As a followup to this December "Also, Women Menstruate" article… So pleased to see that our message sinking in. In a biomechanical analysis of male vs female hockey speed, an IG account called AugusteHocky adds to the long list of bio differences that “she also has to contend with everything related to menstruation” (paraphrase). Thanks @Nancy Hogshead, JD, Oly @WSPWGhttps://www.instagram.com/reels/DUlbSNXCKIf/
I was very aware of this at school in the 1960s. We weren't allowed in the swimming pool when menstruating. We all knew that whoever sat at the side of the pool watching, was on their period. We had to do somersaults in the gym and as the gym slip flew up, there was a flash of padded knicker to give ourselves away, and a blush of embarrassment. Plus those hormone fluctuations can dominate our lives. Add those days together and we spend about nine and a half years' worth of days - bleeding! Great article and I, too, wish more focus was put on this difference between the sexes due to those "off days" when girls are too doubled up with cramps to practise sports.
Yes, plus they never have to compete with cramps. And how is this new SAVE act hurting them? And the war on abortion? Somehow the only part of womanhood that they embrace is wearing dresses, ogling women and showing off their 🍆 in our private spaces and taking up spaces in our competitions.
Hi CWS, thanks - and yes, so relevant. We probably should have raised this point earlier in the years-long discussion about the need for female-only sports. Trying to rectify it now. :-)
Women experience daily and weekly hormonal fluctuations and a monthly cycle of rising/falling oestrogen, progesterone (and also testosterone), for DECADES.
Men who take oestrogen and suppress testosterone, take steady levels of oestrogen, and don’t get the daily or monthly fluctuations in testosterone that women do.
They have stable, flatter hormone profiles compared to women’s natural cycles.
Taking synthetic hormones does not and cannot replicate the lived hormonal experience of puberty, pregnancy, the menstrual cycle, or menopause.
Exactly. The transwoman takes artificial oestrogen to grow fake breasts, basically. Women's bodies are a complicated, cycling system aimed at reproducing the species. Transwomen aren't even synthetic women.
Most excellent article. Can’t tell you how many times my coaches tried to get my cycle to align with a sporting event so I would be at optimal performance at competition time.
I think you should call it “uterus envy” because just last week I spent time debating with a male who thinks he’s a woman and a lesbian over him saying will you accept men are women when we successfully transplant a uterus into a male and men can have a baby? That’s how crazy the arguments have become. Zero realization one might be missing a gamete to produce said child, the parts won’t work and are connected to other parts still MIA. Presumably he missed the video in school.
Ha, yes, he missed the video. And he missed the irony of mansplaining to women who lesbians are. But yeah, that's the ultimate trans humanist goal, according to some: Male takeover of women's role in reproduction, whether via male-implanted uteri, surrogates, enforced pregnancies (a la Handmaid's Tale), incubated fetuses, or whatever terrifyingly misogynist taekovers they can dream up -- rendering actual human females irrelevant, and making men in charge of absolutely everything. Unless...
It reveals that deep down many still see women as “just a vessel.” Can I just say it creeps me out when they say that…transplant WHO’S uterus? But back to the uterus as interchangeable Tupperware…the ignorance of how a female body…most of the body…contributes to the process of the miracle of carrying a baby to term. SMH. And even then…Frankenstein’s womb…it’s STILL more about justifying and affirming his autogynophilic obsession.
Nor do men go through menopause. I've come out on the other side of menopause with a few whiskers on my chin, which I diligently pluck. Interesting article. I work a part time retail job to make ends meet. I have a co-worker, who I must work closely with. She (her chosen pronoun) is about 6'5" and 300 pounds, with a full beard and deep voice. Yet, we are required to use her chosen pronouns and honor her chosen name on her name tag. This lovely middle aged woman wears jeans that fall below her waist, and I am frequently exposed to her entire rear end when she bends over. It is frequent and unacceptable. I, and others, have brought it to the attention of management. Most recently, multiple times this past week I was exposed, again, to this "woman's" entire rear end. I mentioned to her that a belt might be helpful and her response was that she wears a belt but that "she cannot help it because she has a flat ass." Not an acceptable answer. It's been going on for months and I am not the only one who has brought it to management's attention. I have been assured that the matter will be handled. It's gross and unacceptable, and I'm really upset and tired of it. Enough.
