Anyone else wish they were a man?

castaway_lady · 08-01-2013 11:58pm #1

Is it just me or do any other ladies on here wish they had been born with a penis instead of stupid ovaries :rolleyes:
Booked a thousand quids worth of a holiday last month, having factored in period dates as best I could with the assistance of my trusty app and now the scourge has migrated by a few days and is due if it stays on this path mid way through the holiday :mad: :mad: :mad: Actually may as well stay at home now.

So anyone know how to induce instant menopause? Really fit to bawl now.

Dolbert · 09-01-2013 12:08am

You can take medication to temporarily delay your period, it's called Norethisterone

Women often use it if they have a holiday or special occasion coming up. HTH

Stheno · 09-01-2013 12:10am

Dolbert wrote: »

You can take medication to temporarily delay your period, it's called Norethisterone Women often use it if they have a holiday or special occasion coming up. HTH

Or use a contraception likely to banish the evil curse!

smcgiff · 09-01-2013 12:14am

Or use no contraception, 9 months period free.

Stheno · 09-01-2013 12:15am

smcgiff wrote: »

Or use no contraception, 9 months period free.

And a lifetime of enslavement :eek:

WindSock · 09-01-2013 12:53am

Or grow a pair and suck it up.

Erm. Yes.

Mars Bar · 09-01-2013 12:57am

Yes, but mainly coz I would loved to have had more opportunities to play football.

The ovaries are a pain in the ovaries alright but mine could be worse.

cantdecide · 09-01-2013 1:26am

Ahem...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85HT4Om6JT4

EDIT: sorry if it's a bit of an irreverent reply, I could have sworn I was in AH when I read this thread:o My mistake

Posy · 09-01-2013 2:23am

That clip really shows the difference in advertising to men and to women! I love Mitchell and Webb. :pac:

I sometimes feel jealous that all men need are a few good suits and they're dressed for all fancy occasions. But then I remember that I love shopping for a party dress and like the fact that I can hide imperfections and emphasise my good points with make-up.
I hate that women have a biological clock though, and the nearer I get to thirty the more people are hinting that my time is running out, child-bearing wise. :rolleyes: A male celebrity has a child when he's in his 60's and it's "fair play." A fifty year old woman has a child and she's open to all sorts of criticism.

Apart from that however, I genuinely would not ever trade.

xLexie · 09-01-2013 3:17am

Yes I would love to be able to pee standing up and aim it at spiders and things.

pwurple · 09-01-2013 8:42am

I would certainly like someone else to bear my children for me. That would be awesome.

MagicMarker · 09-01-2013 8:56am

Yes.

Eve_Dublin · 09-01-2013 10:56am

Genuinely? It's never even passed through my mind. Periods are a pain the hole (literally :rolleyes:) and I get quite down every month due to them but really, what can you do. You have to get on with it. The idea of being a woman is often given bad press. I don't own a telly and I don't buy beauty mags, so perhaps those things don't concern me as much as someone who does. I'm not obsessed about my appearance at all. And living outside of Ireland and away from family and old friends who've all got kids now saves me from the questions about when I'm planning to breed.

There's so many genuine advantages to being a woman in a Western country that I won't list off now but the main one for e is the friendships I have with female friends. There's a lifelong closeness there that I don't think fellas have as much. I've friends who I'd trust with my life and who I could tell anything to. I know many older fellas (over 60s) who don't have old friends like women do. Men tend to remarry when their partner dies a lot more often than women (like my dad) because often, they don't have that network of friends like we do to support them.

Of course there's many advantages to being a man and probably more that I could never know about but there's not enough that'd tempt me to the "other side".

Morag · 09-01-2013 11:06am

xLexie wrote: »

Yes I would love to be able to pee standing up and aim it at spiders and things.

http://www.shepee.co.uk/

The Cool · 09-01-2013 11:10am

A friend shared a link on Facebook this morning - "What they don't tell you when you've had a baby". Men don't know how easy they have it! *shudder*

LegacyUser · 09-01-2013 11:25am

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

but the main one for e is the friendships I have with female friends. There's a lifelong closeness there that I don't think fellas have as much. I've friends who I'd trust with my life and who I could tell anything to. I know many older fellas (over 60s) who don't have old friends like women do. Men tend to remarry when their partner dies a lot more often than women (like my dad) because often, they don't have that network of friends like we do to support them.

