There are some things that men will just ‘never’ understand—that’s how some women feel. And they shared these things in a thread on the r/AskReddit subreddit. User u/Top_Run4841’s question inspired them to open up about the unique issues that women face, from handling sexism at work and having to face stalkers to dealing with periods and more.
Scroll down to read about the most important women’s issues, according to the internet, dear Pandas. Upvote the posts that you think need to be seen by everyone, and let us know in the comments what you personally think that men will never get about women, ever.
Previously, human rights advocate Elizabeth Arif-Fear explained to Bored Panda that the most obvious marker of gender inequality is the gender pay gap that exists in the workplace. According to her, this is “a gross violation of women’s rights.”
#1
Men will never understand what it feels like to be sexually assaulted, impregnated, and then told they can’t abort the fetus.
I feel like you don’t get to have a problem with abortion if you can’t experience it. Goodness it makes me so livid when I hear a man, talk about protecting the fetus moreso than protecting the woman carrying said fetus
Image source: Csherman92
#2
Having guys assume that smiling, talking, or otherwise showing basic human decency to them means we’re flirting.
Image source: White_Wolf_Dreamer, Vinicius Wiesehofer
#3
What an absolute annoyance having your period is. Everything about it is horrible.
Image source: Kayakityak, cottonbro
#4
Laughing, coughing or sneezing – and promptly giving birth to a red jellyfish.
Image source: groats219, Andrea Piacquadio
#5
The excitement of pockets in our clothes. Actual, helpful pockets.
Image source: pearls2626, jasmin chew
#6
How young being preyed on by men starts. I was first ogled and cat called by men when I was 9 and was groped when I was 11. At a public library. While playing runescape.
This is not to say this doesn’t happen a.t all to boys. It just happens to girls at a far higher rate
Image source: [deleted], Matheus Bertelli
#7
How the safety of where we go is always there. Like, I would love to go camping alone somewhere… would I? Nope. Leaving a store at night, we have to be on guard. Walking the dog at night or through woods alone? Always on guard.
Image source: heathers1, Elijah O’Donnell
#8
How much effing free labor we are expected to do for everyone, at home, at work, and everywhere. Planning, preparing and cleaning up from office birthday parties, holiday meals, weddings, funerals, etc. etc. Being the “default parent” who knows the family schedule, the pediatrician’s number, whether we need more peanut butter and eggs. Always running scripts in the back of your mind to make sure you’re not being TOO friendly to your male coworkers/boss/a stranger so you’re not giving anyone the “wrong idea,” but also being friendly enough to not bruise a man’s ego. Being a woman is a full time job that we aren’t paid for and it’s f**king exhausting. InB4 “I’m a dad and I know my kid’s doctor’s number, my wife doesn’t do anything” Good for you, you’re an outlier and get a cookie.
Image source: elizabiscuit, Annie Spratt
#9
That even though we might be “prettier if we smiled”, we literally can’t do that even if we want to, because smiling is interpreted by too many men as a sexual invitation. Men are drawn to smiling women like sharks to a bleeding baby seal.
Please, just let me laugh at my comedy podcast in peace, I implore you all.
Image source: Haustvind, Andrea Piacquadio
#10
How your issues are never taken seriously and are always either chalked up to your period or a moral failing.
I first started getting symptoms of Celiac disease when I was fourteen. I was diagnosed at 21. I spent seven years getting told my constellation of horror show symptoms was just my period.
I was diagnosed with autism at 26. I spent my entire life being told I was a s**tty person because I didn’t understand socialization like other women. Every faux pas was just viewed as intentional malice on my part, and treated about as harshly as you’d expect.
You know. Little stuff like that.
Image source: VampyrDarling
#11
They will probably never understand the things we do out of fear. Also, when a fart rolls up to the front of your vag lips.
Image source: notanotherkrazychik
#12
That turning us on needs to happen waaaay before you even get our clothes off.
Image source: macaronsforeveryone, Molly Champion
#13
Bras hurt. Sometimes the wire breaks free and attempts to impale the [chest].
Image source: InWake, THIS IS ZUN
#14
The social expectation to wear makeup all the time. We’re literally told that our FACES are socially unacceptable unless coated in intricate and expensive layers of artificial substances. How screwed up is that?
Image source: herebekraken
#15
How draining the constant misogyny is.
Image source: PinkPotts
#16
What it’s like to live in a society that favours men in most things.
Look at the comments here. As soon as women try to say that they aren’t treated the same at school or work etc then men say it’s not true. But how would they know? The vast majority have never had to experience inequality because they are a man.
We say we’re scared of walking at night but then we get gaslit from men who say that crimes against men are higher. Men are rarely targeted because of their sex, women are targeted because they are a woman all the time. Look at the news for example, hundreds and hundreds of women getting attacked and murdered in the street by men. Ask yourself how often that happens the other way round? Where women stalk men in the street and come behind them and beat them to death? Or pull them into alleyways and sexually assault them?
The vast majority of men haven’t had to think about what they’re wearing to try and improve their safety, or walk with their keys in their knuckles because you’re on alert from a random attack walking to your car. Or how unsafe you feel when you have to get a plumber or electrician to your home and you live alone.
All of these are real issues for women that men deny despite the majority of them never experiencing sex based crimes, and definitely not in the numbers women do.
And of course men’s issues are equally important. But if you only bring them up in response to a women bringing up issues about women’s rights then you’re doing it to deny what she’s saying about her own experiences. There’s a reason why women protest in the street and have womens marches to advocate for basic human rights. I’ve never seen a male protest to highlight gender based inequality for men.
