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Do you ever question why we have to go through so much pain?

  • 06-03-2009 8:53pm
    #1
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,838 ✭✭✭midlandsmissus


    I have moments where I rage at the world for all the unnecessary suffering women have to go through. It just seems so unfair.Does anybody else ever think about this?

    To list:

    *Pain during first sex. It was like being stabbed for at least the first five times for me. My best friend hinted that she suffered for a long time aswell with this. It was agony. Why? Why build a woman that she has to go through that?

    *Breast pain and tenderness

    *Period pain

    *PMS

    -Agony during childbirth (What is the point of this, why not just feel the need to push?)

    -Suffering during menopause. I saw my poor mother go through this and she said it was absolute hell for her. Why does our reproductive system have to stop and men's don't?

    And finally - not pain, but it's unfair: men can come during actual sex and most women cant or find it extrememely hard. Again why design women like this?


    I just feel so angry sometimes because there seems so much unnecessary suffering and pain directed at us for no reason.

    Anyone else ever get down about this?:(
    Tagged:


«1

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,960 ✭✭✭allandanyways


    Yup, it's crap... but think of what the men have to go through... sometimes they can't get it up, or they can get a kick in the balls and we all know that's more painful than childbirth :rolleyes:


  • Posts: 0 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Monica Quiet Paperboy


    Who says anything "designed" us :confused:

    And no I don't sit around moping about how unfair life may or may not be. Things are how they are, either you can change them or not.
    Why not complain that people suffer pain at all?

    It seems a very bizarre PoV tbh


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,031 ✭✭✭Lockstep


    Clearly someone has never been kneed in the nuts before.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,838 ✭✭✭midlandsmissus


    bluewolf wrote: »
    Who says anything "designed" us :confused:

    And no I don't sit around moping about how unfair life may or may not be. Things are how they are, either you can change them or not.
    Why not complain that people suffer pain at all?

    It seems a very bizarre PoV tbh

    Right so how exactly can I change it?

    It's not like I sit around moping all the time about it, just sometimes. Because I hate things that are unfair that I cant control.

    Its more that I can't figure out why there are two sexes and ONE has to go through so many indignites while the other doesn't.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,145 ✭✭✭DonkeyStyle \o/


    I agree with the OP, I think the world needs to pay. *shakes fist*


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  • Posts: 0 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Monica Quiet Paperboy


    Right so how exactly can I change it?
    Change what?
    Its more that I can't figure out why there are two sexes and ONE has to go through so many indignites while the other doesn't.

    Mlm, I honestly hope you are not sitting there claiming that men don't have to go through any "indignities", etc.
    It's a bit of a self absorbed pity party


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 51,054 ✭✭✭✭Professey Chin


    According to the bible its cause you ate the apple 1st
    We got the fields


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 809 ✭✭✭Terodil


    Women have no natural limit to climaxing. Unfair :P

    (I can see your point though, in principle, although griping over what fortune has awarded us with or withheld from us isn't a recipe for happiness.)


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,838 ✭✭✭midlandsmissus


    bluewolf wrote: »
    Change what?


    Mlm, I honestly hope you are not sitting there claiming that men don't have to go through any "indignities", etc.
    It's a bit of a self absorbed pity party

    Obviously you don't agree with me, but calling it a self absorbed pity party is a bit strong!

    They don't have to go through HALF as much as us and any man I know agrees with me, in fact not even agrees with me, but BRINGS UP the subject with me, usually by saying "Thank god i'm a man".

    Some-one saying that to me today actually made me think to post this thread!


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 6,376 Mod ✭✭✭✭Macha


    Look at it this way: you get to experience a whole lotta things than men can never experience. Then again, men will experience a whole lotta things that women can never experience. Unless you plan on undergoing a sex operation, the coin had to come down on one side or the other.

    Ok pain yeah but life is about experiences and women get to experience pregnancy! That's pretty cool imo. Breastfeeding? It may be painful but I imagine you have this amazing connection with your child when you're doing it... So I guess you're just going to have to look at things in a more positive light.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 773 ✭✭✭Barracudaincork


    Like everything in life there is balance and womens pain relating to all womens parts are all part of that balance. No man could ever feel the amazing feeling of having your own baby grow inside you and the connection that you have as a result. Sometimes men missing out is there pain.