Horrible! Sorry this is happening to you, Vicki. You don’t deserve to be “flashed” by this MAN! The daily cognitive dissonance coupled with HIS catered-to “identity” has to must be difficult to deal with.
Meanwhile, I invite you to use correct-sex pronouns for HIM when you are not at work. Reality is grounding. Your eyes are not lying to you.
Thank you. I do not want to steal the author's thunder for this timely and outstanding post. I feel I must be cognizant of "misgendering" this individual, particularly at work, so I have tried to get in the habit of referring to him as her, whenever the topic comes up. I could get into trouble at work for being insensitive or discriminatory. That said, I generally work Fri/Sat/Sun and spend quite a few hours with this person. I am dreading this weekend as I'm pretty sure he will know I have lodged another complaint. Again, I am not the only one. But I'm also pretty tired of it and will proceed accordingly. I've reflected it on it quite a bit today. Hugs and thanks to all and to Mariah...thank you and Bravo for your excellent writing.
What an awful situation. This man is parading himself in front of you and forcing you to see private parts of his body which is making everyone deeply uncomfortable. He will know you don’t like it and I’m sure he will get perverse pleasure from that. This used to be called flashing and was considered a deviant crime. But here we are in 2025 where just because he can “identify as a woman “, the door of opportunity has been opened for him to publicly and blatantly parade his perverse displays and instead of being able to call him out for inappropriate and aggressive behaviour, people risk losing their own jobs if they don’t call him she/ her!
Holy shit. Surely this qualifies as a hostile work environment. In these situations I think a pertinent question to ask is, would the same behavior (butt exposure) be tolerated from an actual woman? Or from a man who doesn’t identify as a woman?
Yes, I am getting to the point of enough is enough. I have started documenting frequency, dates, times. My employer is the largest retailer in the US, and that’s all I’ll say about that. I have spoken to my manager about this on 3 separate occasions and she seems to take it seriously. I do believe the most recent incident will be seriously addressed. We’ll see. I’m not a prude, but the latest viewing of this person’s hairy butt upset me quite a bit. We’ll see where it goes from here. It’s just unacceptable.
Beautifully written. I’ve often thought how difficult it is to be a 13 year old girl in the locker room or toilet, having an “accident” or even just talking to other girls about it and trying to learn to get used to the strange icky part of being female; then also having to deal with a male bodied classmate. (Who may well have the tendsnces of 13 year old boys to mock)I think it contributes to the social contagion of girls wanting to be “boys”.
Absolutely. I have the same nightmare scenario on behalf of girls. And those teenage boys do mock - there was a case of one who said, "oooh, titties!" when allowed in the locker room "as a girl." And yes, a certain number of girls will always try to opt out of womanhood, given the sexist and puberty circumstances, if given a chance. If only we could help them feel good about being female. Oh, right: Feminism!
Love this. It's so ridiculous that this needs pointing out in the 21st century. As a weightlifter, I couldn't train as hard during the first days of a period (no energy, pain), but the personal bests always came during the final stages of the luteal phase for me. Used to wish competitions could be organised around my cycle 😁. As a tennis fan, I always worry about women having to play in white at Wimbledon - there will be players whose attention isn't fully on their game, because at the back of their minds they're thinking about leakages. So good to see many football teams changing the colour of the women's shorts from light to darker shades for this reason.
Very interesting and educational! I think you did a great job of addressing this gap in the conversation surrounding menstruation in athletics.
I have to admit that I had never considered how much our reproductive systems impact our bodies at every stage of life in so many ways. As a woman, that's all you know. You just live with it.
