# Paint A Vulva Picture: or Mansplaining Fail. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 8, 2019, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749 "2019-03-08T08:50:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/141 "2019-03-09T17:46:12Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > Did you read the site for your first link? Because the first sentence under the topic “How often should I get my period?” is “You should get your period about once every month.” > > In fact, the results page for the link on the search you did includes that very sentence. indeed, that isn’t a per-annum figure though is it? which was the problematic statement under question. So, did you read just a little further down where it states > [@](#): > > Adults should have at least 9 periods a year using that as an average is idiotic but clearly it isn’t a figure that comes from nowhere. Perfectly normal, healthy women can have only 9 periods year. Again, let me stress. I’m not defending sloppy estimates but merely pointing out a pretty mundane way in which an incurious person might grab onto that figure. Googling a pretty straightforward term leads me to the first site on which the first per-annum figure for an adults mentions 9 periods a year. Sloppy, unsuitable as a generalisation but clearly not fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/142 "2019-03-09T17:47:57Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > All righty: > > From the linked Google search, of course. Now I have to think that you are being purposefully disingenuous as the VERY NEXT SENTENCE that follows on states > [@](#): > > In the first year you should have at least 4 periods, the second year at least 6 periods, and for the 3-5th year, at least 8 periods. Adults should have at least 9 periods a year ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/143 "2019-03-09T17:51:20Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Now I have to think that you are being purposefully disingenuous as the VERY NEXT SENTENCE that follows on states I wasnt going by the site you linked. I copied the paragraph that the Google search gave above the results. The entirety of it. ETA basic math shows 10.4285714285714 periods in a 365 day year with 35 day cycles. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/144 "2019-03-09T18:12:06Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > I wasnt going by the site you linked. I copied the paragraph that the Google search gave above the results. The entirety of it. Sure, and if we were asking the question “where could someone get the idea that the gap, in days, between periods is “X” ?” then that might be relevant. It wasn’t though, it was expressed per-annum which is a curious enough way of expressing it anyway and suggests to me that no maths was done, very little thought or research was applied and that a simple search for a [per-annum figure](https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CASHAN_enGB827&ei=nwGEXL2AC8-M1fAP6JmowAI&q=menstrual+periods+per+year&oq=menstrual+periods+per+year&gs_l=psy-ab.12..0i5i30j0i7i5i30j0i5i30.13731.13731..15213...0.0..0.59.59.1......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71.WcdOyHSJb00) can lead someone to “9” ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/145 "2019-03-09T18:17:30Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Sure, and if we were asking the question “where could someone get the idea that the gap, in days, between periods is “X” ?” then that might be relevant. It wasn’t though, it was expressed per-annum which is a curious enough way of expressing it anyway and suggests to me that no maths was done, very little thought or research was applied and that a simple search for a [per-annum figure](https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CASHAN_enGB827&ei=nwGEXL2AC8-M1fAP6JmowAI&q=menstrual+periods+per+year&oq=menstrual+periods+per+year&gs_l=psy-ab.12..0i5i30j0i7i5i30j0i5i30.13731.13731..15213...0.0..0.59.59.1......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71.WcdOyHSJb00) can lead someone to “9” And yet- that’s not what you googled first time around. The first one didn’t have nine per year in the results summary, did it? And did you edit out your “basic maths” remark? ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/146 "2019-03-09T18:36:13Z")
The discussion has devolved into mathstruation. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/147 "2019-03-09T18:36:41Z")
Wait- the"gap between periods"? Is that how you think the cycle is counted?b like a menstrual cycle is what happens between periods? Bleeding ends, so Day 1-35, then next period starts? ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/148 "2019-03-09T18:48:21Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > And yet- that’s not what you googled first time around. The first one didn’t have nine per year in the results summary, did it? I have absolutely no idea what I googled the very first time I did it. The original link I gave wasn’t the first time I did it. I’ve used some variation of the term “period per year, menstrual periods per year, how many periods per year” something of that nature. As it happens in some cases the per annum figure appears, in some it doesn’t. I may not use google the same way as you do though, I don’t use the summary as the point of reference but as long as the summary suggests that first link is relevant then I click through to it and read that. Is that not normal? > [@](#): > > And did you edit out your “basic maths” remark? I did because my basic maths was wrong and that whole rabbit-hole would lead to unnecessary confusion. My point is that a lazy person looking for a per-annum figure could easily find “9” through a simple google and would be unlikely to do the basic maths to derive it from the quoted numbers of days and could easily get it wrong if they tried. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/149 "2019-03-09T18:54:14Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > Wait- the"gap between periods"? Is that how you think the cycle is counted?b like a menstrual cycle is what happens between periods? Bleeding ends, so Day 1-35, then next period starts? No the cycle is counted from day 1 of period A to day 1 of period B, and this is not about _my_ understanding of menstruation, fuck me, I was steeped in the bloody, painful details of it for 20+ years untll a genius of an NHS consultant worked his magic. This is about how someone…an idiot…who does not know any better…might get the idea that “9” is a suitable figure to use for estimation purposes. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/150 "2019-03-09T19:26:36Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > The discussion has devolved into mathstruation. \*\*Bobble’s \*\*moved on from mansplaining to mensesplaining ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/151 "2019-03-09T19:28:45Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I have absolutely no idea what I googled the very first time I did it. Ctrl+H does not work on your computer, I take it… ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/152 "2019-03-09T20:04:40Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Ctrl+H does not work on your computer, I take it… Never used it, had no idea such a shortcut existed until just now. And irrelevant anyway seeing as the point was never that my initial googling was the correct one or the only one. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/153 "2019-03-09T20:22:06Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > \*\*Bobble’s \*\*moved on from mansplaining to mensesplaining At no point have I ever tried to do anything of the kind. I never “mansplained” in any way shape or form. Feel free to paste a quote of mine where I do anything like that. You won’t because you can’t because they don’t exist. Go on, take your time. It’s all there for you. And I note, yet again, almost as if you are trying to make my point for me, that a bullshit invented term is used as a way of avoiding engaging with what is actually being said. You could have picked me up on any real instance of the things you accuse me of, but tellingly you don’t. You coin a word that means fuck-all but is close enough to an accepted conversation-stopper (that I have also not been guilty of), in order to “hur-hur” your way to a self-congratulatory win without having to expend the energy or wit required to even formulate let alone defend a coherent thought. Apparently it’s how all the kids are debating these days. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/154 "2019-03-09T20:30:58Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > No the cycle is counted from day 1 of period A to day 1 of period B, and this is not about _my_ understanding of menstruation, fuck me, I was steeped in the bloody, painful details of it for 20+ years untll a genius of an NHS consultant worked his magic. > > This is about how someone…an idiot…who does not know any better…might get the idea that “9” is a suitable figure to use for estimation purposes. Did I miss someone arguing that there’s no explanation for how this idiot in particular or idiots in general could latch onto a false number? Does it matter to the argument as a whole _how_ he messed up? I think not. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/155 "2019-03-09T20:45:23Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > Did I miss someone arguing that there’s no explanation for how this idiot in particular or idiots in general could latch onto a false number? Does it matter to the argument as a whole _how_ he messed up? I think not. That is a mystery to me as well. My throwaway comment on the “9 per year” figure that started this was > [@](#): > > If someone’s experience of menstruation was with a woman who did have such a cycle then it is hardly surprising that their calculations might reasonably start from that assumption. > That’s not a bad thing, doing the calculation is not a bad thing, being informed of the facts and revising calculations is not a bad thing. > **Sticking to erroneous assumptions and refusing to listen is a bad thing.** Not quite sure why such a statement is contentious but unfortunately people love to read what they _think_ was said rather than what _actually_ was said. The part where I state…really clearly (bolding is mine)…that what they did was a bad thing?..totally fucking glossed over, ignored. Somehow it seems that what I wrote here is a defence in some way. ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/156 "2019-03-09T21:05:43Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > My point is that a lazy person looking for a per-annum figure could easily find “9” through a simple google and would be unlikely to do the basic maths to derive it from the quoted numbers of days and could easily get it wrong if they tried. So, your hypothetical “lazy person” reads that a woman should expect to have a period about once a month and doesn’t immediately think, “Oh, that’s about 12 times per year”? As I said, it’s a special kind of stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/157 "2019-03-09T21:18:33Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > So, your hypothetical “lazy person” reads that a woman should expect to have a period about once a month and doesn’t immediately think, “Oh, that’s about 12 times per year”? As I said, it’s a special kind of stupid. I’m not exactly sure what you are arguing about or why it is causing you such concern seeing as we don’t actually seem to be disagreeing. I gave a possible way in which an idiot might look for “number of periods a year”, come up with the figure “9 periods a year”. That’s it. I didn’t even think it was worthy of particular comment above “yep, some people are that thick” You seem to be too personally offended to even entertain the possibility of it. I would not be surprised in the least by it, depressed and disillusioned yes, but surprised? not at all. I’ve _met_ people and some are utter fucking imbeciles. Assessing a reasonable estimate for yearly menstrual periods may as well be fucking string theory to some people. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2019, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/158 "2019-03-10T01:04:57Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Not quite sure why such a statement is contentious but unfortunately people love to read what they _think_ was said rather than what _actually_ was said. It’s contentious because it’s not as simple as “it’s okay to be wrong, as long as you don’t double down when you are corrected.” Here’s the deal. This dude wasn’t just musing. He was calling women LIARS when they said that menses cost $X a month, because according to his math, it shouldn’t cost more than $Y. His “math” shows so many misunderstandings that it’s literally baffling: not just the low-ball “9 times a year”, but the idea that (total ml of fluid) x (max capacity of tampon) was the appropriate way to calculate how many tampons a period takes. It takes a special kind of hubris to think it’s appropriate to call others liars about their own experiences when you clearly have absolutely no point of reference. This is “they wouldn’t have to buy pads if they weren’t too lazy to hold it” level ignorance. And while there’s nothing wrong with not knowing, there’s something wrong with acting as if you do when you damn well don’t. And it reveals a profound disrespect–he couldn’t be bothered to ask, or he thought there was no one TO ask, because there’s a certain type of man who literally never asks women anything. And as a woman, I find it especially irritating to be called a liar about my own experience from a position of extreme ignorance because I can’t begin to get away with that. In professional settings, I have to preface new ideas with 'This might be a bad idea" or “Probably yall already thought about this . . .” and if I want to disagree with someone I have to be a fucking lawyer, laying out a non-confrontational line of questioning that takes twenty minutes because if I don’t, I’ll be perceived as a fucking harping bitch–when my male co-workers can be blowhards and make fools of themselves and they are excused as being, at worst, a little awkward–and at best as “leaders”. So no, it’s not okay to call people liars about their own experience using “math” you pulled out of your ass, and then retreat to “I’m sorry, I just didn’t KNOW, you can’t blame me because I didn’t KNOW”. And when you seem to be trying to save his ass–“he’s just thick, ya know? Lots of people are,” it’s also frustrating. You’re making excuses for boorish behavior on the part of a strange man without showing any sympathy or understanding of how frustrating it is to be lectured about how much your periods SHOULD cost. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2019, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/159 "2019-03-10T02:09:02Z")
How many times a year can a British mansplainer trip over his own dick? ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2019, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749/160 "2019-03-10T02:36:02Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Is it possible to “mansplain” when you don’t know the gender of the person you are speaking to? > > But your post proves my general point. > > Further upthread I was responding to **Stanislaus** about the balance of risk/reward with using such words as “mansplaining” (note - it is the word and use of it that bothers me, men talking down to women in a condescending manner is something that I am against…if you’ve read my posts you’ll know that) and **the way in which they might be used to shutdown discussion.** And blow me down. Here you are trying to do precisely that. I am a “mansplainer” for even voicing my concern about the use of the word “mansplainer” > > Q, E, fucking D. [Bolding added] Once again, _there was no discussion to shut down._ And because your posts have displayed the same lack of listening to and taking in the comments of people who have\* actually experienced\* mansplaining over and over and over, you deserve the epithet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-a-vulva-picture-or-mansplaining-fail/830749.md?page=9)