    There are so many things a womens hormones etc brings to the world that it makes up for alot of the heartache caused by those who hurt them. Without women who would look out for each other and care about the important things in life. Men live a lonely existence in comparsion to the bond women have with there friends and family. Women enrich the world (as do men, but differently) in so many positive ways.

    As for pain during first time sex, yeah that does stink i cant agrue with that! :)

    I wont try and tell you how to feel, but maybe think about the good stuff about being a woman, when you think of the bad and think of the balance :)


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,661 Mod ✭✭✭✭Faith


    Your post is very subjective.
    *Pain during first sex. It was like being stabbed for at least the first five times for me. My best friend hinted that she suffered for a long time aswell with this. It was agony. Why? Why build a woman that she has to go through that?

    As far as I remember, I felt nothing but pleasure during my first time, and subsequent times. The only time I've ever had pain is being sore from having too much sex.
    *Breast pain and tenderness

    Not a problem for me.
    *Period pain

    Largely solved by the pill and ibuprofen.
    *PMS

    As above
    -Agony during childbirth (What is the point of this, why not just feel the need to push?)

    Fair enough, that's pretty sore.
    -Suffering during menopause. I saw my poor mother go through this and she said it was absolute hell for her. Why does our reproductive system have to stop and men's don't?

    I can't say I noticed my mum going through much suffering. Also, you've just been complaining about period pains and PMS - either you want periods or you don't?
    And finally - not pain, but it's unfair: men can come during actual sex and most women cant or find it extrememely hard. Again why design women like this?

    For some. Some 30% of women can orgasm from penetration. I'm one of the lucky ones.

    I just feel so angry sometimes because there seems so much unnecessary suffering and pain directed at us for no reason.

    Anyone else ever get down about this?:(

    Oh, woe is us! How terrible that we feel occasional pain! You really think middle-class Western women are the victims of "unnecessary pain and suffering"? I think some women in the developing world would beg to differ. And if your post is just a men -vs- women one, men feel plenty of pain too. We don't have external genitalia that can easily be squashed/hit. We don't have foreskins that fail to retract properly, banjo strings that can snap, etc etc etc.


  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Politics Moderators Posts: 14,549 Mod ✭✭✭✭johnnyskeleton


    Faith wrote: »
    Oh, woe is us! How terrible that we feel occasional pain! You really think middle-class Western women are the victims of "unnecessary pain and suffering"? I think some women in the developing world would beg to differ.

    +1.

    OP, if you travel the world a bit more, you will see that "fair" has nothing to do with it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,960 ✭✭✭allandanyways


    The OP is addressing the negative bodily issues that many (if not most) women experience at some point in their lifetimes, it's not like she's just moaning about how she's feeling a bit crampy at the moment, alot of what she's said is experienced by women on a daily basis...
    Faith wrote: »

    As far as I remember, I felt nothing but pleasure during my first time, and subsequent times. The only time I've ever had pain is being sore from having too much sex.

    That's great for you, but do you think that there would be so much concern amongst young adults today about how much sex can hurt if it didn't affect a large majority of people? Even if it's not hymen-related pain (ie already broken from tampon use etc), nerves and other factors can make the first (and subsequent)times very very painful. I myself haven't experienced subsequent pain (although first time hurt like hell) but I know several girls who have and have even been to the doc to try and figure out why sex hurts them so much. I don't think sex can cause as much agony to a man, although correct me if I'm wrong.

    And in relation to how you're not affected by breast pain and how cramps are easily solved by the pill- not necessarily. I've changed pills 3 times and I still get breast tenderness and cramps, it's part of the menses, it's not possible to completley obliterate every symptom that you are menstruating. To say it's as easy as to pop a neurofen and be grand is insulting to women who suffer from very heavy and painful periods regardless of pill/whatever contraception they're on or indeed those suffering from endometriosis.
    Faith wrote: »
    I can't say I noticed my mum going through much suffering.

    Again, do you think so much attention would be devoted to methods of making the transition through the menopause easier if it was such a breeze for everyone? My own mother is currently going through it and it's absolute hell for her.

    Faith wrote: »
    Some 30% of women can orgasm from penetration. I'm one of the lucky ones.

    Congratulations, you seem to have the perfect life- easy periods, never experiencing any pain and you orgasm all the time. Your post is more subjective than the OP's.


    Faith wrote: »
    Oh, woe is us! How terrible that we feel occasional pain! You really think middle-class Western women are the victims of "unnecessary pain and suffering"? I think some women in the developing world would beg to differ.

