilet all at once and also pass an egg big enough to see and the "just hold it" where they think you can squeeze your vaginal opening like a sphincter and just not bleed.Bonus Misconception: I vividly remember my 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Spears telling my class how when she was a child she gained the notion that you eat food and it builds up inside your body from your toes to your head and that was why you needed to eat to grow up big and strong because you were literally getting bigger from storing chewed food inside of you.
Image credits: Musikaravaa
#30
Had a classmate tell me catcalling is actually good and men should do it more because 'there's probably one woman out there who secretly likes it' and then says if it were him, he would feel flattered... false equivalence is a real thing lol
#31
Years ago, when I was in high school, I had a classmate start telling me that his back hurt from being awake so long. I offered him an extra strength midol bc I had it and it works pretty well for general pain relief; and he refused it......on account that he didn't want to have a period. He would not be convinced that midol didn't cause periods.#32
Oh god....so you may not believe this(because I certainly did not think he was serious either at first) but when I was a teen I knew a guy that legitimately thought that girls breast size had to do with how much blow jobs they give. I laughed, he did not, I asked him where the hell he got that idiotic idea(again teen so not very tactful). He got angry and left so I never did find out where in the world he got that idea or how he thought that worked.#33
That women only date "chads" and not them because they are a "nice guy"#34
Not a misconception as such but a casual attitude towards pregnancy. That it's like a easy/regular thing to give birth to babies. Like a rite of passage. Since all the women around the world do it so it's not a big deal that any one woman should be considered special for doing it. Mind it, it was just about the birthing part. The whole nine months before that didn't even count.#35
Even women have misconceptions about other women. My mom thinks that if you have period cramps that means you live an unhealthy lifestyle. Mind you, she is someone who has terrible periods every month despite doing her best to be healthy.#36
the hymen is like a lid and covers the whole hole (how do periods happen then?)lesbians just haven't had a proper d**k
women are so irrational and emotional (men literally murder someone for refusing to have sex with them)
women only get pregnant from period sex
plan b is an abortion pill
pregnancy is a break
#37
That getting a UTI meant I was cheating on him. What?
Image credits: Heterozygoats
#38
Also, When I was in high school, my best friend’s boyfriend thought that when women went through menopause it meant that their vaginas were sealed shut forever. I blame our high school, honestly. These seem like basic things a guy should learn.#39
It was my first time having sex with my first bf after my divorce. I was nervous, as no one else had seen me naked since I had become a mom to three children, and this guy was gorgeous. I was athletic, fit and confident, but still, it had been almost 20 years since I had been naked around someone new. As things are getting hot and heavy, he starts kissing my stomach and heading south, he stops… and I hear… “wow, you are gorgeous down here… your pussy is gorgeous! Sorry, I’ve never been with a mom before and I thought it would be all messed up. “ I’ve never laughed so hard in bed, he was so genuinely shocked and pleased. We just got married last month after 6 years of dating.#40
A male co worker asked me (f) if I've ever had a prostate exam.... He was a senior in college at the time. The shade of red his face turned when he realized his mistake. Poor Steve.#41
That women’s vaginas can become “loose” if they have too many sexual partners haha#42
I’m a guy, was raised by women (Mum and two older sisters). I once heard the middle sibling complain out loud that she felt like she had been stabbed up the bum with a knife, thought it was funny and had a little giggle because I was 8.Later on I went to go use the bathroom and saw what looked like blood-dried cotton flower thingy in the bin, my tiny brain putting two and two together, I ran to my mum and screamed “_______ got stabbed in the bum with a knife”. She asked my why I thought that, I explained what I heard and what I saw and she had the biggest laugh I’ve ever seen anyone conjure out of themselves, of course at my expense.
It was around then that my mother explained to me what periods were, and up until that point, I could always sense that the general vibe in the house was off for a few days from time to time, but just never understood why and got used to it.
So now, I immediately recall the sheer fear and pure comedy associated with that memory whenever a woman I know mentions their period.
#43
We can pee out spermFetus will come out traumatized if mother's have sex while pregnant
Women can only get pregnant while on their period
And thousands more.
