GUYS: How grossed out are you when it comes to periods?

Question

I had to put this question in this category because if it was in women's health, guys wouldn't answer it.

How have your girlfriends-current and/or past-or even sisters dealt with talking about their periods? Are they very open about it to you or do they keep it quiet most of the time? When they do talk to you about it, do you get grossed out or does it not bother you? How informed are you when it comes to our cycles?

Sorry for all the mini questions, but I'm just curious as to what you think about this.

Wow, some of you guys are really understanding! We need more of you in the world.

Answer 1

I was the oldest of two boys, so I heard about the mysterious "time of the month" while I was growing up, and occasionally saw my mom put these strange things in the shopping cart, but that was about it.

Then I went to high school, got a girlfriend and learned a bit more about it. I was always curious -- what's it like? How do you feel? How MUCH do you bleed? Things like that. My early girlfriends didn't go much beyond veiled references to monthly "visits from Aunt Flo," but I was... intrigued, if for no other reason than the average adolescent male's fixation on the area in question (even if I was much more concerned with what might someday go IN than with what came OUT).

When I became sexually active, it became much more personal for me, of course, because I was involved with it as opposed to hearing about it. For some reason, it never grossed me out -- it was just something else to deal with. Sex is pretty messy anyway (if you do it right :-), so having it be messy and bloody was only a small step.

One interesting thing I've noticed, and I don't know why: in college, I had a long-time girlfriend for whom I could detect her period before she did. I'd start getting depressed for no reason, I'd feel sad and laggy and just plain down... and after a year or so it hit me that I was always this way the day before she started bleeding. I never did find out why, whether it was because her body was emitting some kind of hormone that was somehow getting into MY body (do I need to suggest the various pathways? :-), or because I was picking up on subtle behavioral symptoms from her, or what. I believe it was direct contact with hormones, because I had a similar reaction to my next girlfriend. I remember sitting at a table with her at lunch and suddenly feeling an overwhelming sense of depression and sadness... and then looking at her and saying "You're about to start your period, you better go check." She came back from the ladies' room with her eyes as big as saucers... I'd been right.

So when I started going out with the woman I would later marry, I noticed after several months that we were both always surprised when she'd start her cycle; she'd just get up one day and bam, there'd be a red spot where she'd been sitting. I never had the beat-with-a-bat feeling, and she was never PMS-y. Her cycle was VERY irregular, though, in part due to the fact that she's been on thyroid since she was eleven and she used to be very absent-minded about taking it. (We're both middle-aged now, and she has health issues that require her to take what seems like four billion pills every day, so she never misses a thyroid.) This makes me suspect that it was hormonal, all along -- that somehow my girlfriends' hormones during PMS were being transmitted to me (through intimate contact, obviously), and I was responding to that.

Recently, though, perhaps due to the fact that she's been taking the thyroid religiously and has been more regular, or perhaps due to the fact that she's heading toward menopause and her own hormonal balance is being thrown out of whack, I've felt the occasional sudden unexplained depression the day before my wife started her period. So combine that with the fact that I never know when my daughters (15 and 18) are about to start theirs, and I believe it's from hormone transfer due to intimate contact.

Now, back to your mini-questions: When you've been married for 27 years and you both have fairly high sex drives, she can't "keep it quiet." Something about having the wet spot in the bed be bright red makes it pretty obvious.

When we talk about it, it doesn't gross me out in the least. Again, after 27 years of marriage, two vaginal births, a C-section, raising three children (including diapers and spit-up and the works), not to mention the whole sickness-and-health thing, periods are NOTHING. I mean, she's had more than 300 periods since I've been in a position to care when they happen. Compare that to standing in an operating room looking at an incision in her abdomen that they just took my son out of, seeing what ended up being approximately two liters of blood spread all over the floor while the surgeon was trying to tie off the artery that was in an unexpected place during an emergency C-section... having the tissues be pink when we clean up after sex a few times a month is a walk in the park.

How informed am I? Well, as I say, I've been a predictor of my girlfriends'/wife's cycles on and off for the past 35 years. When we were actively involved in having children, for a period of seven or eight years or so we charted her cycle on a freaking spreadsheet, both as a means of birth control and as a fertility aid when we were planning. And as she's changed since her mid-forties and her cycle has become different, I'm still very much involved. For a while now, she has seemed to have one ovary that causes very heavy flow and severe cramping, and one that is very mild. So in at least one sense, she's REALLY looking forward to quitting this whole business once and for all!

Answer 2

My theory is this: While straight guys love vaginas (most especially the sex that comes from them) they don't like to think about any functions that happen in them when they're not involved. It seems stupid that they would think a period is gross, however. It's simply a natural part of being a woman. According to some of them, EVERY part of a woman is beautiful, and if that is the case, her period SHOULD be included as well.

Answer 3

That was a lot of mini quesitons. At the very least I like to know when my gf period is. I have no problem discussing it with them. If they want to talk about then lets talk about it. We should be able to talk to each about anything right? For the most part anyway.

Answer 4

im a 21 yr old guy, i grew up in a single parent household..with just my mother....there isnt much about that time of the month i dont know and none of it makes me sick or anything, its a natural part of life....women are unfortunate to go through it, guys are lucky Fawkers and dont....but some of them are sensative and compassionate about it, and understand the cramping and the pain and mood swings that are caused by said pain...i mean its what 3-7 days every 25-28 days? its just part of life...you deal with it and move on....and yes, i have gone down to the store to buy "feminine care products" for my mother before...NO BIG DEAL TO ME

Answer 5

My experience has been fairly enlightening. I had three older sisters and one younger. The hardest part of it all, was when I had to go get what they needed. And I was just a child. I hated waiting for everyone to leave the store. I got laughed at a couple of times. But I handled it...........I guess it depends on the man........................OR the child. It's just a natural body function to me.

Answer 6

I know a little about it, not too much, and I don't think there's anything to be grossed out about. Even if there is, if she's having PMS or feeling uncomfortable, we should be sympathetic and understanding, it can make her feel like crap. We should feel lucky we don't have to go through it.

Answer 7

come on girl how many men u know will buy a girl tampoons or pads...ummm 0 so they dont like to hear about our monthly visitor (well u ppl who have them) i dont get one i only get the pain of one bc i had a few surgerys bc of my ovaries n uterus..but they dont like it but if u go too many days with out givin em sex then they r like " can we do it on a towel or can we do it in the shower"

Answer 8

My g/f talks about her period all the time to me. I think it's a natural bodily function/activity that occurs for women and they shouldn't be embarrassed about it.

I put it in the category of other bodily functions like sneezing, yawning, peeing.....

Answer 9

We know that sometimes beer is better than women because you can enjoy a beer all month long and can count on getting good head.

Answer 10

I'm not grossed out at all. . . it's part of life. Just remember. . . . . .what do clams and pussssssssssy have in common? When the red tide comes you shouldn't eat either of them.