@chai2,
Ugh.
It's bad enough that a woman has to worry about pads and tampons and such, and the possibility of a very embarrassing
accident, but I've known a lot of women who every month not only endured physical "discomfort" (cramps, bloating etc.) but went through wild mood swings that made their loved ones fear them. That can't be fun.
I guess you can get used to anything, but it seems like there's just enough time between periods to sort of forget about it and then the damn thing sneaks back up on you. I think I might look forward to menopause if I didn't know what a real bitch that can be too (no pun intended).
I suppose women can view it as the price they pay for the miracle of giving birth, but, yep, that's another painful, crazy experience.
It's not surprising that it's called "The Curse."
A woman isn't going to get a lot of sympathy from men though.
First, men don't want to think about it, let alone talk about it. Sure it's a wondrous natural process and all that ****, but men are brought up to think it's disgusting and it isn't too hard to convince a boy that it is. I still hate to find I've gone down the wrong aisle in a market or drug store and I am flanked by two walls of "feminine products." The sense of being somewhere very wrong is overpowering, and I boot-scoot out as quickly as I can without looking too ridiculous.
There are numerous tales in literature of the young boy longing to be taught the powerful and arcane mysteries of manhood, and there are female analogs as well, but they tend to involve a lot more pain and much darker mysteries than the male versions. If you're a guy, you get the crap knocked out of you and some very painful tattoos inscribed on your face and chest but you come out the other end as pretty hot stuff, and you get to boss women around. The girls may not have to fight a wolf or swim a river in winter, but they get tattooed as well, have bits clipped off, pierced or stretched ridiculously and then come out the other side having to be bossed by the boys, and going through periods, child birth and menopause! Even if you drop the bossing around component, men have it a lot easier.
I recall, as a kid of about 10, witnessing my older brother show his friend my mother's sanitary napkins that were hidden in the back of her closet. After his friend left, I remember accosting my brother for betraying our mother by revealing her terrible secret to the kid next door. In true
Wally to The Beaver fashion he replied "You jerk, all women go on the rag." I was horrified, but also relieved to know that Mom's curse was shared. I really didn't even know what the napkins were for, but the unspoken message in the house was that they were forbidden and shameful. When big brother explained what menstruation was, I think I gagged.
Secondly, men are not inclined to acknowledge women have anything tougher than them. Child birth is always getting thrown in our faces. "You would scream like a little baby if you had to give birth!" Perhaps, but I always figured that it can't be as bad as they say because they keep going back for more, either intentionally or as the consequence of sex. I've heard women say that men should think of it like shitting out a bowling ball. I got news for you, I would only have to accomplish that feat once to do everything in my power to never have to again, even if it meant chemical castration.
Finally, aside from it being really annoying to hear a woman whine and complain every single month, men have learned that when a woman's "friend" comes to visit, it's best to keep the mouth completely shut. Of course some of us can be slow learners and will repeat the mistake of the
light bulb moment and cry "Oh…, now I know what's going on!" several times before we have the light bulb knocked off hard enough that the lesson sinks in.
So my answer to your final question is, I don’t want to think about it.
