35 Men Finally Get Answers To Their Most Burning Questions About Women That They Never Dared To Ask

We asked Dr. Mintz about why so many men seem to have knowledge gaps about sex and biology. She noted that the United States has a very poor sexual education system "where neither women nor men learn about women’s genital anatomy."

"Indeed, our sex education system often covers only women’s internal, reproductive anatomy and ignores sexual pleasure and response, especially among women. On top of this, movies and porn often perpetuate falsehoods about women’s pleasure, with women orgasming from intercourse alone commonly being shown," she explained to Bored Panda.

"The truth is that only a small percentage of women most reliably orgasm from penetration (4–18% depending on the study), and the rest need clitoral stimulation, either alone or coupled with penetration. However, without proper education or a woman telling a man this, there is very little chance he’d learn this on his own."

Meanwhile, we also wanted to get Dr. Mintz's thoughts on what could help grownups get past their feelings of embarrassment when asking questions on sensitive topics like sex.

"We live in a culture that bombards us with sexual images, but tells us very little scientifically accurate information about sex. We also get the message, either consciously or unconsciously, that sex is dirty, or taboo, or too private to discuss. However, I promise that it is easier to learn to talk about sex than it is to read minds (or vaginas!)," the expert said.

"And, the research is very clear: couples who communicate about sex have better sex. Also, in research, when asked what is most important to them during intercourse, not one woman mentioned penis size. They mention a partner that cares about their pleasure and makes that clear via communication."

According to Dr. Mintz, the information about sexual communication and pleasuring women is out there, but you need to seek it from certified sex therapists instead of porn or movies.

"Great starting places are the books, She Comes First by Ian Kerner, Sizzling Sex by Michael Castleman, and the chapter written in my book, Becoming Cliterate, just for male partners. Indeed, published research shows that men who read the chapter written for them ('Cliteracy for Him') improve their knowledge of women’s genital anatomy and sexual pleasure, as well as their sexual communication skills. They also decrease their endorsement of harmful myths related to both women’s and men’s sexuality."

Meanwhile, the author of the thread, redditor u/SlenderBacon449, was kind enough to share his thoughts on the topic as well. "I was first inspired to ask this question while I was talking to two of my friends and they started complaining about their periods, and as I sat there listening, I wondered why we guys didn’t know anything about periods or menstrual cycles. I was again inspired to ask when one of my guy friends was rejected by a woman for being 'too manly,'" he told Bored Panda.

"I didn’t understand what she meant and I eventually got to thinking about what women really want in a guy. Do they generally want a man to be tough or vulnerable? Maybe a little bit of both? I decided that I could knock out all these questions about women with a Reddit post so some women could educate some men on these topics, but I never expected the post to get that much attention!"

According to u/SlenderBacon449, guys lack understanding of women because "if you were to approach a woman, whether she’s a stranger or your girlfriend, and start asking her about periods and tampons and her taste in men, you would get some weird looks."

The OP said that, unfortunately, schools don't teach men about periods because it's assumed that they wouldn't need to know about them.

"Well, I think it’s important for men to know about these things because we need to be able to understand a woman’s struggle during that time of the month and help accordingly," he said.

"When it comes to important questions such as these, I think the best approach is to do as I did and ask the internet! Whether it’s just a Google search or going on a subreddit and asking the question yourself, the internet is our most valuable tool, if it’s just low-key curiosity or if you want to learn more about it," he pointed out that research is the best first step to learning more about biology and anatomy.

"It would be great if schools could help both genders understand each other better with a more expansive sex ed unit in school, but I doubt that will happen."

Many of the questions that the men of Reddit asked had to do with women’s anatomies, periods, and relationship dynamics. These are questions that would be difficult to ask someone in person, unless they’re a very close and trusted friend.

Unfortunately, this ignorance about how women’s bodies work has profound negative effects on a global scale. Fortune notes that the gender health gap exists because the trials for drugs and medicine are mostly conducted on men. This leads to the overprescription of medicine to women which in turn has negative effects on their health.

“To this day, we don’t truly know how women metabolize and react to many medicines, why some adverse reactions are more common in women, nor how women experience or manifest pain. The efficacy, dosage, and side effects of many drugs were never tested on women,” Fortune writes.

On an individual level, there is nothing wrong with admitting that you might not know everything there is to know about women. Being humble, open-minded, and open to learning new things should be celebrated, not frowned upon. The women of Reddit answered the men’s questions without judging them for their knowledge gaps. If you shame someone for their ignorance, you only make them defensive, not keener to learn and improve.

Besides the fear of being judged, another thing that could explain these men’s knowledge gaps is sub-standard sex education at school and at home. It falls to teenagers’ teachers and parents to dispel any myths about reproduction, anatomy, and relationships.

If they fail to do that, the students will simply absorb any and all hearsay on these topics, whether they hear it in person or read about it on some weird internet forum. It’s best to tackle these topics in the classroom, without stigma or judgment. The long and short of it is that sex ed lessons need to be better: they need to be relatable and informative, not just detached and scientific.

One woman anonymously shared how sex education works in her country during an earlier interview with Bored Panda.

"They called away all the girls from classes, brought us to an auditorium to discuss periods and what they are, why they happen, what we should do. They gave us packets of pads and told us to keep them in our lockers for emergencies. Their heart was in the right place, but by only asking the girls to attend this, they ensured that periods became some sort of mythical and curious event in the minds of all the boys," she told us.