Women Wouldn’t Need Tampons If They Had Any Self-Control

[doggie]

this guy even after being mocked has no clue. I take it he has no sisters and no gilfriends. and lucky women feel lucky about that. 

http://addictinginfo.org/2016/10/19/brainless-misogynist-women-wouldnt-need-tampons-if-they-had-self-control/

Quote

A 19-year old kid is upset about the debate over the U.K.’s “tampon tax,” because he considers tampons to be luxury items. Why are tampons luxury items in his world? Incredibly enough, it’s not because men don’t need them. It’s because, in this kid’s eyes, women should just not bleed until they’re able to get to a toilet. Because, you know, periods totally work that way.

It might seem like this is satire, but it’s not. This kid actually does think this way, despite having a girlfriend. He said:

“People are saying tampons shouldn’t be taxed because they are a necessity but why can’t those women just learn to control their bladders?

If they are going to bleed then they should wait until they get to the toilet. It’s all about self-control.

If you can’t control your bladder then that’s not the taxpayers’ problem. I don’t urinate everywhere and expect free nappies.”

 

[Carm_88]

Oh god! Does he really think that the blood only comes out when a woman pees? Seriously? For the love and honour of god! 

[mango_fandango]

Good grief. Urination is the same as bleeding? Wut?? If I peed blood I'd be heading to the doctor's STAT. 

If only I could control my period like that. If only my mother could've controlled her period, she wouldn't have needed a hysterectomy. Even with fibroids. 

Did this guy receive any sort of sex education? If I had only boys, I'd make sure they got taught about female stuff as well. 

Just because pee and semen both come out of the urethra in men does not mean pee and period blood both come out of the urethra in women. Apparently guys believing that the vagina is for both pee and sex is a thing. 

[VooDooChild]

Ummm...The hell??  HIs parents must be so proud that they raised such a high level moron.

[Mercer]

It's amazing how little reproductive education some people receive on their way to adulthood.

A young man I went to grad school with was surprised to learn from me that a woman's eggs are tiny. He thought that they were more like the size of a chicken egg, and that when a woman gets her period it was this big rotten egg coming apart and falling out. He didn't realize it was the uterine lining. And this was a smart, otherwise well-educated person who had lived with girlfriends in the past.

I really think sex ed/reproductive ed needs to be mandatory and comprehensive for all students.

[withaj]

Wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut? I was hoping this thread title was hyperbolic, but nope! I'm noping right on out of here.

[withaj]

OK, I can't resist.

The ignorance is astounding. I was expecting some pro-pad tampons-are-the-Devils-work-and-compromise-female-chastity whackadoodle fundie activist, but NOOO, this is worse.

No menstrual products are luxury items, for Chrissake. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Personally, I'm on team menstrual cup.

I guess the rock he's been under has internet access, but he sure hasn't been making very good use of it.

[RosyDaisy]

I have never known a man or teenage boy who doesn't know the basics of female anatomy and feminine hygiene products.

[alba]

16 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

Good grief. Urination is the same as bleeding? Wut?? If I peed blood I'd be heading to the doctor's STAT. 

If only I could control my period like that. If only my mother could've controlled her period, she wouldn't have needed a hysterectomy. Even with fibroids. 

Did this guy receive any sort of sex education? If I had only boys, I'd make sure they got taught about female stuff as well. 

Just because pee and semen both come out of the urethra in men does not mean pee and period blood both come out of the urethra in women. Apparently guys believing that the vagina is for both pee and sex is a thing. 

Isn't some kind of sex education mandatory in the UK? I'm pretty sure my Scottish friends all received it, but I know the Scottish school system is separate.

[mango_fandango]

2 hours ago, alba said:

Isn't some kind of sex education mandatory in the UK? I'm pretty sure my Scottish friends all received it, but I know the Scottish school system is separate.