I'm a male and I've been single my whole life and now I'm heading toward the forty mark the more I've come to accept that this is probably never going to change. The above is all I can think about these days. I've had close male friendships but the grim reality is that they've all filed away to their respective marriages. My life is between work and home to the telly or a book. I know I can have a good life and be active and have interesting experiences but the simple fact is that I'm always going to miss having a network or meaningful relationships or even one meaningful loving relationship. People don't come to see me these days and when I look at my phone, I know there's no one I can ring and just talk to. Ladies, never take this for granted.

eviltwin · 09-01-2013 11:34am

pwurple wrote: »

I would certainly like someone else to bear my children for me. That would be awesome.

That's the one reason I'm glad to be a woman. I wouldn't swap that experience for anything.

Neyite · 09-01-2013 11:39am

Morag wrote: »

http://www.shepee.co.uk/

That reminds me - I wished I had one for all the ante-natal samples I had to give. Hovering over a wet seat with a big belly and a tiny tube. I'm so getting one of these if I get pregnant again.

Stench Blossoms · 09-01-2013 12:30pm

The only reason I'd ever like to be a man is so that I could pee standing up.

The Corinthian · 09-01-2013 12:40pm

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

The only reason I'd ever like to be a man is so that I could pee standing up.

I've known at least one woman who could do this. With greater accuracy than a man, at that.

Certainly there are disadvantages to being a woman, but that hardly means that being a man is a walk in the park.

To begin with, as a man, you die younger - on average five years - than a woman. That mightn't be a big deal when you're in your twenties, but once you hit your forties it begins to weigh on your mind. We also may not have anything as extreme as a monthly period, but having to shave is a pain in the arse for most of us.

Secondly, a man may not have a biological clock, per say, but we do have one in practical terms. We may be able to father children at sixty, but who with? It's all very well if you're a celebrity and/or a millionaire, but for the vast majority of men, your options at sixty of attracting a woman thirty years your junior are pretty slim to none.

And having a child is something we need women for. Women can go go to a sperm bank and have one without any relationship to a man, if they really, really want to, while we (until someone invents a functional and affordable artificial uterus) still need a woman to agree to carry it for us (again, great if you can afford a surrogate, which most of us cannot).

Physically, as we grow older, we're not without issues either. The hair on our heads thins, recedes and eventually vanishes - sometimes already in our twenties - and instead begins to appear where you don't want it; your nostrils, ears, back and eyebrows.

Of course we can pee standing up - but as many a married man will tell you, only if you're allowed to do so. And then as great as a having a penis is, we also have testicles. On the outside - a serious design flaw that we have to watch out for all our lives.

Socially too, it's not exactly perfect. It's not like we have a choice to have a career or stay at home realistically - however imperfect this choice is for women, it's still a lot more open than it is for men, as we're still judged on being providers. We're also more likely too to commit suicide or suffer depression, end up in prison (than a woman for the same crime), be killed due to crime or war (even as civilians; women may get raped, but men get killed), die or suffer injury in the workplace, and God help you if you ever get divorced.

And we have the refractory period, after sex. I hate that.

Sure, there are great things about being a man, just as there are about being a woman, but there are negatives in both too. So wishing you were in the other, greener, field is all very well, but you'll ultimately have new things to complain about before long.

Eve_Dublin · 09-01-2013 12:48pm

I've read in several places that women are more likely to suffer from depression but men are more likely to be "successful" in their attempts of suicide.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200307/more-women-suffer-depression

http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/genderwomen/en/

But yes, you're right. There's advantages and disadvantages to both. I wouldn't be saying the same thing as I said previously if I lived anywhere but the Western world.

The Corinthian · 09-01-2013 12:55pm

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

I've read in several places that women are more likely to suffer from depression but men are more likely to be "successful" in their attempts of suicide.

