“Not How Girls Work:” 35 Very Stupid Things Men Have Said About Women And Their Bodies (New Pics)

If you’ve ever scrolled through the Not How Girls Work subreddit or the viral Bored Panda lists it inspired, you already know:
some men are confidently, aggressively wrong about how women’s bodies work. Not just a little off. We’re talking “periods work like a faucet
you can turn on and off” wrong. “You can’t get pregnant if it’s your first time” wrong. “Bras are basically chest helmets” wrong.

The article “Not How Girls Work: 35 Very Stupid Things Men Have Said About Women And Their Bodies” pulls together some of the
funniest, most facepalm-worthy examples. It’s hilarious… right up until you remember that real women have to date, study, and work
with people who genuinely believe this stuff. So let’s walk through why these posts resonate so much, which myths keep popping up,
and what they say about our culture’s relationship with women’s health.

What “Not How Girls Work” Is Really About

The meme lists Bored Panda keeps publishing are based largely on screenshots from places like Reddit’s
r/NotHowGirlsWork and r/BadWomensAnatomy, where people share jaw-dropping quotes from men who never
paid attention in health class. Some posts are so wild they read like satire: bosses insisting women plan their periods around
work events, boyfriends who think tampons “take virginity,” or guys who believe women can “hold in” menstrual blood.

Under the jokes, though, is a serious theme: women’s bodies are still treated as mysterious, fragile, and somehow public property.
A lot of these “very stupid things” are just recycled myths that doctors, public health experts, and educators have spent years
trying to debunk. The internet is simply putting them on blastand adding a much-needed laugh track.

The Funniest (And Most Worrying) Myths Men Still Believe

1. Periods Work Like a On/Off Valve

One of the most common punchlines in these lists is the guy who thinks people who menstruate can just “hold it” like pee.
Cue the women collectively screaming, “That’s not how any of this works.”

Menstruation is the shedding of the uterine lining, driven by hormonal changes over the course of a cyclenot a voluntary
muscle you can clench when it’s inconvenient. Medical sources are very clear: period blood flows because of hormonal signals and
uterine contractions, not because someone “forgot to squeeze.” Treating periods like poor bladder control doesn’t just sound silly;
it trivializes pain, heavy bleeding, and real medical conditions that deserve respect and care.

2. “You Can’t Get Pregnant If…” (Insert Bad Science Here)

The Bored Panda compilations are full of men confidently announcing that pregnancy is impossible if:
it’s your first time, you’re standing up, you’re on your period, you “don’t feel anything,” or you “pull out fast enough.”
The only thing more consistent than these claims is how wrong they all are.

Doctors point out that pregnancy can happen any time sperm meets an egg and the timing lines up with ovulation. Sperm can survive
in the reproductive tract for several days, and some people bleed at times that aren’t a true period. That means “I heard you can’t
get pregnant if X” is not a life plan; it’s a recipe for a surprise baby and a very awkward text message later.

3. PMS, Pain, and Hormones Are “Just Drama”

Another recurring theme: men insisting premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is made up, or that women exaggerate pain “for attention.”
Meanwhile, women are using sick days because cramps are so intense they cause vomiting or dizziness.

Gynecologists and women’s health clinics consistently state that PMS is real and driven by hormonal fluctuations.
Severe pain can be a sign of conditions like endometriosis or fibroids that absolutely deserve medical treatment.
Brushing this off as “moodiness” isn’t just insensitive; it contributes to the long-documented gender gap in pain treatment and
diagnosis. It’s not “girls being dramatic”it’s biology, and sometimes serious pathology, doing its thing.

4. The Hymen Myth That Just Won’t Die

If the internet is to be believed, some men think the hymen is a kind of “seal” that must “burst” the first time someone has
vaginal sex, complete with guaranteed blood. So if there’s no blood? Clearly she’s “lying” about being a virgin. Yikes.

In reality, medical experts have been yelling into the void for years: the hymen is a thin, stretchy ring of tissue that varies
wildly from person to person. It can be stretched by exercise, tampon use, or just existing. Some people never bleed the first
time they have sex. “Virginity tests” are not just pseudosciencethey’re considered a human rights violation by many global health
organizations. But sure, Brad, tell us again how you “can tell.”

5. Breasts, Bras, and Completely Made-Up Physics

The lists also highlight men who believe bras “train” breasts into a permanent shape, or that going braless automatically leads
to sagging, or that breast size has something to do with milk supply, moral character, or intelligence. It’s like conspiracy
theories, but for lingerie.

Research on breast health shows that sagging is related mostly to genetics, age, weight changes, pregnancy, and gravitynot whether
someone wore a padded push-up bra in college. Bra choice is about comfort, support, and style, not “ruining” or “fixing” a body.
And breast size has nothing to do with how “good” a potential mother or partner someone will beunless you’re measuring how good
they are at ignoring nonsense.

6. Hygiene, Purity, and Weaponized Ignorance

Some of the most unsettling quotes in the “Not How Girls Work” compilations involve hygiene and “purity.”
Men insisting that people should douche daily “to stay clean,” or that using tampons means you’re “no longer pure,” or that discharge
is automatically a sign of cheating or STIs.

Every credible gynecology source stresses that the vagina is self-cleaning. Douching can disrupt the healthy bacterial balance and
actually increase the risk of infection. Normal discharge varies in color and texture throughout the cycle. Pathologizing
basic bodily functionsthen using that misunderstanding to shame womenis where “stupid” crosses into “harmful.”

Why Do So Many Men Still Not Know How Girls Work?

It’s tempting to paint every clueless comment as personal failure, but the problem is bigger than one guy with a terrible take.
Studies on sexual and reproductive knowledge show major gaps across all genders. Comprehensive sex education is inconsistent in
the United States, and some curricula skip topics like pleasure, consent, and anatomy outside of pregnancy entirely.