Actually it isn't, as parents can refuse for their kids to take part. Apparently in Scotland there exist two separate programmes- one which focuses on contraception, STDs etc, and one specifically for Catholic schools. As in, abstinence-only, save sex until marriage etc. 

[Mercer]

One thing I do find odd about this is not a lack of reproductive education - since as I said, I know a lot of people lack that - but the lack of basic common sense or ability to empathize with a different gender.

A man may not have gotten a menstrual period, but surely at some point in his life he has experienced some type of bleeding? A cut, an accidental injury, etc.?  If he were in a car accident or had a workplace injury, would he expect to be able to delicately refrain from bleeding till he made it to the hospital? Surely at some point he's gotten a cut on a finger or hand and made a mess by smearing the blood without realizing it? Surely he's had some type of life experience that has demonstrated that the release of blood from your body (however it comes out) is typically not a voluntary process?

So why would a woman's blood be any different? Why would a woman's blood be more like urine than like a man's blood? Are women aliens? It's like he sees women as so different from himself that he isn't able to relate even the most basic life experiences to the female gender.

[alba]

Actually it isn't, as parents can refuse for their kids to take part. Apparently in Scotland there exist two separate programmes- one which focuses on contraception, STDs etc, and one specifically for Catholic schools. As in, abstinence-only, save sex until marriage etc. 

Ah, thanks for clarifying. None of my friends are particularly religious so they all got the standard state school sex ed.

[VooDooChild]

I just read this to my husband.  He got a good chuckle at this idiot's expense.  

Anyway, I really cannot fathom how someone can be so stupid.  He's just another fool who others women.  He's in for either a miserable existence or a rude awakening.

[MysteryHaggis]

Although it's from the Tab (online student rag), this interview with the guy is brilliant. He really is that thick.

http://thetab.com/uk/2016/10/20/spoke-anti-tampon-tax-guy-told-women-just-hold-bladder-23156

[Cleopatra7]

I've often thought that if I could just hold menstrual blood in and expel it all at once in the bathroom, that life would be so much simpler. But the female body doesn't work that way, and now that I think of it, having the vagina and the bladder connected in that manner would probably cause more problems than it would be worth.

[LadyCrow1313]

6 minutes ago, Cleopatra7 said:

I've often thought that if I could just hold menstrual blood in and expel it all at once in the bathroom, that life would be so much simpler. But the female body doesn't work that way, and now that I think of it, having the vagina and the bladder connected in that manner would probably cause more problems than it would be worth.

Amen x2409582905823859082359832690237. It would be much easier, yes.

I'd heard someplace (maybe Facebook?) that this whole thing was a false article; if it's not fake, then I'm trying not to be overly surprised when I encounter those that are educationally challenged. (To clarify: I'm not snarking on those whom may not know better, but those that do, have the cranial capacity to understand such things & are deliberate morons.)

[apandaaries]

What a bloody fool.  He's too ignorant to realize how stupid he is, and too embarrassed to attempt to learn a damn thing.  How does he even function in the world?  Is he a Darwin award winner in the making?

12 hours ago, RosyDaisy said:

I have never known a man or teenage boy who doesn't know the basics of female anatomy and feminine hygiene products.

So I'm a member of a secret feminist FB group (a few, actually).  One of the members related a story about getting her period while working for a Congressman.  He was married and had kids, a grown adult in charge of US policies.  He tried to tell her that she couldn't leave; she should control her period until break time.  She had to calmly explain biology to him.  This man had no fucking clue.  He thought women just decided to take about a week off every month, whenever they felt like it, to -- be lazy and eat chocolate, I guess?  ETA: And what that week "off" was from, I have no idea.  It's not like women don't work when they have their periods.  But she had to actually explain to him that she would bleed through her pants and onto his nice chair if he refused to let her leave.  FFS, it's so absurd.  

