People may quibble about the exact definition of ‘mansplaining’, but if you go by the general rule that it is a man trying to explain things to a woman who has more expertise on the subject, then when it comes to women’s bodies, it’s always mansplaining.
It’s a sad fact of life that boys aren’t educated in basic facts about menstruation.
Usually, sex ed classes are separated by gender, leaving boys and girls completely ignorant of the struggles the other group deals with.
So it’s not surprising that a man would make assumptions about things based off secondhand, incomplete knowledge.
It’s just that most men know that they aren’t the experts and don’t try to school women on these issues.
But not this guy. This guy decided that the comment thread on an article shared on the PinkNews Facebook page was the place to call women whiners and cheap.
The article in question was about raising awareness about period poverty.
I’ll give him one accolade: he definitely provided a great example about why awareness is so important.
Because his argument isn’t just preachy and condescending to women, but full of so much wrong that it rolls right passed funny and into just plain sad territory.
He tried to use math to make the argument that period poverty couldn’t exist because women don’t need a lot of tampons.
“So, the average period is between 10-35ml of blood,” his argument begins.
The actual stat is 30-40ml, though some research has suggested as much as 60ml.
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So let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say his average is on the low end, but not completely wrong.
However, he seems to have missed the important fact that menstrual fluid isn’t just blood.
Studies have shown that only about 36% of menstrual fluid is blood. The rest is made up of uterine lining, other tissues, mucus, and other fun stuff.
So once you triple the average fluid to closer to 90-120ml, his math is already out the window.
He’s not done yet, though, as he notes that a tampon holds about 5ml of blood.
By this logic, he’s decided that during a period, a woman only needs 7 tampons, though he allows his math to be rounded up to 10 for ladies with heavy flows.
How nice of him.
Setting aside the blood vs. menstrual fluid debate, this completely ignores the issue of Toxic Shock Syndrome . Since most women don’t want to die, tampons are recommended to be removed after four hours, rather than when they are “full.”
Toxic Shock Syndrome is no joke.
It occurs when too much staph bacteria builds up, which releases poisonous substances into the body. It causes a sudden drop in blood pressure, preventing organs from receiving oxygen.
You know where bacteria loves to hang out and reproduce like crazy?
Warm, moist, dark places. Women’s bodies already contain a natural amount of staph bacteria, but a nice, absorbent tampon gives it a perfect place to grow.
Delightful, isn’t it?
To finish off his questionable math, he multiplies by 9 periods per year to find his total.
Yes, because the thing women sometimes refer to as their “monthly friend” only occurs 9 times in a year. That, or he doesn’t know how many months there are.
Since, he says, you can get a 64 pack of tampons for cheap on Amazon and save on shipping by buying in bulk, it should only cost you about $25-30 for a whole year.
So clearly period poverty is a sham.
So maybe you could give him a break for his clear lack of basic knowledge — and the common sense not to advertise it — but then he ends it with the most condescending thing ever:
Cut down on your starbucks venti frapps and stop whining. This isn’t a first world problem.
Yeah, all my benefit of the doubt went right out the window with that.
While he deleted his comment, he seems to have forgotten that nothing disappears from the internet. It was shared on Twitter, where people had a field day with his complete and utter wrongness.
It’s bad enough when mansplaining happens in general, but it’s a thousand times worse in this case.
So take this guy’s downfall as a lesson, boys.
You don’t know more about women’s bodies and their functions than women do. Period.
