MRA: Men can sometimes tell when women are on their periods. Therefore, feminism is exposed as a dirty lie!
From Susan Draws. (Click on the pic to go there.)
Watch out, ladies! And feminism! Because guys are totally onto you and your dirty periods. According to a study cited on the blog What Men Think of Women, men can tell when women are on their periods – just by listening to them talk! Well, some of the time, anyway. From a writeup of the research in the Times of India:
Men can actually tell from a woman’s voice when she is having her period, a new study has claimed.
For the study, conducted by Nathan Pipitone at Adams State College and Gordon Gallup from SUNY-Albany, the researchers asked three groups of men to listen to voice recordings of ten women who counted from one to five at four different points over their menstrual cycle.
According to Popular Science, all four recordings were played in a random order and then the first group of men were asked to guess which were made while the women were on their period. The tests revealed that the men were correct 35 per cent of the time, which was described as a ‘significant’ result.
That’s right, ladies! Men can tell whether or not you’re are on the rag – a third of the time!
I myself have developed a technique that can bring this success rate to well over 50 percent – just by listening to women talk!
All you have to do is to pay attention to subtle audio clues, like her saying:
“I just started my period.”
“My period came early this month.”
“Crap. I’ve got awful craps – because of my period.”
“Aunt Flo is paying her monthly visit.” (Note: this works only if she does not actually have an Aunt Flo.)
“It’s shark week! “ (Note: This works only if it is not actually Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.)
“It’s that time of month again. The time when I use tampons, in my vagina.”
“I have reached that point in my menstrual cycle during which blood leaks from my hoo-ha.”
So what does all this mean? According to Christian J at What Men Are Saying About Women, it means the jig is up, feminists! In a post titled How Men can Decode “Women’s” Menstrual Cycle.. , he writes:
This information is what feminist have been trying to hide, delete and deny for many a decade. They are of the opinion that the menstrual cycle is irrelevant and superfluous to their cause and one can understand why when one looks at the studies on how women are affected by it.
In the worst case scenarios, their behaviour are effected to such a degree as to make them totally dysfunctional and even bedridden for the period(intended) of the cycle. The other side of the argument is ofcourse that it is swept under the carpet and not discussed or taken seriously..
Just some added benefits from feminism, as they live in ignorant, self induced silence..
You might as well pack it in, ladies and manginas – because men know!
A third of the time.
NOTE: I have no idea why Christian J. put the word “women” in quotes in the title of his blog post. Like his now-legendary two-dot ellipses, this is a mystery that may forever remain unsolved. Or you could ask him, I guess.
EDITED TO ADD: This post has now inspired a completely disingenuous “Yahoo Answers” query from an antifeminist concern troll who seems to be pretending that this post was not DRIPPING IN SARCASM. Add your answers, if you want!
Posted on January 30, 2012, in antifeminism, disgusting women, evil women, girl germs, I'm totally being sarcastic, misogyny, MRA, precious bodily fluids, vaginas. Bookmark the permalink. 310 Comments.
@Lauralot: Yikes! That must suck. I only ever had one occasion where my cramps were so bad I couldn’t physically move until the pain killers kicked in. I guess I get off lucky for the most part. But speaking of menstrual symptoms, does anyone else ever feel really fed up during their time? I mean, feeling really bored but not wanting to do anything so you sit in front of the tv or internet for hours and hope that something entertains you?
So, is “Ethology” a respected science journal?
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2011.02010.x/abstract
Vaguely remember a story about a musician who got a nosebleed on stage, and wanted to play on, so he stuck a tampon up his nose. He didn’t realise they expand :(
@Joanna: I hated the time I would spend basically immobile because of cramps. Also in my sophomore year, one of my friends mentioned that she had heard kegels lessened pain from menstruation…I must have done over a thousand of them. Which didn’t do much at all in the way of pain relief…though I did get to experience the bizarre sensation of having stiff vaginal muscles from too much exercise.
