Do you ever wonder how much better people could communicate and be empathetic towards each other if we didn’t treat men and women like completely different species? It’s a cultural weakness that causes people to not only assume they already know another person’s intentions or feelings just because of their gender, but even to limit themselves and their friendships with people of their own gender. And so much of it could be solved by asking people questions and listening to what they have to say in their own words, instead of going by rules that some “relatable” comedian said or that you read in a teen magazine in 2005.

Then there are all the anatomy misconceptions, of course. So much of that could be solved by not being squeamish about sex education.

We recently posted a list of the myths about men that bother them the most. Now we’re back with women’s answers to the same question, as answered in this Reddit thread: what myths about your own gender are the most untrue?

#1

That we don’t need pockets in our friggin clothes

#2

That we enjoy being catcalled and it makes us feel better about ourselves. Seriously, stop that s**t guys, we don’t like that at all, it just scares most of us, especially people like me with PTSD and social anxiety.

#3

Maternity leave is basically vacation. If you’ve ever experienced the exhaustion of carrying a child and the intense body changes that occur during and after delivery, you’ll find out that maternity leave is necessary for recovery and is not a vacation. Try working with a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th degree tear while now trying to deal with a baby that needs to feed every 2-3 hours

Annoyingly enough, there are undoubtedly still people out there who are convinced that women never say what they mean and don’t know what they want, who could listen to the women in their lives tell them otherwise in the most straightforward manner possible and walk away believing the same thing because their misconceptions support themselves. But for anyone who does want to listen, well, keep scrolling, because here’s a whole thread of women’s answers.

#4

I just think people misunderstand why women’s bathroom lines are so long, its not because we’re all vain – it’s because we have to sit every time unlike you and wipe and it takes a lot longer & some women have to get undressed to do so, also not even to mention how time consuming periods can be

#5

That because you don’t like another woman it’s only because you’re jealous. Listen, I can hate a woman because of something she did or said and in no friggin way be jealous of her. She may be just dumb and why would I be jealous of that?

#6

One that infuriates me in particular:

That I, a WOMAN in science, am intellectually inferior to my male counterparts. The notion that my “wittle girl brain” surely can’t comprehend the complexities of my field is completely unfounded.

Please. I science like a boss!

As usual, anatomy misunderstandings are a category so large that it could be its own list. At best, they lead to embarrassing conversations with friends and SOs, but at worst, we end up with lawmakers making real and dangerous decisions about women’s healthcare based on them.

#7

That we all love shopping. I friggin HATE shopping

#8

The whole god damn “oH yOu’Re mAd? yOu mUsT bE oN yOuR pErIod.” especially when it’s coming from a guy that easily gets angry at the dumbest things and can’t control his rage

#9

That it is mandatory for all women to shave or trim every single hair on our bodies.

No. Not mandatory.

Disturbingly, one recurring theme in the thread is that women were not taken seriously when reporting medical problems. It’s a phenomenon that’s the product of several misconceptions, like the belief that debilitatingly painful periods are normal, as one commenter with endometriosis says was a barrier to getting a diagnosis, or the belief that women’s health complaints are overblown and driven by anxiety in general.

#10

That being a feminist means you think women are better than men or that you are a man hater

#11

That as little girls we all dreamt about our future wedding. Not all women want to get married or actually enjoying attending weddings

#12

It doesn’t infuriate me but I was always confused by the stereotype that women are afraid of blood in general… Like what do you think we deal with everything month??

#13

That we’re only supposed to like rom-com movies. Someone once told me I’ve quite a masculine movie collection- wtf?

#14

That we can just “hold” our periods. Do you honestly think we would still need feminine products if we could do that?

#15

That housework is our responsibility

#16

Every time I throw up or say I feel nauseated, literally since I was like 16, the FIRST thing someone jumps to is “are you pregnant?” Like we can get sick without it being because we’re knocked up

#17

I frequently come across the notion that women (unlike men) automatically have this social network they can rely on for support. Boy I wish that were the case

#18

every women is the same. that we all like the same things. that every period is the same. every child birth is the same. that if one woman says periods hurt and one says it doesnt, one of us has to be lying. that if one woman’s childbirth is easy, the rest must be faking it or weak

#19

that we mean the opposite of what we say

#20

That all of us secretly hate each other and are innately gossipy and bitchy. Some dipshit on here tried telling me once that he knew all women resented each other because he knew the “nature of women”.

That old saying “men insult their friends but don’t mean it and women compliment their friends but don’t mean it” paints women as catty/unable to have genuine friendships, which is BS.

