“Them”? Jeezamoe, how many women are you dealing with, who are close enough to you to both let you know their having their period and unload their emotional baggage all over you? Because if that’s something that’s accepted in your family, well . . . maybe it’s just your family.
In my family, periods are private, like sex and or a fondness for pop country. Even if one of the womenfolk is being a little testy or emotional, you’d never be able to do more than speculate that she’s “on the rag” and you’d better not do that too loudly, since dismissing our feelings as caused by hormones pisses us off.
So maybe in addition to checking some of your stereotypes, you need to hang around women who don’t routines blame their behaviors on biology. IOW, maybe it’s not “women;” maybe it’s just the women you know.
When I was younger, I dated a woman who was, simply put, a bitch and acted super bitchy during her period, saying it was just PMS. And I dated several women thereafter who all had slightly different reactions to their periods, but never saying it was PMS.
Then, I got involved with a lovely and charming woman who, get this, really had PMS. That poor lady…
To that bitch who acted like a complete cunt, blaming a nonexistant (for her) medical condition for her actions, words, and attitudes, I say, Fuck off and die, you worthless, selfish, egoist.
To the women who truly have PMS, my apologies for ever letting that first bitch color my opiion and acceptance of your condition.
:dubious: Man have been ruling the world for at least 2000 years. Probably more,. Women only just received the right to vote - in this portion of the world. Only in the last fifty years have things like postpartum depression, PMS, and other hormonally-based conditions even been acknowledged to be real by the male half of the population. Our fathers thought that women couldn’t work in an office, that they were too silly to do anything real, that they couldn’t handle power tools, that they couldn’t be trusted to keep a secret.
How fast do you expect reform? We’re working on it, and both men and women are standing in our way.
Anyway, when I’m having a bad day, whether it be for physical or emotional reasons, I don’t take it out on those around me, and I sure as hell don’t accept someone else doing so to me, no matter what the reason.
See but nowhere does your OP say “…and foist it onto all around”. I show some of the traits in your OP, mainly sobbiness. But I try really hard to hide it from everyone but my SO. I actually took your OP to mean you were talking about a (current) girlfriend. So I don’t think it was clear.
“Innocent bystanders”? What, strange women are screaming at you on the street? You were in a convenience store and a woman with a gun stormed in and screamed “GIVE ME A YOO-HOO AND A BAG OF CHEETOS OR SOMEONE’S GETTING HURT!!”?
If you think the women in your personal life have a legitimate reason for occasional emotionalism and/or irrationality, it might be nice if you could tolerate it sympathetically. If you think the women in your personal life are using some bullshit excuse to treat you badly every month, then talk to them about it. If you think it’s fake and you put up with it, why isn’t that on you?
I’m a woman, and I don’t think the OP is silly at all. Every time I hear a woman blame poor behavior on PMS, it bothers me because it makes it just a little bit harder to get people to stop thinking “eh, she must be on the rag” and then not take me seriously if I have a legitimate concern or complaint.
Have PMS all you want. Ditch the poor behavior, though.
Since that comment was about legislation, maybe you should have tried coming up with a snarky comment about women making up more than half of the legislators?
Did it ever occur to you that the other 23 days of the month we put up with guys BS and let it roll off our backs but on these particular days, we don’t have the patience?
I don’t think you’re getting me. I am not explaining myself well. I don’t think one should blame poor - as in angry or hostile - behavior on PMS. But it also must be realized that sometimes it is caused by PMS. I mean, feel free to go ahead and say “I’m having a bad day” but me crying at some stupid AT&T commercial when they’re calling India is not me having a bad day, it’s a clear and obvious sign my period is coming up.
I just think it’s unfair to tell women “Don’t blame it on PMS, ever, even when it really is PMS.”
Lord Ashtar, I am sorry these screaming harpies have descended upon you. In reality, I know what kind of person you are talking about, and you know? They annoy the hell out of me, too. I really thought you were talking about a girlfriend or something!
My goodness. My experience has been the exact opposite.
I’ve been involved with a large volunteer organization for the past few years, and I’ve found the men much more likely to be the ones to have “irrational” responses, fly off the handle, manage by temper tantrum, pout, gossip, and generally be a slave to their emotions.
The women have been the sensible ones.
Perhaps it is related to the fact that there are so few women compared to the men - you have to be a helluva woman to remain standing.
Perhaps it’s also because women are often more accustomed to being in tune with how their hormones and moods affect their emotions. For example: sometimes I get a vague feeling of anger or frustration or other unpleasantness which makes me want to snap at someone. And then I realize that some jerk will think I’m only angry because I’m on the rag, and then I rethink my anger, and then it usually goes away.
Many men I have known well do not have this internal filter, and will get carried away by their emotion before realizing it’s just because they’re hungry/tired/cold/had a bad day etc.
