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Being humble enough to accept when you’ve been wrong, and being curious enough to keep learning new things (even when your ego wants to get in the way) are two very good qualities to have as a human being.

It’s important to know the basics of life on Earth. Sadly, one area of knowledge that seems to be very much neglected is what some men know about women’s bodies and reproduction. In some cases, the misinformation they take as fact is simply staggering. You've been warned.

Sabrina Fonfeder, a development executive, noted that men should not make any decisions about women’s bodies, and gave an example of how little about biology some men know. One of her exes, for example, thought that all women got their period on the 15th of the month. The tweet quickly went viral and other women pitched in with similar horror stories.

Sabrina, who created the viral thread, was kind enough to answer Bored Panda's questions. She believes that men having major misconceptions about women is a problem with education.

"We're not taught anything about women because we're supposed to be these beautiful specimens. Get rid of your body hair, periods are gross, and don't get me started on pregnancy and labor and all the things women aren't taught their own bodies until they've given birth," she told Bored Panda. "There is so much shame about just existing as a woman that we don't ever talk about anything that makes us look like less than a supermodel."

Image credits: Sabrinafon

#1

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-
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Horrible man - and some government reps agreed with him. Basically, the bill defined a fertilized egg as an “unborn child” - so a blastocyst has more rights than the woman carrying it. The bill also included life imprisonment and the death penalty for abortions.

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In Sabrina's opinion, changing the education system in a meaningful way can definitely be done. "More women in charge would be a good start. But also it's not that hard to look at what other countries do and just do that. We don't need to reinvent the wheel here," she said that there are already great examples out there. All it takes is the courage to follow in their footsteps.

Bored Panda also wanted to get Sabrina's opinion on what grown men can do to educate themselves about basic biology. In her opinion, there's no excuse for ignorance, considering the wealth of information at everyone's fingertips.

"Men can simply... read? There has never been more access to information on any topic, so I'd tell any man to do some googling and they'll get what they're looking for. Otherwise, ask a woman in your life questions and come from a place of humility," she said.

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"If you scroll through the replies of my Tweet, many women talk about their male partners being adamant even when they are wrong about basic biology, and then yelling when they're told they're wrong. That's extremely annoying. I don't think they'll face any sort of shame if they ask questions from a place of genuine curiosity and a willingness to learn."

The situation when it comes to knowledge about reproduction is pretty sad in some parts of the United States. According to SIECUS, only 29 states and the District of Columbia actually mandate sex education. Meanwhile, 35 states require schools to focus on abstinence when talking about sex ed.

Shockingly, a whopping 15 states “do not require sex education or HIV/STI instruction to be any of the following: age-appropriate, medically accurate, culturally responsive, or evidence-based/evidence-informed.” What this means is that in some areas of the country, students might be misinformed at the school level.

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NsG
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ooh, so this is the corresponding argument that a C-section means you aren't a real mum. So C-sections result in entirely fictional people! I'm sitting on my hands reading these so I don't facepalm myself into a coma.

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Nathaniel
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Look at all us men queuing up for prostate exams, because of course it is so pleasurable.

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This isn’t the first time that Bored Panda has written about the misconceptions that men have about women. Earlier, 21-year-old Cataleya Jackson went viral after tackling the topic. She gave us an in-depth look at the reasons behind all the wrong info, cultural stigmas, and sex ed.

"One of my friends had a hilarious misconception about periods and my friends and I had laughed about it. They thought that periods just never end, that we'd be 99 on our death beds and still bleeding out,” she told Bored Panda about the extent to which some people are misinformed.

#7

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Trillian
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

D***s are related to pregnancy too so no alcohol for you guys

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"In my country, we do have sex education at ages 13, 15 and again at 17 (if they've opted to study biology in 11th and 12th grade otherwise it's just at the former 2 ages). It's very scientific and doesn't leave space for questions about things that actually matter, things that happen in real-life,” she said that the education part is pretty sterile and removed from reality.

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Lovencaress
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My ex boyfriend asked did I need winter or summer pads because it was in the spring time he thought bigger pads were for winter and smaller size for summer like the bigger they we're they kept you warm

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“Most people don't even learn, they just memorize it to be able to reproduce it during the exams, and then they forget all of it. We need better education, and it has to be more informative and relatable than scientific," Cataleya said.

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According to the woman, there’s a lot of stigma surrounding sex ed. And it needs to be erased. She shared an example of what happened when she was in the 6th grade.

"They called away all the girls from classes, brought us to an auditorium to discuss periods and what they are, why they happen, what we should do, etc. They gave us packets of pads and told us to keep them in our lockers for emergencies. Their heart was in the right place, but by only asking the girls to attend this, they ensured that periods became some sort of mythical and curious event in the minds of all the boys," she said.

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adiiantryx
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

periods came before calendars would be a small hint to some on this list

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"[The boys] were not educated, they remained ignorant to what should be essential information to them. And of course, we all scrambled to hide our pads because we all thought we would rather be caught dead than holding a packet of them. They teased us about it and we, being only 11, had nothing to say to defend ourselves because the stigma around periods is very strong in my country."

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In some cases, the stigma is so deeply-entrenched, that it would take more than a bit of education to change things. "I have friends whose own parents make them sit on mats on the floor when they are on their periods because they are considered impure and should not touch anything in the house," Cataleya told us.