    The one point of yours that I agree with- what you've said is true, there's always someone worse off, we're lucky we have access to medical services to help us unfortunate ones who do experience pain. We are lucky that we don't have to go through what women in developing countries do.
    Faith wrote: »
    And if your post is just a men -vs- women one, men feel plenty of pain too. We don't have external genitalia that can easily be squashed/hit. We don't have foreskins that fail to retract properly, banjo strings that can snap, etc etc etc.

    Foreskin probs and getting a kick in the balls vs pushing a 8lb child out of your vagina/eptopic pregnancies/ovarian cysts/the complete bodily overhaul that is pregnancy... Sorry I don't see how it's harder for men AT ALL.

    I'm sorry to be such a b1tch- time of the month and all..


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,150 ✭✭✭LivingDeadGirl


    Tbh I think people are being a tad unfair towards the OP, I don't think her post was intended to be taken as seriously as its being taken. I don't think she's pitying herself, maybe just having a bit of a bad day or has been thinking about this a lot recently, as its come up a few times in conversation as she mentioned? I agree, sometimes it does seem a bit unfair to have to go through the stuff we do, but I'd much rather be a girl than a guy, so I think I'll stay this way. :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,796 ✭✭✭MJOR


    I like being a woman but the old timeof the month sucks alright:D


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,838 ✭✭✭midlandsmissus


    Faith wrote: »



    As far as I remember, I felt nothing but pleasure during my first time, and subsequent times. The only time I've ever had pain is being sore from having too much sex.

    Lucky


    Not a problem for me.

    Lucky



    I can't say I noticed my mum going through much suffering. Also, you've just been complaining about period pains and PMS - either you want periods or you don't?

    Em how about a reproductive sytem that isn't painful, and no painful end to it either.



    For some. Some 30% of women can orgasm from penetration. I'm one of the lucky ones.

    Lucky again


    Oh, woe is us! How terrible that we feel occasional pain! You really think middle-class Western women are the victims of "unnecessary pain and suffering"? I think some women in the developing world would beg to differ. And if your post is just a men -vs- women one, men feel plenty of pain too. We don't have external genitalia that can easily be squashed/hit. We don't have foreskins that fail to retract properly, banjo strings that can snap, etc etc etc.[/quote]

    For a start middle class has absolutely nothing to do with anything. And if you think every woman in the western world is 'middle class' that is very ignorant of you. I, myself come from a deprived background.

    Back on topic, em seeing as you don't go through half the things I'm talking about who are you to judge me who goes through all of them? For you to describe it as 'occasional pain' is very condescending when I'd say there is about one week of the month I am NOT in pain what with breasts, periods etc.
    Painkillers take the edge off it (prescribed ones) but thats it. I live round it.

    And I know girls who go through the same as me.

    Just because you have it easy don't look down your nose at me.


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,661 Mod ✭✭✭✭Faith


    For a start middle class has absolutely nothing to do with anything. And if you think every woman in the western world is 'middle class' that is very ignorant of you. I, myself come from a deprived background.

    Back on topic, em seeing as you don't go through half the things I'm talking about who are you to judge me who goes through all of them? For you to describe it as 'occasional pain' is very condescending when I'd say there is about one week of the month I am NOT in pain what with breasts, periods etc.
    Painkillers take the edge off it (prescribed ones) but thats it. I live round it.

    And I know girls who go through the same as me.

    Just because you have it easy don't look down your nose at me.

    I'm not looking down my nose at you at all, I'm simply pointing out that your post is not representative of the majority of women in the world. Your post is in fact a moan about all the suffering you go through, not women in general. Sucks that you're in so much pain from your periods, but I can't think of any women I know offhand who go through even a fraction of that. You sound very unfortunate, but when you start to get angry at the injustice of it, why don't you put it in context and think of those worse off than you? Maybe that's how you can change it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,960 ✭✭✭allandanyways


    Faith wrote: »
    I'm not looking down my nose at you at all, I'm simply pointing out that your post is not representative of the majority of women in the world. Your post is in fact a moan about all the suffering you go through, not women in general. Sucks that you're in so much pain from your periods, but I can't think of any women I know offhand who go through even a fraction of that. You sound very unfortunate, but when you start to get angry at the injustice of it, why don't you put it in context and think of those worse off than you? Maybe that's how you can change it.