I am seriously dreading perimenopause because it is not entirely unlikely that someone will lose their life at my hands. 😂 You think I'm mad now. Just wait.
Menopause rage is very real. My temper is so explosive now. I have 50+ years of controlling it, as most women learn to control their temper. I have it under control. Mostly
Perimenopause is worse for some women. Pure living hell when it runs on for months, requires you to excuse yourself every hour lest you soil your clothing and furniture, you become anemic from the blood loss, then they have to knock you out to transplant 5 years of hormone treatment into your uterus. This will hurt, they told me and I thought bring it because I’m a tough. It is at this point I screamed what the fuck - is this what birthing a child feels like in a pain threshold? Then, thankfully, the lights went out for a while.
I won’t scare you with talking about the horrors of menopause for some women (which quickly follows) because I’m not that cruel. But if I wished any horror on these men who say they’re women who invade our spaces, violate our boundaries and steal our prizes, it’s that. Give them fucking menopause if they want to whine about how marginalized and misunderstood they are.
That’s funny about worrying someone will lose their life. Men should be grateful they possess superior overall strength because if we were as strong, there would be a lot of men on the mat and a lot of dead bodies for us to bury and hide.
They makes jokes about hot flashes and night sweats but I haven't slept for more then 3 hours straight for years
Still, better then the andemeitriosis pain that shot down my leg and up by back. I had periods for weeks, system was completely off. Was looking at a hysterectomy but menopause stopped the period pain.n
Yikes, sorry you went through that. I had some horrific experiences too, including hemorrhaging in very inconvenient locales and then there was the transvaginal ultrasound (they insert a large wand when you've got a full-to-exploding bladder, then yank it around like a stick shift) - tho I've heard they've stopped requiring the full bladder.
On the other hand, I do know women who sailed through all phases of menopause -- she adds, sincerely, so young women do not necessarily expect the worst.
Have you noticed how yoghurt advertisements are never targeted at men, it's always a woman eating yoghurt. It's because men don't get constipated as much, as their intestines don't have to make room for a uterus.
Sacrifices female bodies make for reproduction are massive.
Why Mariah must you ALWAYS make us think so hard and even fact check a thing or two so early on a Monday? I cringed at two words in this excellent article but continued to the end. Please delete "who knows" and insert "always and forever!" The impact of "womanhood" begins before the red evidence of that first period and continues well past the last drop swaying female sports performance daily. Just ask any of us lay experts reading here. Non-professional senior athlete commenting.
This is such an intriguing comment that I edited and expanded the story, L E Matthews.
Now that part reads:
When Does the Female Reproductive Function Affect Performance?
Always. Because this is how biologists define female: The type of body that was designed to produce large gametes. Even if something goes wrong and we’re infertile or undergo hysterectomies or mastectomies, our bodies still operate on female hormones, in female bodies, with female hips and bones and heads and everything else. There are no times of the month, nor times of the day, when female athletes can compete in sports without their female genes, chromosomes, hormones, anatomy, and physiology, all of which are significantly different from men’s. We’re not always producing babies. (Thank goodness.) But our bodies are all designed for that function, and retain that design throughout our lives.
**
How does that sound? Also: From one non-professional senior athlete to another... comments like yours (and others - thank you all) make my day. Thanks for letting me know you're reading and thinking and appreciating my writing.
I'm very happy you added that, because I literally gasped out loud I was so impressed! It's such a simple thing, and yet those realizations have escaped me and many other women for decades.
Beautifully written piece.
Thank you!
As a followup to this December "Also, Women Menstruate" article… So pleased to see that our message sinking in. In a biomechanical analysis of male vs female hockey speed, an IG account called AugusteHocky adds to the long list of bio differences that “she also has to contend with everything related to menstruation” (paraphrase). Thanks @Nancy Hogshead, JD, Oly @WSPWGhttps://www.instagram.com/reels/DUlbSNXCKIf/
Great essay! Sorry I am just now reading it 2 months late. But still excellent.