Just to break up the string of can’ts with tampons, I can do nude modeling with one in, but I’m extremely paranoid about people noticing every time, and I don’t enjoy it.
I mean, feeling really bored but not wanting to do anything so you sit in front of the tv or internet for hours and hope that something entertains you?
Isn’t that every day?
I can’t wear tampons at all anymore, unless I want to spend the next week immobilized in bed! :( But pads aren’t that bad I guess.
@katz: Lol! Yes, but I have other, more productive hobbies I usually turn to in my free time. During my period, they all seem like too much effort.
my tmi – I’m really irregular (PCOS) and the only way I know that my period is about to begin is getting bloated and gassy and needing to up my fiber intake and take some anti-diarrhea pills to avoid spending the first half-day on the toilet… horrible craps can go along with horrible cramps… blergh…
I’ve always been fascinated by how different women experience different PMS. I knew a girl who goes crazy cleaning the house during her time of the month. I knew another who just gets really horny. The women in my immediate family get hot flashes and find it difficult to sleep at night. I don’t even think there’s a proper scientific explanation for why we all have different experiences though. It mainly goes down to genetics, but that’s all we got so far.
When I was a young fledgling, I used to rearrange the furniture and sort out the kitchen cupboards just before my period. I reckon I was nesting XD
You’re so right Joanna- You wouldn’t be so quick to give up the cookies. I stand corrected.
Damn it, that means I don’t get any cookies. Blast Josh Dangit! Oh wait, i have some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in the freezer. I’ll be ok.
@Joanna – I also had “are you there, God? I want to die” cramps for the entire time I had a period. (It fucked off when I was 23. BEST. CHANGE. OF. LIFE. EVER.) Doctors never figured out why I had them, either.
Even though I’m officially post-menopausal now, I still seem to cycle every three or four months. No period, and the ultrasounds always show that my ovaries are officially Out of Business, but I get the water retention and the sore boobs and the nausea. The cramps were by far the worst part of all that, though. The rest of it is totally bearable.
As for “the craps” – yeah, used to get that too with my period. I don’t know what that’s about either, but my home physician book from the 1940s says that warm-water enemas can help. (I passed.)
There is nothing to be surprised, it is normal.
The “women are hysterical when they have PMS” thing really gets to me, because I get really depressed before (and on the first two days of? is that still PMS? menstrual-associated, anyway) my period. I’m not irrational, I’m not assholish, I’m just very, very sad and lonely. I’m cognitively aware it’s just hormones, but “it’s okay, I know why I’m sad” is still a different thing than “it’s okay, I’m not sad.”
People saying “PMS has no mental effects!” seem to be making my experience invisible for the sake of political expediency. But people saying “PMS makes women raving crazy bitches” are hardly helping either.
Emotional PMS can be a real thing and its sufferers real people who are still in control of themselves, goddammit.
@Holly: I know exactly what you mean. There was one summer I spent mostly alone for various reasons. I was also quite late during the first month. The whole time my period was a no-show I was miserable, lonely, fed up, sick of everything and not seeing any point in life in general. Then my period arrived and I suddenly snapped out of it and I was normal me again. I had to remind myself that while I was lonely in general, my out-of-whack cycle super intensified those feelings and I had to be aware of that in future. But yeah, it is kind of scary and really shouldn’t be dismissed. Sometimes, the best cure for PMS is a cuddle.
It’s AFFECTED,Christian J. Not EFFECTED.
That one annoys me almost as much as when people talk about the tenants of a religion.
Anyway, any MRAs want to guess if I’m on my period? Hint: I’m 38 weeks pregnant!
As for hormones affecting your speaking voice, I suppose they must. A lot of singers say they notice a difference during their periods, though I never have.
And Diva Cup FTW.
Menstruation, I’m doing it wrong.
Dang.
