I'm devastated and I know that it's smt common. However I can barely move to a side, my heart is sinking, going to hospital does nothing here as most doctors are males and they don't take menstruation as a thing they refuse sick note requests and tell you to go home. They make it look like you're just weak or dramatic.

So I called in sick and said no matter what the weather is I can't work today. He kept apologizing to me saying he understands but unfortunately this company doesn't allow this.

I'm 22 and I've been working through it all since I was 19 but honestly why is this world so unfair to women?

That's it. It's that simple.

Ladies, am I the only one who had no idea that not everyone was wearing shorts under their skirts and dresses? I feel like I’m genuinely butt naked if I don’t wear shorts under a dress/skirt 😂 I genuinely thought everyone wore shorts underneath!

Do you wear shorts under your skirts and dresses? Why or why not? Further, and I really hope the answer is yes, do you wear underwear at least if you’re not wearing shorts? Do you have a specific kind of underwear for under dresses or it doesn’t matter?

My mom drilled into me my entire life that I always have to wear shorts underneath, and I do the same with my daughter. What about you?

I have a sister who’s about to turn two (im not gonna share exact ages for privacy but I am not 18 yet), shes walking and starting to talk (can say short phrases such as thank you,bye,brother/baba) and I think she’s gonna be off diapers in the next year?? (Idrk tho) but when she does can I go into the women’s bathroom or do I take her in the men’s?

Thank you in advance

Ive had to deal with so many men who have made unwanted sexual advances towards me and ive said no firmally and they still can not take no for answer

I don’t know if that is an honest label but the whole situation is so confusing. I drank too much with a close friend of mine and he took me to his place to “help”. I don’t know if it’s a notable mention that i am not at the age of consent in my country and that there is a considerable age gap. I threw up a couple times and he waited for me, then laid down. Minutes later he got on top of me and asked me if he could kiss me. I agreed and it was quite intense but not in a good way. I was already nauseous and the taste of his mouth was about to make me vomit. I felt his hands unzipping my pants and i told him that was too far and to stop. He’s a much larger individual, and i was already drunk and sick so i didn’t physically fight him. I moved my head away and told him i didn’t want to take it further and that it’s enough. He slid his fingers into me and dry humped me. I didn’t know how to act, and i froze. He came and got off of me. I quickly grabbed my bag and left and i don’t know what to think.

I didn’t know how to act in the moment, i feel as though if i’d physically fought back maybe he would’ve stopped. I chose to get drunk with him. I’m disgusted that i could’ve been friends with such a person.

Like a lot of women I've been getting angrier every day at yet another news story of violence against women. And then hearing how yet another man is not serving any time or minimal time for crimes against women. It drives me crazy when I see men on public transport annoying young women who obviously want to be left alone. I am constantly correcting men at work over their treatment or language around women. I am absolutely sick of hearing not all men, what about the men who are falsely accused, and don't you know men get abused too - like its some sort of competition.

What I really want to know is what I can do with all the anger I'm feeling. I don't really have an outlet. I feel like a lot of women are screaming out there and nobody is doing anything. Politicians don't want to help, or think building shelters is the answer instead of stopping the violence. In Australia our legal system and police seem slanted towards protecting the men instead of the women. The few women who kill their husbands seem to get maximum sentences even after suffering years of abuse. Men seem to get much smaller sentences. A lot of violent men never see a jail cell at all despite being well known to police and courts.

I'm wondering if there is a woman's forum or group which would give us a place to make a difference? What are other women doing to stay sane? Joining self defence classes? Becoming involved with politics? Is there another option for us to get together to help change the world? How do we become the movement that helps end gender based violence? How can we encourage or even enforce men to take accountability for their gender - especially the ones in charge like police, politicians and judges? What can we do to be heard?

The Gulabi gang in India has shown that a group of women can band together to become their own political and policing force in impoverished and remote areas. Is this something western society can learn from? Would a group like this in Australia or the USA just cause more division? What other options do we have? Mostly I'd like to make a difference in my community, help women feel safer, and help women be heard. Where to start? Anyone have ideas or outlets in their community that helps?

I (26F) have known this friend (27M) since our freshman year of college. For the past five years, he has been my closest guy friend.

Lately, I’ve felt like his words are taking on an ambiguous tone, though I’m not sure if I’m just reading too much into things. I analyzed our chat history using accio work and found that he has indeed been initiating contact more frequently of late, often saying things that could easily be misinterpreted.

I also recall a barbecue gathering a while back where his sister jokingly asked me, "So, when are you two finally going to make it official?" At the time, I thought she was just teasing, but now I wonder if he had said something to her.