    I'll think you'll find that the majority of women are in a similar position to the OP, not the other way around. You and your friends must be on some magic pill that makes life a breeze because I can't even count on both hands the number of women I know who go through agony for up to and over a week every month, some every day of the month because of their menstrual cycle.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 95 ✭✭Banrion


    What were the original ailments of the op? I've forgotten but I've often thought about that....the pain and all. Yes we dont have genital mutilation and all and we have it great really compared to 200 years ago but come on lets face it, its all relative. My pain is my pain. I dont sit through period pain thinking I have it lucky cos I could be in a gutter in Somalia with one leg....
    I often think about childbirth and why it has to be painful. Isnt nature very cruel really? Like those nature programmes....when you see wolves and the way they kill their prey (Im on a tangent here but Ill be back) but its so cruel the way wolves chase their prey until theyre so tired they cant run anymore and then they basically bite them to death. Its so cruel. Nature is a bitch really. Poor deers.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,440 ✭✭✭GirlInterrupted


    I'll think you'll find that the majority of women are in a similar position to the OP, not the other way around. You and your friends must be on some magic pill that makes life a breeze because I can't even count on both hands the number of women I know who go through agony for up to and over a week every month, some every day of the month because of their menstrual cycle.

    And I'm very sorry they do, but the pill and painkillers should surely help allieviate the worst of these symptoms, surely?

    I had a detailed response composed to the OP, but it timed out and I can't be bothered to do it again, but I would like to say that sometimes its how you look at things that colour your experiences.

    I've had painful menstruation, tender breasts and PMS, but I consider those things a small price to pay for my fertility.

    Childbirth may be painful, but I'll pay the price for the experience of pregnancy and motherhood, which I know many experience as a magically wonderful thing, not a series of trials and horrors.

    The menopause may be difficult in the extreme for some, but I'll try to focus on the final freedom from the trials of fertility, and the new phase of my life that it will herald.

    I may not orgasm every time from pure penetration, but I don't consider a non-penetrative orgasm as a lesser experience. And I'm capable, like all women, of multiple orgasms...men, not so much!

    Painful first sex? It was fleeting, and quickly forgotten. That might just make me lucky, or maybe I was lucky to be with someone who was mindful of me, but either way, in the long run, I'd prefer to focus on what I gained, not what price I paid.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,794 ✭✭✭JC 2K3


    Male suicide rates are much higher than female ones.

    Be happy that the reasons for your suffering are understood and discussed openly.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,925 ✭✭✭Otis Driftwood


    OK,Im not going to start a debate on who has it harder,God knows it has been done to death countless times but there are a few things that I would like to mention that show its not all rosey being a bloke.

    Sex
    Ok,we all know its generally easier for men to orgasm during sex however women do not have the worry of not being able to get an erection.There is no such thing (in my experience) as coming too soon for a woman plus most women can have multiple orgasms in a very short space of time.Every bloke I know,myself included have in the back of our minds concerns about the size of our penis.Seriously,how many men on here or men you know wouldnt like an extra inch or 2?(awaits comment from someone claiming to be John Holmes reincarnated :P )There are performance anxiety issues.Tell a man and a woman they are crap in bed,who do you think it would effect/hurt the most?Finally,casual sex.Most women that fancy a shag can go out and get one if they so choose,how many men can say the same?
    Also,generally men are expected to ask the girl out,do the chatting up etc.
    Thats a trauma and a half.

    Clothes/appearance
    Take any city in the world.They will more than likely have 8 or 9 out of every 10 clothes stores speficifically for women.If a guy is working in a job that requires a suit and tie,then realistically a decent suit,couple of shirts and ties,pair of decent shoes is going to run to 4-600 quid yet a woman can go get a skirt,pair of trousers,couple of blouses(or whatever),pair of shoes for less than 200 quid and still look a million dollars yet a bloke in a cheap suit looks like a bloke in a cheap suit.Women have handbags to hold all their possessions in yet a guy is expected to keep his entire identity in his wallet and or pockets.Dont get me wrong,I dont want or need a handbag/manbag,Im just making a point.Women can wear mens clothes and no remarks are passed.To the lads reading this,how often have you seen a girlfriend wear one of your shirts for example while mooching around the house.Maybe its just me but there have been a couple of past partners that have done this and they looked so adorable in an oversized shirt or hoody or whatever.I can firmly say if I had tried on one of their dresses then the result would have been,bad.
    On the appearance side of things,with the majority of men,what you see is what you get.With the fairer sex however there is make up,push up bras,hold all in knickers,fake tan and high heels.Holy frick,ye are in disguise half the time!!
    With most women the only hair they have to worry about is underarm,legs and bikini line.Men can have hairy arms,hairy hands,hairy chests,hairy backs,hairy arses and worst of all the very real possibility of going bald!Plus we have to shave our faces every day.As someone with a sensitive face this is traumatic and I bleed every single time.:mad:

    Shopping
    Nearly every single woman I know loves shopping and can happily spend 5 or 6 hours wandering around clothes shops.Every bloke I know hates going shopping.We know what we want,get in,get it and get out.You can spot the blokes on shopping trips with their other half.They wander around following the female,head down like a child with a smacked arse.I know,Ive been that bloke.Believe me,3 hours walking around Dundrum shopping centre is enough to make you want to be single.

    Life
    I know its 2009,we are an enlightened and modern society but there is still a ridiculous amount of pressure on men to be the hunter-gatherer.Alot of the time the onus is on the man to be the major bread winner/provider for married couples.Now Im sure some people are going to jump on this and say that they are modern women and dont need a man to take care of them-as it should be IMO-however how many can honestly say this isnt the case not all,but alot of the time.
    Men are (mostly)expected to be a protector.Say if someone makes a comment/does something to your female friend/GF/sister then the man is expected to square up to the perpetrator and get an apology.
    Men are expected to hold doors,pull out chairs,hold the umbrella,go to the bar when the pub is crowded,change tires,kill bugs,carry the shopping,unblock sinks,tune in the tv,unscrew lids and countless other little things.


    The above may sound like Im bitching but believe me,Ive happily done all of the above in the past(except the marriage thing)and will have no problem doing them in the future,again,Im just making a point.

    Women Specific Issues
    Period pain - ye can have that one,we have no comeback
    Menopause - baldness,impotence and mid life crises
    Childbirth - epidural


    Ok,think Im done.All of the above is in no way written to downplay what alot of women go through,Im just trying to give a more balanced view as to the rigours men have to go through.


    ******puts on blindfold and awaits firing squad******


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,255 ✭✭✭✭The_Minister


    As mentioned above multiple orgasms!!
    -Suffering during menopause. I saw my poor mother go through this and she said it was absolute hell for her. Why does our reproductive system have to stop and men's don't?
    Ours does actually, you're all just too busy moaning to notice:pac:

    No, but seriously, male menopause exists, but it occurs about at a much later stage in life for us.

    And finally - not pain, but it's unfair: men can come during actual sex and most women cant or find it extrememely hard. Again why design women like this?
    The scientific explanation that I have heard is that achieving orgasm indicates a superior male specimin (stamina etc.). When orgasm occurs, apparently a convulsion happens that sucks in some of the male fluid, increasing the chances of fertilisation.

    I'm not sure if you were really asking or not, but thats one theory.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,890 ✭✭✭embee


    -Agony during childbirth (What is the point of this, why not just feel the need to push?)

    You do feel the urge to push, generally once you are fully dilated. I found that urge pretty overwhelming - your whole body is telling you to push and it's fairly intense.

    Your abdominal contractions are there to push your baby's head down onto the cervix, encouraging it to open and thin out. They're muscles, and they're going to be worked hard as they are working in an expulsive way. Of course it's going to hurt.

    The actual "business" end of childbirth, ie pushing the baby out, doesn't "hurt" as such, there is a lot of pressure which can be overwhelming, but there isn't "pain", not really. The "pain" of childbirth are the contractions. Yes they're sore, but they're not unbearable and they don't go on for ever.
    nedtheshed wrote:
    Childbirth - epidural

    Doesn't always work. Can sometimes freeze you only partially, down one half of the body. Doesn't take away the feeling of pressure completely. Leaves you bed-bound and therefore restricts delivery positions. Can cause severe headache. Woman is more likely to need an episiotomy and/or assisted delivery. Longer labours. Some evidence that there is an increased risk of requiring a C-section.

    No matter how you deliver, with or without pain relief, you are sore for some days afterwards. And very, very tired. Epidurals in a lot of cases mean catheterisation. Epidurals are not the wonder-drug some people believe them to be :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,367 ✭✭✭✭watna


    I sometimes do wonder why we go through so much pain - but only when I'm in pain, if I stub my toe or stand on a plug (don't you just hate that?) for the minute I'm in pain with it I always think the world is futile and wonder why we feel pain - then the pain stops and I don't think about that until the next time. That's not gender specific though, it my pain filled minute I wonder why anyone has to feel pain.

