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24 Ridiculous Things People Have Actually Believed About Periods

"My older sister thought you put a tampon between your labia like a hot dog in a bun."

We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us the weirdest period myths or misconceptions they've heard. Here are some of the most hilarious submissions.

1.

"One time a boyfriend asked me to 'turn it off'. I was confused, so he explained that he thought women were able to turn it off 'like a tap'. I would have been more angry if he hadn't actually been so shocked when I explained to him that is not the case."

Submitted by Erin Marie O'Connor, Facebook

2.

"A girl I knew in college thought that your period stopped when you took a shower, so you didn't have to worry about drips on the loooong walk from your room down the hallway to the communal bathroom. She learned quickly."

Submitted by Kate Welch, Facebook

3.

"A friend of mine who, despite being in his thirties is very old-school and superstitious, told me I couldn’t hold his newborn baby if I was on my period because I’ll give the baby cramps."

Submitted by Alexis

4.

"My mother once told me that you can’t pet a puppy while on your period because the puppy could stop growing."

Submitted by dannasalgado

5.

"I knew a girl who was confused her period didn't stop after 'dabbing' her vagina. Like her period was like a vaginal wound or something."

Submitted by Layla Monèra Hester, Facebook

6.

"At 13 I had to explain to my own mother that you CAN pee with a tampon in. At which point she rolled her eyes and said, 'Oh so you have THREE holes.' And I was like 'Well, of vastly different sizes but, technically, yes.'

"My dad and two little sisters started screaming that they didn't want to hear anymore. I gleefully informed them that, as her only C-section baby, I was the only one present in the room who had not been in my mother's vagina."

Submitted by Jessica Ibinson, Facebook

7.

"I had to explain to a guy friend that you actually left the tampon in when you inserted it. He was SHOCKED and replied 'How does it fit up there? Isn't it like six inches long?' I then had to explain that there's a separate applicator that doesn't stay up there with it."

Submitted by Rachel Gunther, Facebook

8.

"I once taught a PSHE lesson about periods to 11-year-olds. A girl asked how you get a tampon back out and a boy scornfully told her that you obviously use a pair of needle-nosed pliers."

Submitted by Fran Crossley, Facebook

9.

"Back in high school, a (male) friend told me, completely seriously, that women have to use tampons sometimes and pads sometimes. Have to, it's not a matter of preference. He totally tried to mansplain menstrual products to me before mansplaining was even a word."

Submitted by Adrienne Neiman, Facebook

10.

"My older sister thought you put a tampon between your labia like a hot dog in a bun. Still makes me laugh!"

Submitted by Erin Chack

11.

"I know multiple men (my husband included) who thought that in order to use a pad, a woman applied the sticky adhesive side to her body, not her underwear."

Submitted by kaelynk3

12.

"A friend in high school was afraid that if he hugged me too tightly during my period he would squeeze a lot of blood out of me like a sponge."

Submitted by Sarah Reichert, Facebook

13.

"When I was a teenager a guy friend thought every girl menstruated at the same time. A friend couldn’t get in the pool at a pool party because she didn’t have a tampon and he asked, 'Why don’t you just ask one of the other girls for one?' When no one had a tampon but we were all in the pool, he was shocked. We had to explain that women aren’t like werewolves – we don’t all get out periods on the full moon."

Submitted by katelynnen

14.

"I had a boyfriend in high school who asked why I didn’t just push it all out at once. When I looked at him confused, he told me it 'was just like pooping'."

Submitted by shannonh49685c191

15.

"My boyfriend was totally amazed at the fact that my period happens roughly at the same time each month. I can still remember his utter amazement as he said, 'You mean…it’s not a big surprise every month? You know when it’s coming? That’s like your own super power!'"

Submitted by mlward

16.

"I had a math teacher who told us a great many things that were probably not true, including that women shouldn’t eat ice or cold things on their period, as it would cause the flow to get cold and be chunky."

Submitted by Sydney Anderson

17.

"I heard some girls saying to make your period shorter, you can 'birth' all of the blood and gunk in your uterus. Like push it out as if you were having a baby."

Submitted by shanaeh3

18.

"When I was younger I had chronic nosebleeds and my period was a little late compared to my friends. I was worried I'd never get my period because 'all the blood was used up coming out of my nose'."

Submitted by jammiesfororphans

19.

"My ex used to think that a period was just one big expulsion of blood that happened once a month. When I asked him why he thought girls usually said their periods lasted for days, he replied, 'Well obviously they do, they’re preparing for days because they can’t tell at what point all the blood is going to fall out.'"

Submitted by sophieh26

20.

"I was around 13 and I had run out of pads. I was embarrassed but, since my mom wasn’t home, I had to ask her now ex to get me more. He got upset with me since they were expensive and I was 'flying through them'. He said I shouldn’t drink so much throughout the day. He seriously thought my flow had something to do with my fluid intake."

Submitted by Feministkilljoy

21.

"Many guys in my health class though a girl could just use a tampon to basically 'stick a cork in it'. I explained that a woman could bleed through her tampon and that a tampon had to be changed at least every eight hours. Their world was shook."

Submitted by l41558f8e3

22.

"There was a weird superstition in my country where mothers would have their daughters rub the very first period blood on their faces because it was believed that you’d never get pimples if you did that."

Submitted by KurtVonnecat

23.

"I used to have extreme bleeding and cramping when I was in my teens and my mom took me to the doctor. He told me that it was extremely normal and it would all disappear when I got married. Needless to say, I have never gone back to that doctor."

Submitted by mariafernandaestradaso

24.

"I mean really, the biggest misconception is that it's totally normal be in outrageous hideous agony and that women should just put up with it because that's just how periods are, and that extreme circumstances are never because of medical issues."

Submitted by Robyn Webb

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