Thank you! Never too late. :-)
I was very aware of this at school in the 1960s. We weren't allowed in the swimming pool when menstruating. We all knew that whoever sat at the side of the pool watching, was on their period. We had to do somersaults in the gym and as the gym slip flew up, there was a flash of padded knicker to give ourselves away, and a blush of embarrassment. Plus those hormone fluctuations can dominate our lives. Add those days together and we spend about nine and a half years' worth of days - bleeding! Great article and I, too, wish more focus was put on this difference between the sexes due to those "off days" when girls are too doubled up with cramps to practise sports.
Yes, plus they never have to compete with cramps. And how is this new SAVE act hurting them? And the war on abortion? Somehow the only part of womanhood that they embrace is wearing dresses, ogling women and showing off their 🍆 in our private spaces and taking up spaces in our competitions.
Hi CWS, thanks - and yes, so relevant. We probably should have raised this point earlier in the years-long discussion about the need for female-only sports. Trying to rectify it now. :-)
Incredible article 👏🏻
"Only women bleed." https://youtu.be/3dDG8LNmogo?si=NeJHoLCxHrQ__LLT
Nice, thanks.
Women experience daily and weekly hormonal fluctuations and a monthly cycle of rising/falling oestrogen, progesterone (and also testosterone), for DECADES.
Men who take oestrogen and suppress testosterone, take steady levels of oestrogen, and don’t get the daily or monthly fluctuations in testosterone that women do.
They have stable, flatter hormone profiles compared to women’s natural cycles.
Taking synthetic hormones does not and cannot replicate the lived hormonal experience of puberty, pregnancy, the menstrual cycle, or menopause.
Exactly. The transwoman takes artificial oestrogen to grow fake breasts, basically. Women's bodies are a complicated, cycling system aimed at reproducing the species. Transwomen aren't even synthetic women.
Most excellent article. Can’t tell you how many times my coaches tried to get my cycle to align with a sporting event so I would be at optimal performance at competition time.
I think you should call it “uterus envy” because just last week I spent time debating with a male who thinks he’s a woman and a lesbian over him saying will you accept men are women when we successfully transplant a uterus into a male and men can have a baby? That’s how crazy the arguments have become. Zero realization one might be missing a gamete to produce said child, the parts won’t work and are connected to other parts still MIA. Presumably he missed the video in school.
Ha, yes, he missed the video. And he missed the irony of mansplaining to women who lesbians are. But yeah, that's the ultimate trans humanist goal, according to some: Male takeover of women's role in reproduction, whether via male-implanted uteri, surrogates, enforced pregnancies (a la Handmaid's Tale), incubated fetuses, or whatever terrifyingly misogynist taekovers they can dream up -- rendering actual human females irrelevant, and making men in charge of absolutely everything. Unless...
It reveals that deep down many still see women as “just a vessel.” Can I just say it creeps me out when they say that…transplant WHO’S uterus? But back to the uterus as interchangeable Tupperware…the ignorance of how a female body…most of the body…contributes to the process of the miracle of carrying a baby to term. SMH. And even then…Frankenstein’s womb…it’s STILL more about justifying and affirming his autogynophilic obsession.
Much better answer. Whose uterus indeed.
Nor do men go through menopause. I've come out on the other side of menopause with a few whiskers on my chin, which I diligently pluck. Interesting article. I work a part time retail job to make ends meet. I have a co-worker, who I must work closely with. She (her chosen pronoun) is about 6'5" and 300 pounds, with a full beard and deep voice. Yet, we are required to use her chosen pronouns and honor her chosen name on her name tag. This lovely middle aged woman wears jeans that fall below her waist, and I am frequently exposed to her entire rear end when she bends over. It is frequent and unacceptable. I, and others, have brought it to the attention of management. Most recently, multiple times this past week I was exposed, again, to this "woman's" entire rear end. I mentioned to her that a belt might be helpful and her response was that she wears a belt but that "she cannot help it because she has a flat ass." Not an acceptable answer. It's been going on for months and I am not the only one who has brought it to management's attention. I have been assured that the matter will be handled. It's gross and unacceptable, and I'm really upset and tired of it. Enough.