    As for the men/women thing. I don't suffer pain, really from any of the things the OP mentioned so I can't really empathise. Yes, women do have it a bit harder but I'm still glad I am one. Were far better equipped to deal with emotional pain for starters.


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 6,376 Mod ✭✭✭✭Macha


    Sorry I just had to take you up on a few things *loads gun*

    Sex
    Body worries - it's been proven that women have more body anxieties than men, in general and starting from a very young age. Care to worry about cellulite, breast size/perkiness, length of legs, slimness of thighs..??
    Performance anxiety & doing the chatting up - you're right there.
    Casual sex - anyone can go out and get a shag if they want to, it just depends how much you're willing to lower your standards.

    Clothes/appearance
    You can look at this from the other point of view and argue that the focus on women to look good is the root of why there are more women's clothes choices. As for price - I'd have to disagree with you there. My boyf got a great quality suit in M&S in the sales and looks lovely in it.

    Handbags - so true!

    Women wearing men's clothes - I have heard the argument that this is down to the concept that a man wearing a woman's clothes is degrading because they think that being a woman is degrading. But it's OK for women to wear men's clothes because being a man is good. I'll try and find article I read.

    Fairer sex (argh-I hate that phrase) - most of those "tricks" are expensive, polluting, wasteful, time-consuming and marketed to take full advantage of any body hang-ups we may have (as well as promoting said body-hang ups to the max). Be thankful you're allowed to be closer to your natural selves.

    Hair - Women can have facial hair and hair all over their bodies. BUT we are only expected to have hair on our heads and a neat bikini line. Off with the rest. Cue more expensive, uncomfortable, time-consuming treatments. Again, be happy your natural hairy selves are more acceptable (ever arrived at the gym and cursed because you forgot to shave your underarms??)-although of course, there is starting to be more pressure on back hair, etc. (Anyone remember Julia Robertsgate when she turned up with unshaven armpits at a premiere? World news the next day.)

    Shopping
    That's up to individuals - I hate shopping and would never force a boyfriend to traipse around the shops after me. I know many women who hate shopping.

    Life
    True - hopefully this will start changing.

    Women Specific Issues
    Childbirth - epidural
    Um...there's so much more to child birth than just the pain. Stitches afterwards, wearing a pad for 6 weeks. Stretchmarks all over. Many friends of mine had searing back-pain from 5 months onwards.
    We haven't even gone into the potential medical complications...

    OK I'm done - ready for return fire :pac:


  • Moderators, Regional East Moderators Posts: 21,504 Mod ✭✭✭✭Agent Smith


    Clearly someone has never been kneed in the nuts before.

    i read the first post and the first think that came to mind was
    "someone hasnt been kicked directly in the testicles...."


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7 kapama


    Amen to allandanyways.

    The worst thing I experience as a woman is to work during pms. My moods change a hundred times during the day and my job requiers me to be friendly ALL THE TIME.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,739 ✭✭✭✭minidazzler


    kapama wrote: »
    Amen to allandanyways.

    The worst thing I experience as a woman is to work during pms. My moods change a hundred times during the day and my job requiers me to be friendly ALL THE TIME.

    I can beat that in an hour given the wrong company.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,154 ✭✭✭Dolbert


    Here's an interesting article on why chilbirth might be comparitavely so painful/ dangerous for human beings.
    Why do modern humans have larger brains than earlier people such as Homo erectus? As large brains cause problems in childbirth, infancy and locomotion, the advantage they offer must be substantial. This advantage might be associated with increased IQ, but there is a problem: evidence from MRI volumetric surveys, microcephaly and hemispherectomy shows that there exist individuals with psychometrically normal IQ but Homo-erectus-sized brains. Why did evolution increase brain size (with its associated costs) when humans (as these individuals demonstrate) can have normal IQ without bigger brains? I propose that the advantage may be related to increased capacity for an aspect of intelligent behaviour not measured by IQ tests but critical to the survival of our simple hunter-gatherers ancestors: the capacity to develop expertise.

    As for the menopause, surely it makes sense that our reproductive system stops at a point where it would be far too risky to become pregnant/ give birth. Sometimes the pain and suffering is there for a good reason.