Instead of staying home all day because it’s my first day of OMGPERIOD and lying in bed with a hot water bottle or heating pad or even better a nice warm cat (they steal the heating pad anyway), I got up at 5 am, did all the morning chores, came in to work, and spent the day answering emails, and grading two batches of assignments for my online classes (that only came in over the weekened, so my turnaround time is LESS THAN 24 HOURS, and I dont just grade, no, I WRITE COMMENTS. Many comments).
I also walked our new rescue dog a couple of times.
And it’s now nearly 9:00 pm, and I’m still at work.
Menstruation: I’m doing it rong.
@KristinMH: THANK YOU!
Yes, people: listen up.
EFFECT is the NOUN. “You, nasty little troll that you have, have a bad effect on me.”
AFFECT is the VERB: “You, nasty little troll, have affected me badly, and I want to smash your head i.”
See how that works?
Oh, and BTW.
REINS are what you steer a horse by.
REIGNS are what monarchs have (usually kings of course, but YAY ELIZEBETHS!)
Dear Trolls Dudez: Pls to educate yourself on hormones:
http://women.webmd.com/normal-testosterone-and-estrogen-levels-in-women
Women haz testosterone too.
HAH!
Except except when affect is a noun, as in “one of the symptoms of depression is persistent negative affect.”
Just to muddy the waters, you know.
Viscaria: Wow, I did not know that.
OK, then in special instances, affect can be a noun.
But I don’t think effect can ever (correctly) be a verb, correct?
*goes to poke around in some grammar and dictionary places*
It can! It means “to bring about” or “to cause”, roughly.
Oh my gosh English, you are such a jerk. Okay, in almost every instance in which you’re going to be using them, effect is the noun and affect is the verb. That should cover you most of the time, unless you’re in a psych class or doing… something where you would need to use effect to mean “to bring about” or “to cause.”
I think it’s mostly used when discussing the law and the history of the law.
“Women get PMS” ought to be a statement on a level with “Hungry people are irritable”–what my college English teacher called TBNI (True But Not Interesting). Yes, physical states that change the chemical balance in our bodies will affect our moods. So what?
“He effected his escape” is the only time I’ve seen effect as a verb
” Yes, physical states that change the chemical balance in our bodies will affect our moods. So what?”
Well, it’s misandry you see. Weren’t you paying attention? Gawd!
“He effected his escape” is the only time I’ve seen effect as a verb
Actually, it’s a perfectly cromulant usage.
Sir, you have taken my point and completely embiggened it. I salute you.
“This information is what feminist have been trying to hide, delete and deny for many a decade.”
Citation needed.
So, if a period happens roughly once every 28 days, and lasts about 5 days, that means that any given woman is likely to be menstruating, what, about 1/5 of the time? Wow, that statistic sure is super significant.
I remain baffled as to why MRAs think that feminists are trying to hide that men know when we menstruate (which I thought they could subconsciously pick up on via pheremones/smell anyway?). Like, OK, say men were able to pinpoint with 100% accuracy when any given woman was menstruating. So? Their argument rests on the premise that all men think periods are so scary and awful and disgusting that if they KNEW women were menstruating they’d…what? Kill us? Fire us from our jobs immediately? What exactly is it that men would supposedly do with this information if feminists weren’t suppressing it?
Now I want an MRA to claim that feminists have been denying the existence of menstruation itself. That would be the best strawman ever.
I think, Cassandra, that Christian J’s logic runs something like this:
– Feminists deny that they are women and thus inferior
– BUT men can tell that they have periods! This proves they ARE women and thus inferior.
I can’t figure out any other way to make “Ha! You have periods!” into a “gotcha!”
It wouldn’t do men any good evolution-wise to know when women were menstruating, anyway. Ovulation is what you want to know about in terms of originating the species, if you know what I mean.
And again, that argument rests on the premise that “women are inferior” is a factually correct statement agreed upon by everyone.