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GFSTaylor
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was aged about 13 or 14 when our general science teacher (not one of the biology teachers) told the mixed class that the pill was something that needed to be taken every day. "If a boy offers you a single pill and tells you that's all you need to be safe, then he's lying." I can't remember how the topic came up (this was back in the early 80's), but it was sound advice.

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Poultry Geist
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We like to drag it out so we can be a bit€h longer ! I use to push it all out at once but not anymore sometimes I make it last up to 10 day just so I can be mean for a 3rd of the month ! Good times

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"Some women aren't allowed to enter the kitchen or the prayer room, they're not allowed to leave the house. A majority of women in my country have no access to pads or tampons and use cloth which causes infection and prevents them from being able to earn a living. I could go on and on about how bad it is here for a lot of women," she said.

#25

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Nathaniel
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Marjorie, you can have a break from the housework between 2pm and 3pm, if you could just schedule to have your period then please.

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Even though most people hate feeling embarrassed, there’s no shame in admitting that you were wrong about something. "There's no shame in it if you're 30 and have misconceptions about periods. It is sad that you may not have educated yourself about it, but there's absolutely no shame in asking women to educate them or to start reading online themselves. Sex Ed is so important," Cataleya told us.

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NsG
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've known women who also make that mistake regarding pad placement (so the husband wouldn't exactly be wrong!). Sex education is lacking for *both* sexes in some places.

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Anna
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"I didn't know you needed it. I just thought you like to store useless stuff in your vagina for no reason."

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Nathaniel
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So now we know how vegetarians are created we can work together to stop it!

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ScrupulousScribbler
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't agree with the third sentence, but I can understand where the miscommunication about the second sentence came from. I'm a girl, yet I was never told by my parents, family, or even my health teacher when I asked her about what times of the month can a woman not get pregnant. It's not really excusable, but it's slightly understandable, seeing as no one explained it to me despite me asking them.

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Pumpkin Spice
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can see his train of thought, though. Some children do go through prodigious puberty, and my guess is that he's clinging on to any last hope that your kid's okay.

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Jihana
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, I had to read that a couple of times to make sure I was not hallucinating things.

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Sky Render
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pretty sure even if you could you wouldn't get much of a look. Cervix and all that.

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Ansi
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I bet he also thought the morning after pill was the same as an abortion.

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Nathaniel
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So we should encourage women to be pregnant for an extra month so we can bring along the next level of human evolution?

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DuchessDegu
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's even worse when they're so confident about bullcrap!

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Raven DeathShade
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For anyone who may be confused as to how that works, you have to take it every day at the exact same time, or its effectiveness will be greatly reduced or completely removed. Doesn't matter if you're doing the deed or not.

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Nathaniel
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We should have something like this for men, make us men responsible for contraception.

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Jul Chv
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The cows can drown by filling with water from the but+hole, that´s right cows can drown from their a**. And girls and cows are quite the same, are´nt they?

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Nathaniel
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How on Earth are the two supposed to be connected? I would like to know the "thinking" behind this.

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Sina
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It is possible to have periods throughout the pregnancy - however not get pregnant skip a month and then have normal periods like the guy believed O_O - I had an aunt who didn't even realize she was pregnant with her 9th kid (back in the day, no TV, greek village) until she went into labor. She was obese so she didn't have a visible baby bump, and had periods throughout the pregnancy, maybe not completely regular because she was over 40 by that point, so she took it as it being signs of menopause. When she went into labor, her hubby rushed her to the hospital because of the pain she was experiencing, and it was the doctor at the ER that told them that the woman is in labor. When later we asked her like, how did you miss being pregnant, didn't you even feel the baby all these months? She told us that every time the baby was kicking or whatnot, she thought that she had indigestion, or something she ate messed up her tummy.

#72

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Laura Edwards
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's pretty common. The other one is hymen. Hymen don't just magically disappear because you had sex. Your grandma who had 9 children still has her hymen.

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Ansi
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oooh, this could be a whole episode on CSI. Finding period blood on the crime scene but not knowing who it belongs to... Then the theif gets away because she stops having her period so they can't prove it's her. Yeah, I would watch that.

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NsG
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You *can* take an extremely wonky train of thought where he could be right. If you did exercise (not just push ups) and diet which results in weight loss, your boobs may shrink along with the rest of you. Not to a more manageable size (because I have no idea what is meant by that!), but by around half a cup - plus any band size reduction. Unfortunately you cannot specify where weight loss happens on your body (wouldn't that be amazing! Shrink the thighs instead of making my face look even more gaunt!).

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Izzy Curer
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well... But wait a minute. There ARE signs that it's coming. I usually know the day before because of specific things my body does. And I can usually tell the week before that it's on it's way. I'm not at all regular, so I've always just had to be aware of my body to know where I am in my cycle. Not just for my period, either, but what's going on with me for the whole month.

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Nathaniel
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Did he think the pill built a temporary wall? A dam inside of a beaver if you will?

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DuchessDegu
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You should kick him in the nuts every month and say the same if he complains

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Ansi
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I must admit it would be interesting if it was like a fountain down there. He was kind of brave/cool for daring to ask. 👍 (asking is definitly better then the men above telling you)

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M O'Connell
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can see how the general shape might give him that impression.

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Nathaniel
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Side note. In my area, after having a dodgy meal and suffering the results, it is known as "p!ssing through your @rse".

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