#44
I had to explain to a grown man that pads stick to underwear. He agreed that made more sense, and we laughed about it.#45
That all women are neat, have cooking skills, and are happy.then i came into his life, the most desorganised human, with depression and anxiety, and my Sister, who can burn water.
he said we weren't woman, we are aliens
#46
Not myself, but at my old job one of the servers had a miscarriage and was still on painkillers from it. My boss told her that she needed to come in anyway and told her that he's spoken to other women and that they told him miscarriages are no big deal. When she told me this after work I damn near went back to the restaurant to kick him in the balls. She and most of the other servers quit when he cut their wages.He also tried to make me come into work after my mom got hit my a car. F**k you, Brandon. I hope your cockroach infested restaurant fails.
#47
When my sister had her baby, they had collected the placenta in a container beside the hospital bed. Her boyfriend confidently said that it was her uterus. He believed that when women give birth, they push out their entire uterus and just grow a new one.He also said that a woman’s pelvis breaks during child birth.
#48
That boobs don’t hurt#49
One of the men I work with needed a vitamin (can’t remember why specifically) so I offered him some from the bottle I keep at my desk, which is specifically geared towards women.He took one look at it and was like “…I’ll pass” and I had to explain to him that “for women” meant extra calcium and iron, etc NOT estrogen.
To be fair, he was like “my bad”, laughed at himself, and took it at that point.
#50
Not a woman, but my younger brother asked my wife when she had just given birth to my oldest which of her breasts that had full fat milk. He thought one of the breasts had full fat and the other had skimmed milk. He was 29 and has a university degree..#51
I knew a guy who swore up and down that all women's periods happen on the 28th day of the month. I got a calender to show him.that if you were the actual mythical 28 day cycle your period would move due months being uneven.He told me I just didn't understand my period.
#52
A male classmate who sat behind me kept whispering my name, so I turned around and asked what he needed. He said he had a really important question, but didn't want to seem stupid. At this point, I was still under the impression he was talking about something regarding the class so I just told him to ask and I'll do my best to answer. He proceeds to ask, "A girl's v**ina is just like an inverted d**k, right?" I was so caught off guard by the question that I never actually gave an answer.
Image credits: Nice_Plant4367
#53
Men thinking that women who prefer pads over tampons can't handle d**k. WHAT. Lol#54
Not a woman but I had a friend who got upset because his girlfriend couldn't hold her period in like pee because it's the same hole.#55
To this day I still get told by men that I should be used to period cramps as I have them monthly.#56
I’m a guy but I used to think that women only had one hole…#57
There is a legend at my medical school of a couple who couldn't conceive... after questioning it turned out that they were having anal sex... I'm not sure how the interviewer kept a straight face.It sends that they would need a lot more instruction if they actually did have a child.
#58
Knew a guy who thought women also have prostates, because in his mind, it was the only reason/way women could enjoy anal. A fairly considerate and creative mistake, honestly.#59
I'm not a woman but there are still an embarrassing number of men who think that p**ises can transform the shapes of v**inas and vulvas.#60
My husband, a very smart man, still thinks where I pee from and where I bleed from are connected. Although he also knows he’s not sticking his duck in my bladder. I’m not sure what exactly he thinks is going on down there. One day I might ask him to draw his vision out for me. Or maybe not.#61
Guy I used to date thought I couldn't get pregnant because I identifies as agender and he thought that meant my ovaries went into some sort of hibernation. Little to say I didn't let his d**k anywhere near me.#62
When we were in high school, my friend had a box of tampons fall out of her school bag and one of the smartass guys who saw goes “urgh Kathleen, who’d want to have sex with YOU?” My mate just laughed off the ignorance of that idiot, who thought tampons were some kind of birth control#63
A colleague really thought that the period always starts on the first of every month.#64
I was about 19, had a male friend ask to come to the store with me because he needed to grab something. I told him I was going to buy tampons and he was welcome to come if it wasn't going to embarrass him and cause him to act stupid. He to me all offended like that he grew up with his mom and 2 older sisters and wasn't dumb. So, away we went.We meet up and go the the register, he sees my 40 box (this was the 90s) and is like holy s**t that's enough for like a couple of years. And I was like what no, like a month or two. So, since he looked totally confused I was like some days you have to change them like every hour or so because of the flow. His mouth literally dropped open and he said, "YOU MEAN YOU CHANGE THEM? I thought you just noticed blood and poked one in and a week later pulled it out"
I'm assuming I educated him that day, and he's married now so I doubt he still believes tampons are a once a month plug. But you know, he did grow up with 2 older sisters and a mom, so gawd he wasn't dumb, guys
#65
A guy on a talks how claimed that when a woman doesn't want sex she can clench her vagina tight and the p**is can not penetrate it. He was then asked if he had ever heard about rape...#66
My friend (a medical student atm) thought that a tampon was like a plug, that basically it just stopped the blood flowing until you took it out then the blood would just flow out again. Shock of his life when I showed him how they absorb blood and how big they get when they do!#67
When I was a young teenager I asked a female coworker what the difference between a tampon and a maxi pad was. She just stared at me and I awkwardly said - well I don’t know! Then she said ones a q-tip the others a band aid.#68
As a bisexual woman, I could just put a bag over my head and look in the mirror to turn myself on.#69
When I was 4 (M) I thought girls also had a p**is because I had a p**is and I'm a human and she's a human.Amazing deduction skills wise?