    Oh, and guys, a kick in the nuts is only comparable to childbirth if you're getting kicked in the nuts at increasingly regular intervals for about 8 hours straight.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,739 ✭✭✭✭minidazzler


    Dolorous wrote: »
    Oh, and guys, a kick in the nuts is only comparable to childbirth if you're getting kicked in the nuts at increasingly regular intervals for about 8 hours straight.

    You'd have to pay alot to get that kind of fun.........The thing about getting kicked in the nut's is, you always remember it, and anytime you think about it, you wince in pain. It's not nice at all!!! and there's no epidural for it:D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,255 ✭✭✭✭The_Minister


    Dolorous wrote: »
    Oh, and guys, a kick in the nuts is only comparable to childbirth if you're getting kicked in the nuts at increasingly regular intervals for about 8 hours straight.
    No, getting kicked in the nuts is a unique kind of pain.
    There is no pain to compare to it.

    It's a sick, creeping, eeking pain, a nauseous pain, a pain different from any other.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,201 ✭✭✭✭Pherekydes


    Dolorous wrote: »
    Oh, and guys, a kick in the nuts is only comparable to...

    How can women try to compare this to anything? Much less childbirth. Childbirth is a completely natural event, usually fully expected, with plenty of time to prepare. The vast majority of women undergo it happily, many multiple times, while a kick (or any kind of contact) in the balls is (usually) a totally unexpected and very dangerous assault.

    If any woman wants to swap a kick in the balls for your next confinement just let me know.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 370 ✭✭wasabi


    Actually, until the advent of modern medicine childbirth was a hugely dangerous process which killed many women.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 27,252 ✭✭✭✭stovelid


    wasabi wrote: »
    Actually, until the advent of modern medicine childbirth was a hugely dangerous process which killed many women.

    As were sport-derived testicle kicks, before the miraculous advent of jock straps.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,154 ✭✭✭Dolbert


    You're right, a kick in the balls is probably more painful than childbirth. I hear the same goes for man-flu. ;) I kid, I kid.
    'So, you ever wonder which is worse, you know; going through labor or getting kicked in the nuts? ... You know, because no one will ever know, because no one can experience both. One of life's great, unanswerable questions.'

    As for those saying that at least with childbirth you get a baby at the end of it, that's exactly why I'm saying it's worse :P


  • Subscribers Posts: 19,425 ✭✭✭✭Oryx


    Ive had all of the pain type stuff listed by the op. Ive also had multiple full body orgasms, and I dont have to shave my face daily. Theres plusses and minuses to everything. No point overemphasising the bad stuff. I like being female, pain included.


  • Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 20,366 Mod ✭✭✭✭RacoonQueen


    Try having sore boobs the morning of your long training run then you can moan. :D

    Men are naturally better looking than women too...they don't NEED make up...yet there's plenty of women I know who are awful looking without make up...yet most men look finnnnnnnnnnne.

    Damn being female.


  • Moderators, Regional East Moderators Posts: 21,504 Mod ✭✭✭✭Agent Smith


    Dolorous wrote: »
    You're right, a kick in the balls is probably more painful than childbirth. I hear the same goes for man-flu. ;) I kid, I kid.



    As for those saying that at least with childbirth you get a baby at the end of it, that's exactly why I'm saying it's worse :P


    When you give birth, and Grow a pair of testicles, i come over and kick you in them.


    Then you'll feel the the pain.


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  • Subscribers Posts: 19,425 ✭✭✭✭Oryx


    mp1972 wrote: »
    Try having sore boobs the morning of your long training run then you can moan. :D
    I often do, I just leave that kind of detail out of the log. ;)
    Men are naturally better looking than women too...they don't NEED make up...yet there's plenty of women I know who are awful looking without make up...yet most men look finnnnnnnnnnne.
    Thats just social conditioning, that we expect men to be ruggedly handsome while the ideal woman has skin like a 5yo. Im as guilty of that as anyone, metrosexual does nothing for me. :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 996 ✭✭✭bnagrrl


    The quick answer is no.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 370 ✭✭wasabi


    Dolorous wrote: »
    As for those saying that at least with childbirth you get a baby at the end of it, that's exactly why I'm saying it's worse :P

    Which you then have to breastfeed. With cracked, bleeding nipples and mastitis :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 37,214 ✭✭✭✭Dudess


