Kate Hackett
Over on the AskWomen community in Reddit, u/CataleyaJackson inquired,
“Women of Reddit, what’s the funniest misconception a man had about women that he probably still believes to this day?”
And unfortunately, women had a lot to share. Here are some of the best.
1. Dirty Things
“A grown-ass man told me that a 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.”
2. Sex Control
“My ex legitimately thought I could control the sex of the baby via a certain sexual position during conception or by eating certain foods.”
3. Inverted Dick?
“A male classmate who sat behind me kept whispering my name, so I turned around and asked him 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. He proceeds to ask, ‘A girl’s vagina is just like an inverted dick, right?'”
4. Blood Color
“My male friends 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 losses the blood color.”
5. Hold it in
“I went on a date with a guy while 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 said, ‘Can’t you just hold it in? I promise it’s worth it!”
6. Does it hurt?
“My ex asked me, ‘Does it hurt when you take the pad off?’ I said no, and asked why he thought it would hurt. Apparently, he thought we stuck the pads to our vaginas, like a big bandage.”
7. Midol
“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 because I had it, and it works pretty well for general pain relief. He refused it on account that he didn’t want to have a period.”
8. Very Sick?
“My 32-year-old boyfriend was confused that I felt totally fine one day of my period, and then very sick on the next day.
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.”
9. Porn
“I once argued with a guy who kept saying that women aren’t into porn for the porn part, but for the story, and we 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 porn’ was met with ‘Just because you’re a woman, it doesn’t mean you know what women like.'”
10. Tinder
“I met a guy on Tinder that didn’t think we could have sex because 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 shit, you’re a giant! Why didn’t you tell me??’ It was a pretty awkward date.”
11. Shrink up
“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.”
12. Milk
“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.”
13. TikTok
“My ex-boyfriend saw a TikTok that jokingly said that us women have blue piss WHEN were really mad and he asked me if he could see it. I obviously said no and told him that it wasn’t true, but he seemed not to believe me. So, now I stay up till 3 a.m. every night thinking about it.”
14. UTI
“That getting a UTI meant that I was cheating on him. What??”
15. Hymens
“That an intact hymen means you’re a virgin and a torn/broken one means you’re not.”
16. Control your period
“A ‘friend’ told me that women could control their periods. Mind you, he is not a doctor or even studying medicine. I told him that’s not how it works, all periods are different, but we can’t control it. He refused to listen to me and said he was right because he read it on Twitter.”
17. Periods aren’t peeing
“One of my guy friends thought that your period worked the same way as taking a piss. That you go to the bathroom, shove a tampon in for a minute, and then pull it out, and you’re done until the next time you had to go to the bathroom.”
18. Blow Jobs
“When I was a teen, I knew a guy who legitimately thought that girls’ breast size had to do with how many blow jobs they’ve given. I laughed, and he did not. When I asked him where the hell he got that idiotic idea, he got angry and left.”
19. Prostate exam
“A male co-worker asked me if I’ve ever had a prostate exam. He was a senior in college at the time.”
20. Every month
“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.'”