Never use his preferred pronouns. He's a larping man. End of story.
Horrible! Sorry this is happening to you, Vicki. You don’t deserve to be “flashed” by this MAN! The daily cognitive dissonance coupled with HIS catered-to “identity” has to must be difficult to deal with.
Meanwhile, I invite you to use correct-sex pronouns for HIM when you are not at work. Reality is grounding. Your eyes are not lying to you.
Thank you. I do not want to steal the author's thunder for this timely and outstanding post. I feel I must be cognizant of "misgendering" this individual, particularly at work, so I have tried to get in the habit of referring to him as her, whenever the topic comes up. I could get into trouble at work for being insensitive or discriminatory. That said, I generally work Fri/Sat/Sun and spend quite a few hours with this person. I am dreading this weekend as I'm pretty sure he will know I have lodged another complaint. Again, I am not the only one. But I'm also pretty tired of it and will proceed accordingly. I've reflected it on it quite a bit today. Hugs and thanks to all and to Mariah...thank you and Bravo for your excellent writing.
What an awful situation. This man is parading himself in front of you and forcing you to see private parts of his body which is making everyone deeply uncomfortable. He will know you don’t like it and I’m sure he will get perverse pleasure from that. This used to be called flashing and was considered a deviant crime. But here we are in 2025 where just because he can “identify as a woman “, the door of opportunity has been opened for him to publicly and blatantly parade his perverse displays and instead of being able to call him out for inappropriate and aggressive behaviour, people risk losing their own jobs if they don’t call him she/ her!
Holy shit. Surely this qualifies as a hostile work environment. In these situations I think a pertinent question to ask is, would the same behavior (butt exposure) be tolerated from an actual woman? Or from a man who doesn’t identify as a woman?
Wow. I wonder if you have a legal right not to be flashed this way at work. At very least. Not to mention free speech.
Yes, I am getting to the point of enough is enough. I have started documenting frequency, dates, times. My employer is the largest retailer in the US, and that’s all I’ll say about that. I have spoken to my manager about this on 3 separate occasions and she seems to take it seriously. I do believe the most recent incident will be seriously addressed. We’ll see. I’m not a prude, but the latest viewing of this person’s hairy butt upset me quite a bit. We’ll see where it goes from here. It’s just unacceptable.
Restacked. Great article.
Beautifully written. I’ve often thought how difficult it is to be a 13 year old girl in the locker room or toilet, having an “accident” or even just talking to other girls about it and trying to learn to get used to the strange icky part of being female; then also having to deal with a male bodied classmate. (Who may well have the tendsnces of 13 year old boys to mock)I think it contributes to the social contagion of girls wanting to be “boys”.
Absolutely. I have the same nightmare scenario on behalf of girls. And those teenage boys do mock - there was a case of one who said, "oooh, titties!" when allowed in the locker room "as a girl." And yes, a certain number of girls will always try to opt out of womanhood, given the sexist and puberty circumstances, if given a chance. If only we could help them feel good about being female. Oh, right: Feminism!
Thanks!
Love this. It's so ridiculous that this needs pointing out in the 21st century. As a weightlifter, I couldn't train as hard during the first days of a period (no energy, pain), but the personal bests always came during the final stages of the luteal phase for me. Used to wish competitions could be organised around my cycle 😁. As a tennis fan, I always worry about women having to play in white at Wimbledon - there will be players whose attention isn't fully on their game, because at the back of their minds they're thinking about leakages. So good to see many football teams changing the colour of the women's shorts from light to darker shades for this reason.
Excellent piece, Mariah. Restacked with a note.
And "womb envy" IS a thing. You are right.
Thanks Joanna!
You nailed it Mariah!