Come to my surprise when I was play wrestling with this 3rd grader girl and was losing i decided to win I must kick her d**k. It didn't effect her like I thought it would and said.
"Doesn't your weewee hurt"
You can use your imagination to fill in the rest there.
#70
"Hillary cant be president. What about periods?"Yeah, a 70 year old woman totally still gets those
#71
That his wife was cheating on him because she was loose and wet instead of tight and dry like when they got married#72
Once I made a comment about keeping my puppy close to my bosom after his first bath, and the guy said that it was disgusting. I was confused, he explained quickly to me that I shouldn’t hold a puppy against my vagina.#73
My friend thought that women secrete like 2 ml of blood during our period. One day, I had a period emergency so I texted him to get me pads from a convenience store bc I was stuck in the stall. He came back with ONE PANTYLINER and was genuinely confused when I told him that thinass panty sticker is not gonna last me the whole day, let alone an hour.#74
The amount of one-time hook-ups who seemed to think I would fall desperately in love with them after the deed was done. I'm like, nooo... we both understand this is a hook-up, not a date. There's nothing romantic here. Why do so many men assume they are irresistible sex-gods? IMO, that kind of arrogance is so off-putting.#75
That we shed our facial skin when on our period. Smh#76
Any negative mood = period#77
That if you can't understand a woman's point of view it's because she is unreasonable or illogical. Some people don't find this funny but i think it's hilarious.#78
Can’t think of a dumb comment from a man I personally know, but I do remember reading about a guy in the UK who went viral a few years ago for wanting to know why women have periods and why they can’t just hold their bladder instead.#79
I guess he thought we consistently feel the same way throughout, or that it always gradually gets better. He didn’t realize our period pain/sickness can be totally random.#80
That our hole can zip shut. a boy in my class last year told me this and i still find it hilarious. mind you he was about 14/15 ish#81
That we do make up for you. We actually do make up for ourselves (and for other women sometimes!) hahaha#82
He’s been corrected, but my dad thought that women could hold their periods in until they got to a toilet.#83
Not a man but my sister told me once a woman started having sex her hips became wider because her body knew she could possibly have children. That’s how she knew I was having sex at 13. I was not having sex at 13.#84
I had a guy friend who was surprised to learn that inserting a tampon isn't pleasurable#85
When you talk to men about female anatomy, you really go down a rabbit hole. A lot of guys think women immediately dry up at 40 and become infertile.#86
My friend who was pregnant (her and husband were in their late 20’s) told me her husband told her they couldn’t have sex while she was pregnant because there wouldn’t be enough room for the second baby if they got pregnant again before she gave birth…yup, he actually said that.#87
That pads stick to our vaginas instead of our underwear. Yikes#88
That short women have shorter vaginas, bigger women have bigger ones. It's not just "a man", I know and have seen/heard from many men who believe this.#89
I was reading a book about witchcraft and the male writer dismissed a passage because it referred to 'clots of menstrual blood' and he said that menstrual blood didn't clot. Currently shedding quite a few lumps at the moment and it still bugs me. It immediately flushed all credibility that the book might had.(he also confused St Augustine of Hippo with St Augustine of Canterbury, which is okay and an easy mistake unless you're writing a book about the stuff)
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