#21

That the clitoris is hard to find. Or that labia grow exponentially with lots if sex. Or that vaginas are anything but elastic. Basically every ridiculous myth about female sexuality and their genitals

#22

All women want/need children

#23

That everything we do is to attract men. From wearing revealing clothing, to wearing makeup at work, to gaming…hell, apparently even the “not like other girls” types who abstain from and denounce things associated with attracting men are accused of…doing it to attract men. After awhile it just feels like a bunch of projection, whether from women who are insecure about their ability to date, or men who interpret anything they’re attracted to as being tailor made for them. Also, while I do think that we have a sort of privilege over men in terms of being able to cry and show our emotions, I also feel our emotions aren’t taken as seriously. As another commenter noted, were basically never allowed to be upset about anything, and are always labeled crazy/hysterical/irrational/dramatic. I’ve seen a lot of confusion among men involving the concept of venting, ie “Why would you tell me your problem if you don’t want a solution?” The reason why is because we don’t need a solution, often times we already know what it is. What we need is to be listened to, to be comforted and told that it’s understandable why we feel the way we do, when the rest of the world just tells us to calm down or to smile more

#24

That women are irrational because of their hormones. The irony is that some men make excuses for their behaviour because testosterone apparently makes them unable to control themselves

#25

“Its not creepy if they’re attractive”

No, incel, you’re just creepy and ugly.
If you were pretty, I’d still try to gtfo

#26

“I’m such a nice guy why won’t she date me, she’s into di*kheads only” Even if she was, how is that your problem you di*kwad!

#27

That the more sex you have, the looser your p**sy gets

#28

I’m sure its the same for men but: Gift giving. I’ve had so many guy friends ask me what to get their s/o or sister or mother because I am also of the female gender. Ummm, get to know them and give them something based on what they’ve asked for or actually like? We’re not all the same. There is no generic Female Gift. We are different people with different likes and tastes

#29

Anything that has to do with women trying to “trap” men by purposefully getting pregnant. I’m sure it happens, but men far far over exaggerate how common it is. Like, what sane person is going to play with the most life-altering, challenging thing you can do just to get some mediocre ass man to stay with her?

#30

Nearly everything about endometriosis. It is sorely misunderstood, reasearch is underfunded, and terrible treatments get used all the friggin time when they dont help and make things worse. Its a hidden debilitating disease and i hate the misinformation spread about it. There IS help out there and legit treatments

#31

That if a woman is running for office, all women must be voting for her

#32

The myth that women are irrational, emotional thinkers. But y’all men get angry over some dumb s*it all the fu**ing time and nobody ever accuses you of being irrational or inferior at thinking. Humans are emotional idiots. Not just women

#33

Stuff about our periods in general. Like if we’re mad, it’s definitely because we’re on our period. We never have a legitimate reason to be upset. Also myths like we’re able to hold in our period or we only have it for a day or that we’re impure. The impure one definitely infuriates me. I just think about the billions of women throughout history, and sometimes even today, being treated as if they’re impure or an evil omen because of a bodily function they cannot control. Banishing them to menstrual huts when they have their periods or not allowing them to touch anything. And yes, this happens. My mother as a teenager was not allowed to touch anything when she had her period. It got to the point where she would just not tell anyone she was menstruating and do what she wanted

#34

We pee with our vagina

#35

That we’ll buy anything if it’s pink. Pink guns, pink staplers, pink calculators, pink camo… ugh

#36

That girly-girls are dumb, annoying, don’t know when to shut up, can only be a stay at home mom. Like I can like pink, shirts, dresses, and still box you, be a lawyer, and have varying personality traits.

#37

Gamer/geek girls either don’t exist or can’t be attractive/intelligent if they do exist. So over the a**holes demanding I “defend” my geeky self because I have no Y chromosome

#38

That we can’t park or reverse a car. I reverse like a boss

#39

That our relationships with men are all transactional

#40

That women only get expensive stuffs (e.g. car) from their parents, boyfriend/husband. There is no way that she paid for it with her own money, she worked for

#41

That we can’t handle a dirty/obscene joke. I’m more inappropriate than lots of dudes thank you very much

#42

That women ONLY ever cry in order to manipulate. I’ve run into this one way too much. Believe it or not, women are humans with genuine emotions and they get genuinely upset

#43

That women don’t snore (seriously, I’ve heard this loads and it always baffles me).

People breathe when they sleep, sometimes it makes some noise, male or female. Let em breathe

#44

Bra sizes.

I absolutely hate it.