I think they actually do believe that feminists KNOW IN THEIR HEARTS that women are inferior and are denying it OUT OF SHEER FEMININE MALICE, PROBABLY BECAUSE THEY’RE ON THEIR PERIODS.
wow 35%?????!?!?! there’s no way that number could be due to a lucky guess or anything. I guess teh menz have a form of intuition like teh ladiez as well? one of us! one of us! one of us!
ok…my TMI time. Luckily I don’t get bad PMS, and I’ve never snapped at anyone because of it. Meaning any time I’ve gotten angry at someone or something, it’s because someone or something triggered it, not PMS. So sexists can fuck off (see that right there? that’s anger triggered by sexist douchenozzles, not hormones)
mainly what happens is I get super horny before hand, so porn sites get more traffic. I mean, I’m over 21 and kinda chubby, so doing it with real men is obviously not an option xD Then during I get really tired and bored and uninterested in everything (someone else was mentioning the boredom/apathy thing and it was nice to read because I’ve never heard of that being a symptom before) so mainly I just nap a lot and keep to myself. I guess I’m lucky in that since I’m self employed I don’t have to be around people or adjust my schedule accordingly. In the past though when I never had that option I could still function normally.
Oh and cramps vary. Sometimes I get them, sometimes I don’t. Everytime the damn thing comes I just keep thinking this is such pointless shit to go through because I don’t ever want children. Ever.
I get super horny before and during my period too! I always figured that this was a sign that my body subconsciously agrees with my lack of desire to make babies, since I don’t get as horny during the times when I should theoretically be more fertile.
Oh gods, I think I understand what the OP’s point is supposed to be. Vaguely MRA-ish people sometimes argue a woman’s point is invalid because she is on her period and therefore irrational. Anyone with an ounce of sense then points out that just because some lady is bleeding from her hoo-ha doesn’t mean she has lost all ability to form coherent sentences. MRA’s assume the sensible person is a) a feminist and b) trying to convince everyone that a woman on her period is hormonal identical to a woman not currently menstrating.
This only makes sense if you assume the precense of hormones at unusual levels
Crap, accidentally hit the post button.
To finish: this only makes sense if you assume that the precense of hormones at an unusual level suddenly negates a woman’s ability to think at all. Which gives me a sad face.
well for me (yeah even anonymously it’s embarrassing to talk about) I get horny often…or at least I think about sex a lot. But that’s also due to the fact that I rarely do anything sexual due to not actually dating, insecurity about my body and not really being into one night stands. It’s just usually more intense right before my period.
Oh well that’s what porn and slash fic is for lol. It’s not the ideal obviously but it’s bearable.
Honestly, I think the majority of people think about sex quite a lot. It’s just gender programming that women are supposed to feel embarrassed and guilty about it. What I meant is that there’s a noticeable uptick in my libido directly before and during my period, whereas there’s not much effect noticeable in either direction around about the time when I should in theory be ovulating, which many studies from BullshitEvoPsychUniversity think is when women are horniest (because we all want babies).
Before I was 40:
No cramps, no emotional reaction, very light periods that lasted about three days. I used only panty liners as there was never enough blood to make inserting or taking out a tampon anything but irrelevant and slightly uncomfortable. My husband knew when I was going to get my period because I would be extra frisky.
After I’m 40:
No cramps, no emotional reaction, periods are heavier lasting about 5 day. I go through perhaps six light weight real pads within three days, still don’t use tampons just because I never got used to them. My husband knows when I’m going to get my period because I’m extra frisky.
When I was in my twenties starting in real estate development the number of times some contractor/lawyer/estate agent etc. said I was on the rag because I called his judgement into question:
Priceless. Cute. Perhaps could be losing my business.
After I’m 40:
Either they wouldn’t dare or they think it’s irrelevant. Either way I’m very happy that my period is irrelevant to men except for my husband. Sometimes it might be a bit of a chore for him but in the end I know we come out winners.