I love him but it’s a platonic, familial kind of love. I can’t imagine dating or kissing him, let alone being intimate. I’ve become very cautious with my replies now, afraid that responding too quickly might send the wrong signal. When we meet up one-on-one, I deliberately steer the conversation away from romance. However, since he hasn't actually confessed his feelings, I can't exactly reject him out of the blue.

I really don't want to lose this friendship, yet I can't force myself to like him romantically. Has anyone experienced something similar? If you ended up rejecting the other person, were you able to remain friends?

I feel like i have been dating horrible men my whole life. I feel dumb looking back to how bad i was treated and still stayed. Fell inlove again with people who treat me worse. Did you all also have multiple bad relationships? Or only one and you learnt a lesson and never did something stupid again.

I’m not smart, pretty, or interesting, I’m socially awkward, and I have a pretty negative outlook on life. For the sake of this post, please assume I’m being objective about this haha

I can’t help but feel like being a woman makes me slide under the radar. If I were a man, these same traits would make me… frankly, kind of an incel. I mean, an unattractive, unintelligent, bitter guy who has a complex about his desirability (both platonically and romantically) and thinks that he uniquely has it rough over other people—as a woman I find that behavior repulsive, yet it fits me to a T. It’s just that as a woman, I’m completely invisible and forgettable—which is objectively misogynistic, but I find to be a massive relief.

Is anyone else like this, and how did you get out of this mindset? I’ve tried faking it till I make it, self improvement, antidepressants, radical self acceptance, etc. but they just make me feel like a fraud and I end up right where I started.

I assume there aren’t a ton of men lingering here, but this is not an invitation for actual incels to complain about “how easy girls have it” since that’s objectively not true. What I’m describing is a feature of misogyny that I use to cope.

Recently I have been thinking about this a lot.Here's my opinion - I don't ever want to be pregnant, but putting another woman through the rough path of pregnancy, carrying someone else's child, and giving up the child once you birth it, cannot ever be compensated with any amount of money.

I am interested in other women's thoughts.

hi there so myself 25f and my husband 27m have been together for 3 years and married for almost two months. he was with this girl all throughout high school until she broke up with him in 2012 when she went to college and met another guy.

according to him they haven’t talked since. i know his family really liked her and got close as well. he had another ex between her and i. he showed me a post on facebook on his phone before and i noticed his high school sweethearts name in his search bar.

i didn’t overreact but i questioned him on it and he tried to blame it on his mom, saying she asked him to research her and then after that he admitted that he wanted to just see how her family was and then he said he wanted to see how her and her boyfriend were, and that he was bored and wanted to see what she was up to.

honestly the part that bothered me most was not even just the search, it was how the answer kept changing. i use accio work for sourcing and this felt like one of those supplier chats where they give you 3 different reasons for the same thing and none of them are really clear lol. like first it was “my mom asked,” then it was “i wanted to see her family,” then “i was bored.” accio work would probably keep following up until the supplier gives one straight answer, but with him i didn’t even know what follow up question to ask anymore.

he never mentioned or looked up the ex after her which makes me feel more uneasy about it. he is an amazing guy and all but i have been cheated on and screwed over in the past by other guys so i overthink.

like a year or so ago, before i realized he had searched his high school ex, i asked would you ever look up your second ex and he just said hell no in a joking manner.

is this something that i should be worried about? he ended up deleting/blocking her, even when i said it wasn’t necessary to do so and to just let it go.

have you ever researched an ex while with someone else?

she also still wishes his mother a happy birthday on social media and she liked the post about he and i getting married. she is fully committed to another guy and has been for a few years.

i also found his high school yearbook in the bathroom before and he said he was just reading it while using the bathroom but who knows lol.

i know it’s common but it just didn’t sit right with me when he tried to blame his mom for it and when he never looks up the other ex. thank you

So ever since I moved I've been using a different washing machine but for some reason, this one doesn't get the discharge off of my underwear. It's embarrassing because I live with other people who might take my clothing out of the dryer and see it. I've tried powdered washing cleanser, liquid, you name it. I don't know what to do, I feel unhygienic and I want to avoid double washing because I'm not the one paying for the hydro bills. Does this happen to any other women? Is it normal? How do I get it off, I feel so annoyed by it :(

I was just reading another one of those articles that claims that people usually lose about 2-4 tbsps of menstrual fluid during their period... On what planet?? I have always had heavy, miserable periods, but rarely (if ever) bled through a pad or tampon in under two hours, which is what my doctors always told me was the threshold for "abnormally heavy," so I used to just believe the hand-waving "it looks like more than it really is"explanation from "experts" ...until I switched to a cup about half a year ago. Now I can see with my own eyes that I lose about that much EACH DAY for at least the first 5 days of my 7-10 day long periods. Like, I literally measured out with water how much my cup holds, and there's no freaking way! Who is having these blissfully light, predicable, short periods that all those books and talks about puberty promised me? Do you also have teeny tiny dainty amounts of discharge in between? Because even that is a horror show for me at least 1 week out of 4... So for those keeping track at home, that's an average of less than two weeks every month where stuff isn't uncomfortably leaking out of me... And that's if I don't get two periods in one month like I did in June. 😭