A 32DD can be the exact same cup size as a 36C. Bra sizes are not representative of actual breast sizes, so stop shaming women for their sizes

#45

That women aren’t funny. Not every woman is funny, but that’s because not everybody is funny. Some of the most hilarious sh*t (not to mention raunchy, wickedly f**ked up sh*t) I have ever heard have come from the ladies. I cant tell you how pissed I get when someone (almost always a guy) tells me “omg you’re so funny for a girl!!” Oh gee thanks, that asterisk really makes me not want to smack your di*k off

#46

That if one woman likes a thing, has a belief or is bad at something they all are. Women aren’t the borg, we’re not a hive mind

#47

That we are hardwired to unconsciously need and want to be dominated

#48

We love children and have natural knack for them. When women abuse children they are seen as damaged. Men who abuse children are sick

#49

That women dont like sex

#50

That my husband handles fixing s**t around the house. No, he’s completely lost with that stuff. The tools are mine, I painted all the walls, I landscaped the garden and flower beds, and that grill is mine too. I do the barbecuing and I LOVE it! My husband fixes all the electronic stuff and picks up the heavy stuff while I make inappropriate comments about that tight butt

#51

That we are bad at math – most likely we have been told this by teachers (esp in rural school districts), that we do not know our own bodies enough to know when we are sick or when something is wrong (Men: imagine going into EVERY doctor’s appointment and being told that the cause of your symptoms is either “in your head” or because “you are getting older” patted on the head and ignored). that we are less than men. We Should be Ruling the world. Like Wifi? Thank Heddy Lamar. DNA was discovered by Rosalind Franklin who got no credit for it – her discovery was stolen. Get lost easily? Thank Gladys West who discovered GPS and went on to get her PhD in her 80’s

#52

the uterus is harmed when women drive. this was the excuse used by saudi arabia for YEARS before women were finally allowed to drive in 2017

#53

Women are never lonely, never struggle socially, and always have a shoulder to cry on when there’s a problem

#54

Somewhat related, I went to preschool in a church. My teacher told us the story of Adam and Eve. At the end she said us, “This is the reason god made women afraid of snakes.” Several girls spoke up and said they weren’t afraid of snakes. I don’t remember what my teachers exact response was but I remember she was really annoyed

#55

Not a girl, but i always found it sad to see articles where rape cases are shut down because she has an intact hymen. The hymen doesn’t break the first time you have sex, but it can if you are too rough with it. Hell, horseback riding and tampons can break it. And it won’t always bleed the first time, it may break, or it might not, both are perfectly normal

#56

That a woman’s looks are the most important thing to her and therefore she spends all her time taking care of them.

I don’t care to buy new clothes all the time, don’t spend extensive time researching fashion trends, don’t try all sorts of diets in order to lose a few pounds or spend a lot of money on beauty products. I don’t wish I did, either

#57

That we all hate when our significant other is going to hangout with friends & we expect them to be with us 24/7?

#58

Only women can be cat lovers. I actually know more men who own cats then I do women. Yet not once have I seen a TV show or movie where the man is a cat person.

We’re also stereotyped as cat people, even if we have 9 dogs and 1 cat, or heck, just wearing cat shirts and/or sweaters make us cat ladies

#59

We don’t ALL have cramps with our periods. I’ve been having periods for almost 30 years and think I’ve gotten cramps like ten times.

Other women have horrific monthly events. It’s different for everyone

#60

That women are ‘more boring’ than men, and have less fun. The whole ‘girls locker room vs boys locker room’ meme that’s going around, etc. Y’all will never know the wild s**t that goes down in girls bathrooms. Why do you think we spend so much time in there on nights out, and always go in groups?

#61

That women and men’s brains are totally different! Like the whole « men are from mars women are from venus » thing. Of course we have different sex hormones, but putting dumb stereotypes like being chatty, loving shopping or not driving well on our « female brain » is friggin dumb

#62

That women are worst gossips than men.

Studies observing speach patterns and topics of many different age groups of male vs. females friend groups found the amount of gossip is comparable

#63

I am very pregnant and recently I got a bad case of the bronchitis. I had to cough so friggin much it wasnt funny anymore. Because I am so pregnant every time I get the black lung I piss myself and my fiance said I should just stick a tampon in my vag to soak up the pee… If woman pissed out of their vaginas this would be a great idea. But we really don’t.

#64

That we all want children

#65

Another stupid myth about women is how easy we have it to get laid. It always fails to take into account safety, pleasure and a woman’s appearance. Unattractive women exist and it doesn’t seem like a lot of men actually consider these women

#66

That every women has “mothers instict”. Like the second I hear a baby scream-crying I want to throw it out from the window – or just jump out if it myself

#67

That I like pumpkin spice lattes

#68

Women are looking for a man to provide for them. It’s attractive to have your s**t together but I can handle myself, I just want a best friend to f**k and goof off with

#69

– That women only like men who treat them like s**t. No we don’t. Literally nobody likes that.

– That a lot of sex makes the vagina loose. No it doesn’t. Does a penis get thinner from too much sex? No. So why would anyone think vaginas get loose? So stupid.

– That we can hold in our period.

– That you break a hymen when you have sex for the first time. No you don’t. It’s always there.

#70

That you wake up with perfect eyeliner, beautiful coloured eye lids, immaculate mascara, poreless skin, neatly drawn eyebrows etc

That no hair grows on the female body

That the woman’s belly is always flat, never bloats of anything like that
Source: boredpanda.com