Had another friend whose then-boyfriend, a college educated engineer, who didn't understand why he had to use a condom if they were having sex a second time the same night.  I guess he thought all his sperm went once, and then there was nothing to worry about.  Her response was gold, though: "If you're gonna have and use a penis, you need to know about what it does." Then he got schooled, too.  

I have no idea how these men live their lives in such utter ignorance.  It's bizarre.  

[Cleopatra7]

5 minutes ago, amandaaries said:

I have no idea how these men live their lives in such utter ignorance.  It's bizarre.  

The only explanation I have is that like most things learned in school, these men simply forgot about the "unsexy" aspects of sex education, like the mechanics of which body parts do what function, but retained lots of erroneous information learned from parents, peers, or the media.

[apandaaries]

1 minute ago, Cleopatra7 said:

The only explanation I have is that like most things learned in school, these men simply forgot about the "unsexy" aspects of sex education, like the mechanics of which body parts do what function, but retained lots of erroneous information learned from parents, peers, or the media.

And porn.  Lots of porn to help them "learn" anatomy.

[just...sare]

So a few years ago I was at a friend's house when I had a leak, all over his couch. I was freaking out, but he was just calmly helping me clean the couch cushion in the laundry room sink. He's a pretty chill guy, has an older sister, is the only guy friend in a group of girls, etc.

We're drying the cushion with a hair dryer when he really casually (and genuinely) asks "Where were you bleeding from, anyway?" 

[AmazonGrace]

I used to be able to control my bladder and bleed at will but after squeezing three babies out via the urethra I sadly lost that ability

[LadyCrow1313]

17 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

I used to be able to control my bladder and bleed at will but after squeezing three babies out via the urethra I sadly lost that ability

Mom's a bladder cancer survivor (& she also had three children), plus she (should but doesn't always) takes a water pill (which I do, too); minus the bleeding (as she's well past the age at this "season of life") she has many issues with this as well. I sympathize with you, @AmazonGrace.

[Gossamer1]

On 10/20/2016 at 11:08 AM, doggie said:

this guy even after being mocked has no clue. I take it he has no sisters and no gilfriends. and lucky women feel lucky about that. 

http://addictinginfo.org/2016/10/19/brainless-misogynist-women-wouldnt-need-tampons-if-they-had-self-control/

 

Please tell me that he is the best troll ever. 

[Mercer]

This will probably be an unpopular opinion, but I don't think parents should be able to opt their kids out of basic sexual and reproductive education at a government funded school. There are plenty of subjects that aren't considered negotiable - you can't opt your child out of math or learning to read - and I think that learning the functions of the human body is just as important for becoming a functional and healthy adult. If you don't want your kids to learn those things, you can pay for a different schooling option or home school. If the government is funding the education, the children should be learning accurate information about the human body in my opinion.

[December]

18 minutes ago, Mercer said:

This will probably be an unpopular opinion, but I don't think parents should be able to opt their kids out of basic sexual and reproductive education at a government funded school. There are plenty of subjects that aren't considered negotiable - you can't opt your child out of math or learning to read - and I think that learning the functions of the human body is just as important for becoming a functional and healthy adult. If you don't want your kids to learn those things, you can pay for a different schooling option or home school. If the government is funding the education, the children should be learning accurate information about the human body in my opinion.

I wholeheartedly agree. If people want to go and teach the kids afterwards that abstinence is the only way, and they shouldn't use birth control or whatever, you can't stop that. But at least kids would know the basics about their own bodies, and where to seek out more information or help if they don't agree with their parents. Especially since there are plenty of adults in this country (edit: and other countries, obviously as this story shows)  who lack a basic understanding of their own / their partner's bodies. That's how you get people thinking like this guy (assuming this isn't just a realllllly dedicated troll). For instance, I was talking with a woman a few months ago who thought IUDs (intrauterine devices) stayed in your vagina... like, the entire thing, not just the strings. She's a very bright person, but obviously had inadequate or non-existent sex ed and for many people it's so taboo to discuss, her misconception (heh) never got debunked till decades later.