One of the disadvantages of being more competent at what we do than women...

...Joke. Don't mean it. Please don't hurt me.

Eve_Dublin · 09-01-2013 12:55pm

usernameusername wrote: »

I'm a male and I've been single my whole life and now I'm heading toward the forty mark the more I've come to accept that this is probably never going to change. The above is all I can think about these days. I've had close male friendships but the grim reality is that they've all filed away to their respective marriages. My life is between work and home to the telly or a book. I know I can have a good life and be active and have interesting experiences but the simple fact is that I'm always going to miss having a network or meaningful relationships or even one meaningful loving relationship. People don't come to see me these days and when I look at my phone, I know there's no one I can ring and just talk to. Ladies, never take this for granted.

Jesus I'm really sorry. As I hit post, I knew it was probably a bit insensitive to type for men reading it. It's not always the case; it's not inevitable. I think a lot of is down to not bothering to stay in touch or get out and meet new people. It's definitely not down to gender or genes. Many men, ime, seem to get a bit "settled" when they get older and even more so if they're in a relationship. I can with my own boyfriend who's older than yourself (42). I have to kick him out the door to meet his friends. It's pure laziness on his part and nothing to do with being a man (I don't know why men are more susceptible to this). He doesn't seem to realise sometimes that you have to maintain friendships in order to keep them.

There's plenty of men in your shoes but you have to get out there and try and find them and don't just give up and accept something that's not necessarily inevitable.

Malari · 09-01-2013 1:01pm

Nope, never wanted to be a man! I never have an issue with periods, so maybe that's a contributing factor. I depend on the pill in order to control when I get them too.

hollypink · 09-01-2013 1:28pm

I've never wanted to be a man. In fact when I was a child, my Mum kept my hair very short and one day a mother was scolding her child and said "why cant you be good like that little boy over there" (pointing at me) and I still remember how horrified I was

There are things about men that I envy, the biological clock being one. I know that as said above, from a practical point of view, a man isn't generally going to wait till his sixties to have children, but the deadline doesn't loom quite so large for men in their late thirties I think. But mostly, I like being a woman; I work in a male dominated job and I don't feel I am treated any differently from my male colleagues. As said above, I like the huge amount of choice I have in how I dress and also like wearing makeup. But I've never had problems with period pain and haven't experienced childbirth.

One thing I feel wouldn't be an issue for men (but maybe I'm wrong?); if a man speaks to me, in a pub say or if I'm on my own at a bus stop, and he is drunk and/or obnoxious, I'd never tell him to 'fxxx off' because I'd be afraid to provoke an aggressive response, I'd just try not to engage him without being explicitly rude.

The Corinthian · 09-01-2013 1:45pm

hollypink wrote: »

One thing I feel wouldn't be an issue for men (but maybe I'm wrong?); if a man speaks to me, in a pub say or if I'm on my own at a bus stop, and he is drunk and/or obnoxious, I'd never tell him to 'fxxx off' because I'd be afraid to provoke an aggressive response, I'd just try not to engage him without being explicitly rude.

This is actually a serious fear for many men. If we end up in a conversation with someone who is drunk and obnoxious, we do immediately have to consider the very real possibility that it will get violent because the taboo against hitting another man is simply not there as it is with women. Statistically men are significantly more likely to be the victims of violence (by other men) than women. I won't walk alone in certain parts of Dublin late at night on a weekend.

Getting jumped on by a bunch of guys looking for a fight is a real danger for us. I've a friend who lost the ability to see in one eye due to this happening to him and hardly know any man who has not had a similar (if less damaging) experience in the past.

As a result, I've often thought that women are more likely to be walking a man home than the other way around (as couples are less likely to be bothered than a lone man).