As a side note my husband had no idea that my periods had shifted throughout the years. So as clued in as he is to my horny time he doesn’t know when my actual period starts or stops unless he’s inclined to fish through the washroom wastebasket.
Wow! I think I can tell which of you is menstrating just by the way you type.
@magdelyn
go for it!
@Cassandra
Ah okay I see what you mean. Yeah in that case I’m the same. Super horny a bit before and during (and sometimes a bit after) and then normal from then on. It could be a sign that we’re not meant for babbies. I’m still waiting for that supposed biological alarm clock to ring and be all gottahavebabbies deargodgottahavebabbies!!! Nothing so far thankfully. I really don’t see myself changing my mind anytime soon.
Lol I’m a failure by Darwinian standards.
Magdelyn, only one person here has a primarily-red gravatar.
Estrogen does nothing to the vocal cords. Absolutely nothing.
Else trans women would mysteriously become more feminine sounding after HRT, without having to go through countless hours of practicing their voices and having expensive surgeries to tune their voices higher.
I could send some of my pills to the MRAs for them to test out the theory, but I don’t think they’d want to participate in actual science.
P.S. I was at peak ovulation levels for three months solid after SRS (my endo didn’t adjust my dose after I had my gonads removed and my adrenals went berserk) and it my fiancé described it as ‘Living Hell’.
But few women have their period non-stop for three months, so that doesn’t really do much for the MRA theories.
Scar, yeesh, that does sound like Living Hell.
I used to sing differently when I had cramps, but I’m pretty sure it was because I wasn’t using my diaphragm the same way I would if my abs weren’t all in knots.
Magdelyn,
At least since I’ve been here, skimming your blog, and from what husband filled me on I’ve come to a few conclusions about you.
You’re a male to female transgendered person who seems pretty trapped in both emotions and tired old stereotypes. I believe you have inner resentments towards what you consider to be real women and try really hard to think that you’re a “better version”. I also believe you are carrying a really heavy emotional burden.
Perhaps you’d be better served by being friendly instead of caustic to people who you might find you have things in common with? My final conclusion about you is that you’ve picked up on that there is more then one person who is trans that posts on this blog and it’s (the blog) is not overly political which is why you post here. I’m thinking perhaps your reaching out.
Not to state the obvious but mra’s really hate even the idea of you.
P.P.S. when I cycle progesterone, I’m fine for about 5 days, then I get shitty and irritable if I push it any longer than that.
5 days is about the average cycle, amirite?
How many threads do you have to troll before they let you into the treehouse, Maggie? XD
The only time I’ve ever felt like hormones were affecting my emotions was when I was on the pill. I actually stopped taking it partly for that reason.
(Also because one version made me bleed for more than a month, every day, at which point I went “fuck this – condoms it is”.)
Me? Is the story going to take a new turn? Am I actually just someone’s Aunt Flo, soon to disappear? So many questions
Cassandra – the pill exaggerated my emotional changes, too. It was a mess. I swapped to the implant, which smoothed out the emotions. When my friend tried the implant, she felt like continuous PMS.
Kavette, I can only presume you’re cis, because I don’t ever see trans people talking to other trans people that way.
I don’t care what Magdelyn has done, but that’s a really shitty way to treat a trans person and it reeks of privilege.
Can you quit with the psychoanalyzing of trans women? Because I fucking hate reading that shit (and it’s triggering as hell).
To be fair I also stopped taking the pill because my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, at which point I found out that my father’s sister had also had breast cancer, putting me in an unusually high risk group. I know there’s some argument about whether or not the pill really ups breast cancer risk, but I don’t care – since I’m already at a higher than average risk, anything that might potentially add to that risk is not acceptable to me, so no hormonal contraceptives.
It was the only time when I ever experienced hormone-related moodiness, though, and it sucked. Though it’s hard to say how much of the moodiness was due to physical discomfort, which is another problem with the whole PMS makes women crazy argument. What, some people may react to physical discomfort by getting a bit testy in general? Shocker.
