# Periods - Men just don't get it. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 15, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188 "2014-07-15T17:58:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/81 "2014-07-16T15:37:43Z")
Okay, as this thread’s quintessential clueless male, I get to ask one stupid question of the women here. Do your periods always hit you the same way? If you get bloated and crampy, does that mean you get bloated and crampy every month? If you get moody, do you invariably get moody? If a good session of sex helped last month, will it help this month? Does chocolate always have some magical appeal, or does the very sight of it disgust you sometimes? And can you predict any of this? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/82 "2014-07-16T15:46:39Z")
You said you’ve been dating this fellow for 3 months. That suggests to me that you’ve menstruated 3 times since you’ve been dating him. And I submit the first time around, you were someone mysterious as to what was happening to you. I think it’s a bit early in your relationship for you to expect him to know all your menstrual signals and such. There’s a learning curve. Geeze. I feel like I should be wearing pastels and walking through a garden as I typed this. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/83 "2014-07-16T15:54:19Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > “…mmhmmnn… You taste like pennies…” Sounds like you’re going through the change.😛 ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/84 "2014-07-16T16:04:47Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Sounds like you’re going through the change.😛 See, now a menstruation-cunnilingus-tastes-like-pennies and menopause pun in one shot! These jokes write themselves, really. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/85 "2014-07-16T16:07:14Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Okay, as this thread’s quintessential clueless male, I get to ask one stupid question of the women here. > > Do your periods always hit you the same way? > > If you get bloated and crampy, does that mean you get bloated and crampy every month? If you get moody, do you invariably get moody? If a good session of sex helped last month, will it help this month? Does chocolate always have some magical appeal, or does the very sight of it disgust you sometimes? > > And can you predict any of this? That’s absolutely not a stupid question. It’s a very good question. For me, the answer is no. There isn’t a lot of consistency between periods. Sometimes, the attendant symptoms hit me hard, and sometimes not at all. Usually I get a little, but it’s no big deal. I haven’t noticed any particular causative factors. Aspects also change as a woman ages, and in response to things like pregnancy and various birth control methods. I expect some other women experience more consistency and some less. I wonder whether women who have more regular periods time-wise also experience more consistency in symptoms. A typical 21/7 birth control pill regimen means that the period timing is usually exact. Does it also make it more likely that things are pretty much the same every month? ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/86 "2014-07-16T16:12:11Z")
> [@missyevelyn](#): > > I’m honestly convinced than men don’t get it. > > The other night, my boyfriend was over at my place, and we were curled up, watching TV. I was feeling really “fat”, if you know what I mean, so I popped open the top button on my jeans and unzipped them; I felt like I was going to burst. > > He grins at me and says, “let’s go at it.” That’s what he always says when he wants some “hanky panky.” > > I roll my eyes and say, “honey, just cause I unbutton my jeans doesn’t mean I’m horny! I’m more bloated than a puffer fish; you’re not getting any tonight.” > > Why do we women have to go through those days of hell every 28 days? :smack: Perfect prelude to marriage. This guy needs to learn that he must always let the woman initiate the sex. That way he can never make the wrong approach. He can have sex 2 or 3 times a month and that way he can relearn his relationship with rosey palm and her 5 sisters. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/87 "2014-07-16T16:22:14Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > And if I ask him to buy pads, I have to be very specific about what I need, and usually get a phone call asking me to clarify something, but he does it, without complaining, and it’s the right thing. Back when feminine hygiene products needed to be purchased at a store, rather than ordered off the Internet, I’d just take an empty box of said products, fold it up, and take it with me to be sure I was buying the exact product my wife preferred. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/88 "2014-07-16T16:26:47Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Do your periods always hit you the same way? It’s not a stupid question. The answer is “no, not always the same way”. That said, there are trends. They tend to be _similar_ if not identical. A woman will tend to have bad cramps or tend to have heavy flow or light flow and so forth. Once in awhile you’ll get one far worse than usual. Once in awhile you’ll get one better than usual. Sometimes, no matter what you do you’ll feel sick and miserable. After a few years of cycling most women have some notion of what they’ll experience each month and what helps, but it’s not 100% predictable. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/89 "2014-07-16T16:39:13Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Back when feminine hygiene products needed to be purchased at a store, rather than ordered off the Internet, I’d just take an empty box of said products, fold it up, and take it with me to be sure I was buying the exact product my wife preferred. Now days I just take a picture of the box with my iPhone. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/90 "2014-07-16T16:50:05Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Now days I just take a picture of the box with my iPhone. 😃 You mean the femhygiene box, verdad? ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/91 "2014-07-16T17:01:04Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > 😃 You mean the femhygiene box, verdad? :D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/92 "2014-07-16T17:04:16Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > … I figure a guy has just as much chance of understanding what it’s like to have PMS as I understand what it’s like to get kicked in the balls. No, I believe you are capable of experiencing that sensation first hand. You have gonads, which are just as delicate and sensitive as a man’s, they are just better protected. If you walk hard enough into the corner of a table or counter at he right level, or have a ridiculously well-hung partner who likes to get rough, you can learn about how it feels. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/93 "2014-07-16T17:09:49Z")
Man, this thread makes me even happier that my wife isn’t the least bit deterred by a little bloating & blood when it comes to getting busy. And that she doesn’t expect me to know her mental state about everything when she’s on her period, or to know that she’s on her period if she doesn’t tell me “I’m on my period”. And that even if she’s not interested in p-i-v intercourse for whatever reason, she’ll take care of me in other ways and not make an issue out of it. And that she doesn’t generalize about the entire male gender because of my own personal peccadilloes. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/94 "2014-07-16T17:14:19Z")
I don’t think its necessary to overreact to his gestures. I noticed that in general, people (women and men) can be quick to assume someone said/did something mean spirited when they might have meant it out of ignorance. Perhaps you are so used to being with your meticulous ex that you aren’t used to a guy who doesn’t intuitively know this. That would make sense- you were with your ex for 4 years and have only been with this guy for 3. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/95 "2014-07-16T18:12:29Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > I wonder whether women who have more regular periods time-wise also experience more consistency in symptoms. A typical 21/7 birth control pill regimen means that the period timing is usually exact. Does it also make it more likely that things are pretty much the same every month? I’m very, very regular, and not on the pill. Everything bad I’m feeling tends to get magnified when I’m on my period. If I have a cold then, it feels worse. Bad smells I might otherwise tolerate make we wretch. Minor money problems keep me up at night; it’s easier for my son to do things that get on my nerves. I get bad cramps the first two days, but Tylenol drives them away like magic, with one exception. If I have to take an antibiotic when I’m on my period, I get cramps from hell, and even narcotics don’t make them go away entirely. If I get a prescription on the first day of my period, I ask the doctor if it’s OK to wait a day to start taking them. That’s about it. When I was in high school, my periods lasted eight days, and were miserable. Things got a little better as I got older. After I had a baby, my first couple of periods were irregular and very heavy (I breastfed, so it was about a year before my periods returned). Once they became regular, they were lighter than they had been before I had a baby-- but I was also 40 by then. I am 47, and I am waiting for menopause, please. I feel a little ridiculous buying stuff from the feminine hygiene section. Maybe people think it’s for my daughter (that I don’t have). ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/96 "2014-07-16T18:19:27Z")
Guy here. Ive never once, in all my life, been familiar with any of my girlfriends period schedules. No idea. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/97 "2014-07-16T18:31:42Z")
And since this is a “period related discussion,” I have a question that has always nagged at me, re: the statement that women’s cycles sync up over time. Is it true, and if so, how long does it take? How much time do women have to spend together for this to happen? Being co-workers? Best friends? Roommates? I don’t have a female sibling and I was never aware of my mom’s cycle. (Somehow, it just never came up over dinner conversation) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/98 "2014-07-16T18:37:33Z")
Guy here. My wife and I are both 56 years old. She is postmenopausal. YEAH!!! ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/99 "2014-07-16T19:04:38Z")
> [@missyevelyn](#): > > Why do we women have to go through those days of hell every 28 days? :smack: Ya know, in a discussion I titled [“Olympic Menstruation,”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=660168) I got chastised by someone for assuming that menstruation was an unpleasant thing that compromised physical performance. And now you’re telling my my assumption was correct? 😕😕😕 I wish all you women would get together and decide what periods do to you, then you could explain it to all of us men - and maybe all of us men might finally get it. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188/100 "2014-07-16T19:26:22Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Ya know, in a discussion I titled [“Olympic Menstruation,”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=660168) I got chastised by someone for assuming that menstruation was an unpleasant thing that compromised physical performance. And now you’re telling my my assumption was correct? 😕😕😕 Not sure what your issue is. Perhaps “performance” is not the word you want to use. People who feel like crap often end up _performing_ remarkably well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/periods-men-just-dont-get-it/693188.md?page=6)