Thanks to centuries of social stigma, lack of research, and good ol' sexism, there's a lot of misinformation and ignorance about periods floating around.
So, when u/5pinktoes asked "What would women like men to know about having periods?" in r/AskReddit, I thought it might be useful to round-up some of the more popular replies.
1. "It sucks, but we still get shit done."
2. "As far as cramps, moodiness, and bloating go, there is no one rule. It's not just different for every woman — it can be different for the same woman at different ages."
3. "Even the folks with pretty regular cycles still experience disruptions, sometimes for no discernible reason."
"I had two months where my period was going completely normally (for me), and seemed to have pretty much wrapped up. But just when I'd usually expect it all to end, a deluge that soaked through everything came the next day."
4. "Sneezing is pretty much playing Russian roulette."
5. "Periods don't just stop when you hit 40."
"Hell, sometimes they go on past 50!"
6. "Tampons do not break the hymen or cause sexual pleasure."
7. "We're still expected to operate at 100% in our daily lives. There's always work to be done and we've been socially conditioned to work through the pain, then get called 'bitch' for not smiling or being bubbly. "
"Women are so tough, but we're certainly not weak for taking a day off while we deal with body pain, diarrhea, and painful bloating."
8. "It's just a normal bodily function. Seeing or buying tampons and pads shouldn't freak you the fuck out any more than toilet paper."
9. "It’s not a 28-day cycle for everyone."
"Some have a shorter cycle, and some have a longer one, and some have an irregular one."
10. "If you're not mature enough to buy your girlfriend/fiancee/wife a box of tampons in an emergency, you aren't mature enough for a serious relationship."
11. "Please remind me that my period isn't gross and that you don't find my period products gross."
"There's a lot of generational shame around periods that some of us are still working through, and the encouragement helps."
12. "It's not just lower abdomen pain."
13. "For me, the worst part is really that I am not supposed to let anyone know."
"Telling people 'Wow, really having bad menstrual cramps!' is not considered okay."
14. "If she sends you to buy supplies, do not substitute without approval. We are pretty specific in our products because we know what works best."
15. "Maybe it's just me, but I’m not crabby because of hormones, I’m crabby because I feel like shit. You are also crabby when you feel like shit. This isn’t rocket science."
16. "Cramps can be absolutely brutal. If someone calls off work for cramps I believe they are that bad."
"I’ve had them where I’m just curled up on my side for hours hugging a warm water bottle. They aren’t always terrible, but when they are, they are."
17. "It feels like giving birth to a jellyfish."
18. "I went to gymnastics practice with appendicitis because I couldn’t tell a difference between my cramps and appendicitis. I was 13."
19. "I don’t want to babied. I don’t need extra attention and coddling. I’d prefer to just be mostly left alone."
"I don't feel good, and I'm not being rude but it has nothing to do with you if I just want to hunker down on the couch with a blanket. The kindest thing you could do for me is pick up a couple of extra household chores like I’d do if you were sick."
20. "We can't hold our periods like pee."
21. "It is possible to get pregnant while menstruating."
22. "Just try to give us some sympathy and flexibility."
"No need to treat me as fragile or a monster, just a person having a rough time."
23. "It's never ok to say 'my mother/sister/girlfriend/ex have periods, so you're wrong or exaggerating when you say that your periods are like that.'"
24. "It's called period 'blood' and 'bleeding' colloquially, but we are not actually bleeding."
"It's just tissue getting sloughed off the same way your skin cells are drying up and flaking away all the time. Tissue in the human body renews itself, deal with it."
25. "Period farts. The ungodly amount of gas I have is like a fucking war crime."
26. "Vulvar pain. It feels like somebody hit me with a hammer repeatedly around my entire vulva and pelvic area."
27. "For the last time, the tampon size reflects the amount of blood loss NOT the size of the vagina."
28. "Our personalities don’t change for five days a month. It irritates me when men disregard my genuine feelings and write them off as 'PMS.'"
"I remember being upset with a friend, and I told my husband about my feelings, and he said, 'I think you might just be tired or have PMS.' Like, what?! Being a person who menstruates doesn’t change my ability to do my job well, be a leader, think clearly, be rational or process emotions. I wish people would stop treating women like they’re disabled for one week a month."
29. "If you have a woman important to you in your life, just talk to them about it. They’d likely be more than happy to help you understand what they personally deal with."
Note: submissions have been edited for length/clarity.