This is a problematic thing for a cis woman to say to a trans woman. Magdelyn can be sexist at times, and she can also be mildly annoying, but attacking her on the basis that she is trans and making assumptions that she feels like less of a woman than cis women is extremely problematic at best. She’s not less of a woman than a cis woman, and whatever stereotypes or sexism she may hold doesn’t make her so either, there are plenty of cis women who hold them as well. Trans people really don’t need cis people pathologizing their opinions on various matters based on them being trans.
You are assuming a lot about a person you don’t even know. It’s also really problematic you assume things about a trans person’s identity as a cis person.
Me? Is the story going to take a new turn?
Sorry, I meant non-randomly-generated gravatars.
Yeah, can we not blame Magdelyn’s unpleasant personality on her trans status, please? I have no idea whether or not she’s trans, but it doesn’t matter – that’s not why she’s an asshole.
The real irony of Magdelyn’s comment is that, if we were going to go with the “women be crazy and bitchy” stereotype, I’d say that Magdelyn is just about the most consistently pissy for no good reason person who comments here other than MRAL.
(Unlike him she has demonstrated the capacity for empathy and concern for her fellow human beings in the past, though, so props for that.)
There are Communists in the funhouse
I love it! I’m so using that.
LOL! Have fun!
Yes, I am fed up right now, surfing the internet, hoping something will entertain me…however, that’s because I’m fighting off an infection, not because there are Communists in the funhouse.
Of course, I’ve heard of one GOP man who thinks “infection” and “period” are the same thing, so it’s six of one, half a dozen of another. :-)
“Of course, I’ve heard of one GOP man who thinks “infection” and “period” are the same thing”
how the hell does he work that out?
Kavette, can you please stop psycho-analyzing queer ppl here (trolls or not). You don’t know them, and everything you assume is based almost entirely on them being queer and your assumptions/stereotypes about that. You did the same thing previously assuming stuff about a queer woman and her relationships and threw in the “bi-curious” stereotype as your basis, and now you’re doing the same with trans women and presumed resentment of cis women. >:\
I don’t care if it’s Magdelyn, or me. Stop it.
It’s not a problematic thing for a cis woman to say about a trans woman when that trans women dislikes cis woman and has shown that many times.
All my post said is should stop the hate she shows towards cis women and instead perhaps get some community.
Nothing to do with her status and everything to do with her personality. She’s trying to appeal to mra’s which is never going to work for her.
You’re a male to female transgendered person who seems pretty trapped in both emotions and tired old stereotypes. I believe you have inner resentments towards what you consider to be real women and try really hard to think that you’re a “better version”. I also believe you are carrying a really heavy emotional burden.
“You’re a male to female transgendered person who”
If she wasn’t trans, you wouldn’t be assuming this.
Kavette, yes it’s still problematic because it’s not based in anything except stereotypes. It’s not okay because she says or does things you (and I, for that matter) don’t like.
This is one of those times where you should take your lumps for making a mistake and back down.
“It’s not a problematic thing for a cis woman to say about a trans woman when that trans women dislikes cis woman and has shown that many times.”
Seriously?
You sound just like an MRA talking about women.
Get a fucking clue.
Also any problematic things she says are not just about CIS women. They’re about WOMEN. It’s not like the problematic things MRAs want that would hurt women doesn’t affect me just cuz I’m trans, Also Magdelyn has also said problematic things about trans women over on reddit, not that it matters, because the point is. Stop psycho-analyzing queer ppl based on stereotypes and assumptions. >:\
If people have a problem with it, it’s problematic.
“It’s not a problematic thing for a cis woman to say about a trans woman when that trans women dislikes cis woman and has shown that many times.”
So because she’s nasty to us and we don’t like her we should be allowed to use our privilege as cis women against her and pathologize her behavior specifically based on the area in which we have more privilege than her? No.
Inb4 “I don’t have more privilege than her because of X”