Yay! Teamwork. Thanks again for your editorial assistance.
Brilliant, necessary article. Thank you for speaking the ”unspeakable" truth. 👏💥👏
Very interesting and educational! I think you did a great job of addressing this gap in the conversation surrounding menstruation in athletics.
I have to admit that I had never considered how much our reproductive systems impact our bodies at every stage of life in so many ways. As a woman, that's all you know. You just live with it.
I am seriously dreading perimenopause because it is not entirely unlikely that someone will lose their life at my hands. 😂 You think I'm mad now. Just wait.
Menopause rage is very real. My temper is so explosive now. I have 50+ years of controlling it, as most women learn to control their temper. I have it under control. Mostly
Perimenopause is worse for some women. Pure living hell when it runs on for months, requires you to excuse yourself every hour lest you soil your clothing and furniture, you become anemic from the blood loss, then they have to knock you out to transplant 5 years of hormone treatment into your uterus. This will hurt, they told me and I thought bring it because I’m a tough. It is at this point I screamed what the fuck - is this what birthing a child feels like in a pain threshold? Then, thankfully, the lights went out for a while.
I won’t scare you with talking about the horrors of menopause for some women (which quickly follows) because I’m not that cruel. But if I wished any horror on these men who say they’re women who invade our spaces, violate our boundaries and steal our prizes, it’s that. Give them fucking menopause if they want to whine about how marginalized and misunderstood they are.
That’s funny about worrying someone will lose their life. Men should be grateful they possess superior overall strength because if we were as strong, there would be a lot of men on the mat and a lot of dead bodies for us to bury and hide.
They makes jokes about hot flashes and night sweats but I haven't slept for more then 3 hours straight for years
Still, better then the andemeitriosis pain that shot down my leg and up by back. I had periods for weeks, system was completely off. Was looking at a hysterectomy but menopause stopped the period pain.n
Yikes, sorry you went through that. I had some horrific experiences too, including hemorrhaging in very inconvenient locales and then there was the transvaginal ultrasound (they insert a large wand when you've got a full-to-exploding bladder, then yank it around like a stick shift) - tho I've heard they've stopped requiring the full bladder.
On the other hand, I do know women who sailed through all phases of menopause -- she adds, sincerely, so young women do not necessarily expect the worst.
Have you noticed how yoghurt advertisements are never targeted at men, it's always a woman eating yoghurt. It's because men don't get constipated as much, as their intestines don't have to make room for a uterus.
Sacrifices female bodies make for reproduction are massive.
And here I thought it was just because yogurt was coded as un-masculine, like quiche. :-0
Why Mariah must you ALWAYS make us think so hard and even fact check a thing or two so early on a Monday? I cringed at two words in this excellent article but continued to the end. Please delete "who knows" and insert "always and forever!" The impact of "womanhood" begins before the red evidence of that first period and continues well past the last drop swaying female sports performance daily. Just ask any of us lay experts reading here. Non-professional senior athlete commenting.
This is such an intriguing comment that I edited and expanded the story, L E Matthews.
Now that part reads:
When Does the Female Reproductive Function Affect Performance?
Always. Because this is how biologists define female: The type of body that was designed to produce large gametes. Even if something goes wrong and we’re infertile or undergo hysterectomies or mastectomies, our bodies still operate on female hormones, in female bodies, with female hips and bones and heads and everything else. There are no times of the month, nor times of the day, when female athletes can compete in sports without their female genes, chromosomes, hormones, anatomy, and physiology, all of which are significantly different from men’s. We’re not always producing babies. (Thank goodness.) But our bodies are all designed for that function, and retain that design throughout our lives.
**
How does that sound? Also: From one non-professional senior athlete to another... comments like yours (and others - thank you all) make my day. Thanks for letting me know you're reading and thinking and appreciating my writing.
I'm very happy you added that, because I literally gasped out loud I was so impressed! It's such a simple thing, and yet those realizations have escaped me and many other women for decades.
Thanks Buddah!