Then layer in a medical system that historically under-researched women’s health, treating male bodies as the “default.”
For decades, women’s symptomsfrom heart attacks to autoimmune diseasewere dismissed or misunderstood.
That mismatch filters down into pop culture and everyday life, where women are the ones expected to “just deal with it” while
men are never asked to learn the basics.

Add social media “manosphere” influencers who talk about women’s bodies with total authority and zero expertise, and you’ve got
a recipe for confidently broadcast nonsense. When those clips go viral, the myths feel less like fringe beliefs and more like
mainstream “opinions.”

Laughing, Then Learning: How to Respond to “Not How Girls Work” Moments

So what do you do when you run into one of these statements in the wildat work, on a date, or in a group chat?
You don’t owe anyone a TED Talk, but having a strategy helps.

1. Prioritize Safety and Sanity

If the comment is coming from someone who’s hostile, controlling, or clearly not interested in learning, your best move might be
to disengage. You’re not the walking FAQ section of the human body. It’s okay to say, “That’s not accurate, and I’m not comfortable
explaining this to you,” and leave it there.

2. Correct with Facts (If You Have the Energy)

When you feel safe and up for it, calmly offering a short, factual correction can make a difference: “Actually, you can
get pregnant if you have sex during what you think is your periodbleeding doesn’t always line up with the cycle,” or
“PMS is a medically recognized condition; lots of people manage it with help from their doctor.”

The goal isn’t to win a debate; it’s to plant a seed of doubt in the myth. You can always point people toward reputable health
sites, or suggest they ask a doctor instead of trusting a meme.

3. Use Humor to Defuse, Not Diminish

One reason Bored Panda’s “Not How Girls Work” lists are so satisfying is the way they use humor as a pressure valve.
Laughing at absurdity can be a way of reclaiming power: “You think a uterus is Bluetooth-connected to my mood? That’s adorable.”

Humor shouldn’t replace real education or minimize real harm, but it can make conversations feel less like lectures and more like,
“Hey, here’s how bodies actually work, so you don’t embarrass yourself like that guy online.”

How Viral Posts Are Quietly Changing the Conversation

As silly as these lists seem, they’re part of a bigger cultural shift. Publicly calling out bad science and bad faith does a few
important things:

• It normalizes talking about women’s bodies. Periods, discharge, birth control, fertilitythings that used to be whispered about are now punchlines in giant viral threads. Once they’re out in the open, it’s easier to discuss them honestly.
• It validates women’s lived experience. So many readers comment, “I thought it was just my ex who believed that!” There’s comfort in realizing you’re not aloneand that the problem is systemic, not personal.
• It pushes for better education. Every time a wild quote goes viral, someone ends up saying, “How did he get this far without learning basic anatomy?” That question points straight at schools, families, and health systems.

In other words, laughing at “very stupid things men have said about women and their bodies” is fun, but it also exposes where our
institutions are failing. If basic anatomy were taught clearly, repeatedly, and without shame, half of these posts wouldn’t exist.

Real-Life Experiences: When “Not How Girls Work” Happens Offline

The comments under posts like Bored Panda’s are often filled with people sharing their own “wait, he really said that?” moments.
While the names and details change, the pattern is remarkably consistent: a mix of ignorance, misplaced confidence, and the
assumption that women’s bodies are up for public review.

One common experience people describe is being a teenager and realizing a male teacher, coach, or relative doesn’t understand
periods at all. Maybe he assumes anyone who asks for a bathroom pass during class is making excuses, or insists that sports
practice shouldn’t be affected by “a little cramping.” For the girls in the room, it’s the first taste of a lifetime of being
told, “It can’t be that bad,” by someone who will never experience it.

Others talk about the emotional whiplash of romantic relationships where partners are both intimate with their bodies and
clueless about how they work. Imagine someone who wants to have sex but believes you can’t get pregnant in certain positions,
or that birth control pills “build up” in your system like a video game power-up. The burden then falls on the person who
menstruates to quietly double-check the real science, schedule appointments, set alarms for pills, and carry the mental load of
not getting pregnant “by accident.”

There are also stories about medical settingstimes when women tried to explain their pain or symptoms and were brushed off with
comments like “that’s just being female” or “you’re overreacting.” When you’ve grown up hearing your body is a problem, it’s
hard not to question yourself. That’s why seeing others call this out online feels like a small revolution. It tells people,
“Your pain is real. Their ignorance is the problem.”

On the flip side, some of the most hopeful experiences in this conversation come from men who admit they were wrong and decided
to learn. People share about boyfriends who read up on menstrual cups so they could help shop for one, dads who watch videos on
how to talk to their kids about puberty, or friends who say, “I don’t know much about thiscan you recommend a good source?”
That humility is the exact opposite energy of the “very stupid things” posts, and it’s what actually moves the needle.

If you’ve ever had a “Not How Girls Work” moment directed at you, you’re not obligated to turn it into a teachable moment.
But if you choose to, remember you’re not starting from scratch. There are countless doctors, educators, writers, and activists
producing clear, evidence-based resources about periods, pregnancy, sexuality, and overall health. Sharing a link is sometimes
more powerful than arguing for an hour.

Ultimately, the power of posts like “Not How Girls Work: 35 Very Stupid Things Men Have Said About Women And Their Bodies” lies in
their combination of humor and truth. They give us permission to laugh at nonsense, then quietly nudge us toward a better way:
one where knowing how bodies work is considered basic literacy, not a niche hobby. Until then, the internet will keep collecting
these wild quotesand the rest of us will keep replying, “Yeah… that’s not how girls work.”