    Faith wrote: »
    Your post is very subjective.
    Indeed, but even though my periods are a breeze, that doesn't change the fact that some women feel like they're at death's door every month. Ditto birth (sorry for stating the obvious here but there's a point to it :)). I think the OP is focusing on nature's imbalance, she's not saying every woman endures unimaginable suffering in those instances - but only women do, and men never have and never will.
    That said, you appear too negative OP. The "agonising sex" you talk about is kinda disturbing. I know it's different for many women, but that doesn't sound right at all. My first time wasn't the most comfortable but it wasn't "agony", and after that, it was just a matter of being sufficiently relaxed, turned-on and lubricated (no harm in a glass or two of wine if nervousness is an issue). The vagina needs to be in a certain "state" to accommodate penetration - doesn't sound like yours was. If I went a long time without sex and things "tightened" and then I was penetrated without being turned on/lubricated, by god I presume it would be extremely sore. Think of how rape victims who aren't virgins describe the experience as painful... seeing as it's not consensual, they're hardly gonne be aroused or lubricated and the changes that occur in the opening to accommodate penetration are not going on.
    On the other hand, when foreplay gets really hot and heavy, I'm absolutely longing to be penetrated.

    As for no vaginal orgasm, I climax all right but it's not as good for me as the clitoral orgasm, and what about all the other pleasures that come with being female? All those nerve endings everywhere make sex about far more than just penetration for us. I think it's amazing. :)

    OP, what's the point in getting upset about it? There is nothing you can do, only focus on the positives. It's not good for your mental health to get bitter about something which is beyond anyone's control. The way you ask how you can change it... well you can't.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,347 ✭✭✭daiixi


    You'd have to pay alot to get that kind of fun.........The thing about getting kicked in the nut's is, you always remember it, and anytime you think about it, you wince in pain. It's not nice at all!!! and there's no epidural for it:D

    I have dislocated my ankle on a number of occassions and whenever I think about it I wince with pain also. But I don't go on and on and on about it like men do with respect to being kicked or even slightly knocked in the testicles. The whole testicle thing is a bit like the boy who cried wolf...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,739 ✭✭✭✭minidazzler


    daiixi wrote: »
    I have dislocated my ankle on a number of occassions and whenever I think about it I wince with pain also. But I don't go on and on and on about it like men do with respect to being kicked or even slightly knocked in the testicles. The whole testicle thing is a bit like the boy who cried wolf...

    Actually believe it or not, a slight knock is worse, because the pain is delayed, then you start feeling sick!!! It's horrible.


    And really, we are only messing when we are comparing a kick in the bollix to childbirth. Sure it's painful, but we are not being ripped open at the Vag. So ye got us there.

    I don't understand why anyone goes au naturale for Child bearing anymore. C-Section FTW.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 37,214 ✭✭✭✭Dudess


    It is utterly bizarre though that something so natural and required for the population to exist at all... could be so gruesome. And even more bizarre is how dangerous it is. Just doesn't make sense.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,201 ✭✭✭✭Pherekydes


    daiixi wrote: »
    I have dislocated my ankle on a number of occassions and whenever I think about it I wince with pain also. But I don't go on and on and on about it like men do with respect to being kicked or even slightly knocked in the testicles. The whole testicle thing is a bit like the boy who cried wolf...

    Next time you're wrestling playfully with the boyfriend slap him in the balls. Then accuse him of being a whiny bitch and crying wolf. :rolleyes:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,201 ✭✭✭✭Pherekydes


    I don't understand why anyone goes au naturale for Child bearing anymore. C-Section FTW.

    Having seen kids born both ways I can't understand how women would opt for a c-section.

    They tear you a new one in your lower abdomen large enough to pull a 10 pounder out, and then stitch you back up. Like stitches? You'll love 'em after a c-section. When your abdominal muscles are in two separate pieces, being held together by stitches you'll understand why 'nature knows best'. You'll also realise you use your abdominal muscles for absolutely everything.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,440 ✭✭✭✭Piste


    Out of the list of painful things the OP posted not everything is something we "have" to go through. Sex and childbirth are almost always optional, in general people don't "have" to go through with either.

    Even if people elect to give birth then it needn't be that painful if they get an epidural- again it's choice as to whether they want to endure pain or not.

    I don't think being a girl makes my life particularly painful, almost all the pain in my life is caused by me being terribly clumsy and falling around and banging myself off things.


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