That's a "Girl Problem"

Lately, I've heard several men say, "That sounds like a women problem" or "My girlfriend/wife was being a bitch. You know, PMS." This shit infuriates me.

While it is true that women can become a little emotional and sometimes slightly irrational (I'm guilty) during menstration, it's ridiculous and very insulting when men use this as an excuse to dismiss women.

I've worked in environments where I'm the only woman. And I was often treated like a second class citizen. Not like being inappropriately touched all the time (although my boss thought it was fine to poke me in the butt with pencils several times a week) or sexualized, just little things. Such as, not being taken seriously when a man asked me a question and didn't receive an answer he liked. He'd go ask a man. Such as rolling their eyes when I said certain "woman things." Such as calling me a bitch, forcing me to do the "woman's job" and on and on. And when discussing this with some friends, a man told me to report it and if it were him, he wouldn't put up with that. Men just don't know what they're talking about.

I'm tired of putting up with this shit from every angle. I had a teacher recently make several rude comments over a few weeks about "women troubles" and "PMS." If a man had to go through what women have to experience constantly, they'd curl up and die. Can you imagine if someone dismissed your proud grandfather with, "He's just got PMS."

I'm so tired of being seen as weaker, fairer, sexual, slut, bitch, crazy, irrational, whore, stuck up, stupid, "just a girl." How about we start getting some respect for the amazing people we are inside and the men stop demeaning us because we have vaginas?! (And, just for the record, a whore is someone who has sex for money, not someone who wear a short, tight skirt you don't like.)

I'm not one to play I Am Woman Hear Me Roar. I'm just sooooooo tired of all this shit. We have to go through the pain of menstrating every month, have the babies, take birth control (which puts tons of chemicals in our bodies and makes us feel out of whack), be the sex police, often work the same job with less respect and less pay, do the housework (I realize this is changing), take care of the babies and run the household. Give me a fucking break, men.

And don't minimize me. Don't reduce every feeling and reaction I have to "PMS." Because, a lot of the time, I'm having this reaction because you're being a dick.