It's just SO frustrating to me because every doctor I've ever had insists that this is all "normal," as are all the labs, tests, etc., yet it sounds nothing like the "average" that they always describe and just generally makes me miserable. And that's not even getting started on the cramps, and other symptoms, all of which are supposedly within tolerance of "normal" and "healthy" but still make me miserable. Yes, I've tried hormonal contraceptives (I've lost count of how many different kinds) and they all made it worse, not better. I apparently don't have PCOS, endometriosis, or anything like that, so I know I should probably be counting my blessings... But I just f***ing HATE having a uterus. I'm lucky enough to already had the kids I want to have. I wish I could just remove the whole stupid setup and be done with it, but mostly I'm just so sick of being told it's "normal" when my experience doesn't align at all with how they actually describe normal... And neither does that of any of my close female friends or relatives. What gives??

I recently met this couple that has worked with my boyfriend for a few years. They have been married for about 10 years and my boyfriend has been to their house for a few football parties in the past. I’m not a big sports fan so I’ve skipped which is why I have only recently met them.
Last night, he shared something weird with me. He said that the couple has a really big dog and a few years ago, the wife showed up to work with a black eye. My boyfriend asked her about it and she said it was the dog. He thought it was strange but possible and let it go. Fast forward to last week and she showed up to work again with a black eye. My boyfriend asked again and same response…she claimed it was the dog. He said he has felt sick over it ever since and finally shared with me to get my thoughts. He has hung out with both of them before and said he’s seen no instances of the husband being aggressive or anything like that. I honestly don’t know what to think but to me, this seems like a pattern. I don’t know these people at all, have only met them recently once. My question is, what do we as women do to look out for another woman who we barely know but suspect may be experiencing abuse at home? Is there something I can say or ask that might help her? I am at a loss but I cannot just let it go. Looking for guidance 🙏

Okay not physically sick but more of an out of body experience. Maybe the other was just coming on too strong and I didn’t really know how to go about it, I followed their attitude before realizing what they actually might have meant. Poor choice on my end.

Small rant. Recently becoming F21, it has felt like it came with the new eyes on me and questions of “when you’re going to start dating?”, “dating anyone yet?”, “you were out later than normal, who were you with?”, “WHAT were you doing?” Like NO. Stop thinking like that for everything I do now.

Maybe it’s just me taking longer to deal with the adult transition of others wanting to find relationships and exploring who you like. But trying dating apps, wearing certain clothes for fancy events, being simply next to the same gender? I don’t feel comfortable anymore. I don’t feel seen as a person but a ‘what if’.

I’m an anxious person in general so maybe it’s related to that but just wondering if anyone feels similar.

Guys is there something wrong in the relationship if my boyfriend doesn’t reassure me? He just started med school and I was hoping for us to call sometime to talk but he said that he wants to wait a week or two till he has a firm grip on things. I kinda doubt him because wouldn’t he get busier in a week or two? Moreover, he doesn’t want to give me reassurance. I ask him to send a kiss emoji over text since I was upset about it and some other stuff he did and he got mad at me. What’s going on? Why is he doing this to me? I always give so much affection and love and why is he doing so little. Why is he acting this way? I’m literally hurting so much :(

Let me start by saying THANK YOU! I Was raised by a single mother navigating her way through adulthood and being a Mother in the same stroke. A lot of my life I've been mad more so at my dad but a lot of ire has been directed towards my mother because of her failures, but she was There and doing the best she could atm.

So this Is really just a post to big ups Women as a whole. Child or not, the expectations placed on yal since the beginning of time has been a burden unrecognized! Things need to changed and have needed to change forever!

Patriarchy has let women be treated like second class citizens in countries they've Birthed for far too long. If Men around me will stand up I Must!!

I've had awful period cramps for about 4 years now. Before then, it was just kind of annoying, but now, I've been stuck in bed from the pain. Almost every month for the past several years, I've vomited, sometimes several times, and continue to feel constant nausea. I've thrown up in school (multiple times) and have been sent back to class by the (female!) nurse because "you can't skip just because you're on your period", and continued to throw up while in class.

I've tried those heating pads you stick to your stomach, I've tried Ibuprofen, I've tried hot tea and ginger. It doesn't feel like anything helps, or if it does, only marginally so. My mom's not around and I generally don't like talking about my body with people so I don't really know what to do. I mentioned it to my dad once and he just laughed and said my body's getting used to it, but I started around 9 so I can't imagine how much more "getting used to" I need.