Galwayguy35 · 09-01-2013 8:14pm

hollypink wrote: »

I've never wanted to be a man. In fact when I was a child, my Mum kept my hair very short and one day a mother was scolding her child and said "why cant you be good like that little boy over there" (pointing at me) and I still remember how horrified I was

There are things about men that I envy, the biological clock being one. I know that as said above, from a practical point of view, a man isn't generally going to wait till his sixties to have children, but the deadline doesn't loom quite so large for men in their late thirties I think. But mostly, I like being a woman; I work in a male dominated job and I don't feel I am treated any differently from my male colleagues. As said above, I like the huge amount of choice I have in how I dress and also like wearing makeup. But I've never had problems with period pain and haven't experienced childbirth.

One thing I feel wouldn't be an issue for men (but maybe I'm wrong?); if a man speaks to me, in a pub say or if I'm on my own at a bus stop, and he is drunk and/or obnoxious, I'd never tell him to 'fxxx off' because I'd be afraid to provoke an aggressive response, I'd just try not to engage him without being explicitly rude.

I think most men would try to ignore an agressive drunk as well to be honest because if it leads to a fight it could go either way unless there is a big difference in height or build.

I had an experience of this myself years ago where a guy told me to get out of his way in a nightclub and simply asked him what his problem was and received a broken nose when he headbutted me.

castaway_lady · 09-01-2013 10:00pm

But the point remains that yee boys can go on yer holliers without a pain in yer bellies

2rkehij30qtza5 · 09-01-2013 10:02pm

The only times I wished I was a man when I was in the throes of labour having my children...while my husband sat there pain-free holding my hand. Other than those incidents, nope, I'm glad I am a woman!

Meangadh · 10-01-2013 1:24am

Definitely would prefer to be a man. I'm not saying I hate being a woman- I have great friends and I think that's something girls are generally better at holding on to as they get older.

But looking at my male friends (who would come from similar backgrounds to me, similar personalities, similar education etc.), they definitely have an easier life, and get away with more. There's way less pressure on them to be a certain way or have certain things achieved at this stage of their lives (approx 30 years old). A number of them are still living the life out on the tear every weekend and not at all settled down- not that there's anything wrong with that, but as women get into their 30s that kind of life is less, I dunno, sustainable or something.

I actually think a lot of that though stems from their parents, particularly their mothers. They pretty much would do anything for their sons, but their daughters do a lot more for themselves and end up maturing sooner and facing the realities of life more head on. So on one hand I'm grateful that I fend for myself so much, but on the other hand, I have to work an awful lot harder to achieve things than the lads do. I'm not bitter about it or anything, just makes me think if I ever do manage to have a son, I'd like him to be far more independent.

Stheno · 10-01-2013 1:30am

Meangadh wrote: »

Definitely would prefer to be a man. I'm not saying I hate being a woman- I have great friends and I think that's something girls are generally better at holding on to as they get older.

But looking at my male friends (who would come from similar backgrounds to me, similar personalities, similar education etc.), they definitely have an easier life, and get away with more. There's way less pressure on them to be a certain way or have certain things achieved at this stage of their lives (approx 30 years old).

I actually think a lot of that though stems from their parents, particularly their mothers. They pretty much would do anything for their sons, but their daughters do a lot more for themselves. So on one hand I'm grateful that I fend for myself so much, but on the other hand, I have to work an awful lot harder to achieve things than the lads do. I'm not bitter about it or anything, just makes me think if I ever do manage to have a son, I'd like him to be far more independent.

I had the opposite experience especially when I was married. My then Oh's parents had certain expectations which I didn't conform to, nor did he. They went nuts when he was unemployed and I wasn't and equally nuts when he wasn't too fussed getting a job as I earned enough to cover us both fairly comfortably

I was probably lucky growing up in that I was my dad's "boy", as the first born with a ten year gap between me and the first boy, so I learned loads of stuff, and everyone in my family was encouraged to be independant from day one

Essentially your post is saying that a previous generation of women have programmed men to expect/want/have an easier life than women as they have facilitated them.

Now aside from my former partner, I can't agree with that, I work in an almost exclusively male environment and they have plenty of obligations in terms of family/kids etc that wouldn't have been expected even twenty years ago.

I'd actually consider it worse to be male than female in some regards in modern Western society

Anyone else wish they were a man?

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