Image source: bac21
#17
Having your opinions taken less seriously because of your voice. I am trans and recently got surgery to feminize my voice. It has been wild seeing the difference in how people react to me online. My game knowledge is doubted, and my competency is always open for debate.
Image source: Ganondorf_Is_God, Jack Sparrow
#18
How little I care about a man’s opinion on my hair, clothing, or makeup. I am not dressing for you. I do not care if you think red lipstick is too much.
Also just how often guys touch you without permission.
Image source: this_is_an_alaia
#19
Why we are terrified of y’all as strangers whenever we go out alone. I’ve tried to explain it to some and always get “well all guys aren’t the same” THATS NOT THE POINT.
Image source: cantbesohelpmenotbe
#20
The many and subtle ways the world around us tells us we’re never beautiful enough.
Image source: Ribbons1223
#21
How exhausting/depressing it is seeing so many sexual overpowerment scenes on TV and Film.
It’s like they are trying to inform us of how vulnerable we are to sexual assault, when we are fully aware and live with that knowledge on a daily basis.
Image source: Hot_potatoos
#22
How sometimes you can never feel successful in your career because you’ll always be accused of sleeping your way to the top, or being a difficult woman. Never on merit.
Image source: Hour-Cow-4348, Tima Miroshnichenko
#23
That “good men” and “bad men” are often impossible to tell apart. We’ve all had the experience of a man we thought we could trust turning out to be terrifying, and we learned from that. So no, we don’t think that all men are predators, but we do know that many of the bad ones are very, very good at appearing to be good ones, and we have no choice but to behave in ways that protect ourselves.
Image source: PinkPotts
#24
High quality toilet paper is deeply important to women because we use it every single time we pee or poop and extra when we’re on our period.
Image source: MyVillainOriginStory
#25
That until you guys come together and force real change to happen, women will continue to perceive all of you as a threat and will act accordingly and you have no right to complain when we do.
Image source: The_Book-JDP
#26
That many women live in constant fear of getting pregnant and having to give birth in the future. All the scenes in movies, all the info about death risk of pregnancy and diseases and stuff connected to it.
That many women are scared of picking a wrong partner because we know that we’ll most times end up alone with children if anything goes wrong.
Image source: Dependent_Actuary148, kelvin octa
#27
Feeling sad and tired for no reason, because my body is starting to produce less serotonin before my period. I get so sad and I can’t do anything to feel happy for like 2-3 days a month.
Image source: Organic_Ema, Sofia Alejandra
#28
That we really can’t stand unsolicited d**k pics so Please for the love of god stop sending them. They take a conversation from 0 to and “ya lost me” real quick
Image source: Cleonce12
#29
How exhausting it is to see your gender constantly objectified. Middle aged and older women are practically absent from media.
Image source: herebekraken
#30
How your brain gets re-wired by pregnancy. And I don’t just mean the “I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt my little bologna loaf.” I mean how some foods you loved now taste like c**p. And others you only tolerated taste like heaven. How some smells are now more intense or slightly off from before pregnancy. That you can’t remember how to drive a stick shift (true story, ground the gears for at least a month) but can put together some complicated as s**t storage unit with no instructions and nothing but a pair of pliers and a nail file, while 8 1/2 mos pregnant.That you can spy a poisonous plant from 50 yards away but can’t find the orange behind your water glass. And that if/when you get pregnant again everything will get re/wired in a different way.
Image source: meld68, Thiago Borges
#31
Just like men, we can have what are deemed “negative emotions” (fear, anger, etc), that doesn’t mean we’re being hysterical, dramatic, annoying or whatever else invalidates feelings.
Image source: Whole-Key
#32
My male friends are always like ‘everyone should travel solo across Europe at least once in their life’… like no thank you I don’t want to disappear.
Image source: chewypotato21
#33
When you’re on your period, and stand up and feel the gush.
Image source: LadyNightlock
#34
The universal scare. It might just be sweat or discharge… but it could be blood too. And you’re not able to make a quick getaway to the nearest bathroom to check.
Image source: chocotacogato
#35
The sensation of menstruation itself Not just the symptoms. It’s almost indescribable. Like someone ripping a scab off of your insides or dispensing warm soup from your nethers.
How much of our behavior is influenced by fear that a man will physically harm us. By 18, I stopped smiling at men 25 and up in passing because too many took it as sexual interest. At 23 I stopped jogging near streets or apartment buildings because the cat calls were too aggressive. And at 31 I cut a married, super religious, father figure from my life because he couldn’t keep his eyes off of my body and started talking to me like a mistress. Right now no man I’ve had any sort of relationship with knows where I live and I feel safer than ever before.
Image source: PeligrosaPistola
#36
Holding my [chest] means nothing s*xual. Sometimes I do it instinctively. It’s comfortable and warm.
Image source: Puzzleheaded_Net9759, Brian Lawson
#37
How terrible it feels to pull a dry tampon out.
Image source: moscatodogiscute
#38
The feeling of taking off your bra after a long day.
Image source: Pinecone55
#39
How much society influences how we behave — from being polite when men creep on us to working a full-time job and still doing the majority of the work at home.
Image source: howdoulikedemapples, Yan Krukov
#40
In corporate culture:
being mentored by men is more difficult without the comraderie that men share. Male leaders see themselves in young men.
women need to assert professional boundaries CONSTANTLY.
the connection between beauty and perceived ability. Ugly fat men are very common in leadership. Ugly fat women, however…
working in compsci is off-putting because many compsci dudes only interact with women in romantic contexts, and find it difficult to treat them as fledged colleagues.
Image source: Creative-Toe
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