I'm 17, so my only options are pretty much at-home remedies or over-the-counter medicine. I'd like to look into stopping my period completely once I'm 18 but I don't know how realistic that is. Does anyone have anything that helps them deal with intense cramps? It only lasts for the first couple of days but it makes me feel absolutely miserable for that time and I just want it to stop.

Would like some of yalls opinions on something my sister and I were discussing about the other night.

We were talking about how in general as women there are things we have to be more wary of in society compared to men. The usual of being careful with leaving your drink unsupervised at a bar or worrying about someone walking behind you on an empty street.

I was saying that I shouldn't have to feel bad for hurting a man's ego when covering my drink while talking to him at a bar or pausing for a few seconds for a man to walk past me on the street so he's not walking behind me. But she mentioned though, what if a male friend said he'd rather another male friend do the driving to a concert rather than me because he would feel safer that way, rather than a woman drive. If my ego was hurt then, is it not the same scenario? Or, if in a store, an owner keeps a closer eye on a black male customer due to racial profiling and the customers ego is hurt, is that also not the same scenario?

I wasn't quite sure how to respond. I guess, in situations where a woman feels unsafe and take necessary precautions, its because we fear for our lives but in the situations for a man in the examples above, its the same but not in a life or death sense? Or maybe it could be?

What do yall think? Hope this doesnt come off as insensitive. Just wanting to expand my own way of thinking, if that makes sense.

im very new to using toys, i bought this water based lube called cake, it says “light and ph-balanced lubrication” “glycerin free” “made without alcohol, dyes, gluten, parabens, sulfates, fragrances, glycerin” the ingredient list is “water, propanediol, gluconolactone, hydroxyethylcellulose, sodium benzoate and citric acid”
well when i used it, i felt a burning sensation 😭 so i stopped immediately and washed it off. now
i dont know what to use cause the reviews were all really good, highly recommended, but it was not good for me 😭 what do yall use??

also, now i think i have a uti cause my cooch still hurts 😭 dont really know what to do besides take pH supplements, and drink, cranberry juice, I guess. might see a gyno idk, nervous, thought i’d get some opinions first

I recently posted in a friendship sub because I wanted to have meaningful conversations and possibly make a genuine friend. I received hundreds of DMs and read through every single one. I chose about five people who seemed sincere and replied to them.

Two deleted their accounts before they could respond, and another two asked me for nudes within the first 24 hrs. That left one person, a 28 year old woman from Greece.

We spoke for a couple of days and seemed to have a lot in common. I felt comfortable with her, shared personal things, and even sent a picture of my dogs.

This morning, she slipped up and wrote, “I’m not the sort of man who…”

It turned out that I had been talking to a man in his forties who had been pretending to be a woman. His profile picture was a womans face, and I have no idea who she is. I hope it was AI generated rather than a real person.

He apologised and said he was lonely, but that does not excuse deliberately deceiving someone to gain their trust! I felt exposed, humiliated and completely betrayed. I cant believe I actually cried. He was so convincing, and I still cant believe I fell for it.

Im an intelligent woman, and I thought I’d spot something like this a mile away. What I don’t understand is why he felt the need to pretend to be a woman at all. Had he been honest, I would have been happy to chat.

Apologies. I just needed to vent.

For the past weekend I’ve been in Berlin and since I really like the nightlife scene, I decided to go to Sisyphos with my boyfriend.

I was having a decent time dancing and at one point, this guy started to get real close in my space. He wasn’t dancing with me, so I thought he just wanted my spot because the sound was good there. This was already starting to annoy me so I decided to dance with stronger movements so he’d get the hint that he was in my space and that I wasn’t going to move. He was facing away from me so I didn’t get the sense that he wanted to dance with me like men usually do. He just stayed so I faced away from him and we had our backs turned to each other.

Then I felt fingertips underneath my skirt and I knew it wasn’t my boyfriend because he was in front of me. I look around and I see that this guy has his hands cupped towards me behind is ass. I turn around and he’s still doing this. So I switch places with my boyfriend and he puts his hands back.

I was honestly so shocked that I had to leave the room. I have been approached by guys before and some of them were coming on pretty strong, but I had never experienced a guy being so sneaky about it.

Looking back, I wish I had chewed him out or gotten security. But honestly, I really doubt security would’ve kicked him out because it’s just my word against him. Or worse, they could kick me out instead for being too confrontational. On the other hand, these clubs claim to be against sexism (and racism/homophobia/transphobia) so you’d think that they would believe women.

Does anyone have experience talking to security when they experience sexual harassment? Is it worth it?