Some things in life are harder for men and life and some things are harder for women. That’s just the way it goes, folks…
But it’s still important to recognize that some things are harder for the other side, and it ends up bringing us closer together.
Men, what can you acknowledge is harder for women?
Here’s what guys had to say on AskReddit.
1. Accepted and respected.
“I guess being accepted or respected in a job that is mostly associated with men.
Like, I’m gonna act as prime example: If I call a Plumber, I – for whatever reason – expect a man to come. And I’d be pretty surprised if a woman showed up. Not that I want a man to come, its just that in my head plumbers are male.
I have no idea where this idea comes from, and it actually seriously bothers me that it is like this.
I guess there are a lot of people with this issue out there, and I guess (the following does not apply to me) a few of those people might be concerned that she might not do as good of a job as he would.”
2. Unwanted messages.
“Pretty girls getting sent creepy DMs.
My sister JUST turned 13 years old, and is a good looking girl. Countless times has she showed me messages on Snapchat between her, and some dudes 4-inch pe**s.
Disgusting.”
3. A new perspective.
“As a man I thought it must be great to be able to have s** with so many people.
I thought it was good that a woman could count on a one night stand at the bar, As I got older I realized that woman also have to walk through a world were where a lot of men want to f**k them and many men don’t care how they get there. Lying, getting women drunk or drugging them or flat out r**e.
Men they may know or complete strangers or even close relatives. That must be far harder than having to impress a woman to have consensual s**.”
4. This, too.
“Finding clothes with pockets.
I’ve only recently been made aware that women’s trousers (pants) don’t usually come with pockets that are actually deep enough to keep anything in there.
Fashion is weird.”
5. A different culture.
“As an Indian man, literally their entire lives.
Arranged marriage is a part of culture. Its hit or miss. Sometimes its literally a nightmare if she ends up with a d**chebag. Super defined gender roles everywhere. Divorced women are essentially 2nd rate citizens here.
And there is ZERO s** education. Female org**ms are a myth.”
6. Not as safe.
“Feeling safe in general.
Whether it be outside after a certain your, parties, going to dates with someone new, etc etc. From the stories I hear from friends and acquaintances, it’s pretty scary sometimes.
Also less impactful, but gaming. When a girl is gaming it’s always dudes telling her that she’s a “pick me” girl, that she only plays Minecraft, that she doesn’t know s**t, etc etc. Just them being disrespectful and annoying sh**s.”
7. Not taken seriously.
“Being taken seriously in successful positions.
Being a women on a board, must be filling a diversity quota.
First women to do x, who cares a man did it ages ago.
And I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure I read somewhere that women score less in trust in political poles because to get there they must have been sneaky or a man eater or some s**t.
All bulls**t.”
8. All of this.
“Where do I start?
Childbirth. Everything I see or hear about it is just unpleasant and painful
The body-clock and pressure to have children, especially in your thirties.
S**ism and bias in the workplace. Yep, it’s still there in many forms and I really disappoints me that it is.
Online communities and the comments/messages. What the f**k, guys?!?
Being heard. How often do you see or hear women being talked over?
So much more. I feel so much for the women in my life (my wife, my mum, my friends) and what they have to deal with. If I have a daughter, I’ll be scared for what she’ll face.”
9. A big one.
“Birth control.
My girlfriend is on an implant and it makes her period VERY irregular and so she can bleed intermittently with no warning so she’ll just go to the toilet one day and be bleeding. No prediction of when it will happen. Just “hey you’re bleeding now. How long for? WOULDN’T YOU LIKE TO KNOW?”. JUST so we don’t have kids we’re not ready for.
I’m happy to wear a condom but it’s not as safe as using something like the implant or a IUD in terms of family planning. She had to get that s**t inserted into her arm with general anesthetic like a bada**. And one type of birth control doesn’t work for everyone. I’ve heard my friends talking about how they have to take the pill at the same time every day. I can’t even remember to have breakfast most days. I’ve heard you can get injections that last 3 months and can mess with your mood even on anti depressants.
And some women I know will be on birth control because their boyfriend wants it raw. The lengths they go through is ridiculous.”
10. Catcalls.
“Getting catcalled.
Specifically, I’m a guy that got catcalled A LOT in high school and college. I ran distance in tiny short shorts and that’s it, and got everything from whistles to honks, girls blowing kisses to guys yelling out of their car windows, to gay guys slapping my a** or complimenting me.
I took it in stride, none if it ever bothered me, and that kind of colored my opinion of catcalling – not that I approved of it, but that it wasn’t that big a deal.
Then I had a girlfriend in college, and she got catcalled while I was walking her home at night. It was a DISTINCTLY different experience. Turns out I never once felt threatened by my catcallers, but hers were definitely scary and threatening.
It was a completely different experience, and really sh**ty and frightening.”
11. A couple things.
“First of all, periods. Hats off to you all for handing them.
Next, being forced to be aware of your surroundings anywhere you go. Like you always have a fear of a bad encounter. And finally, not being acknowledged while being out with a man. Many times I went to restaurants or shopping with someone, everyone always comes up to me instead of my date.
One time during shopping for PC parts, I had to state that she wants to buy something. Not I after many times of telling the salesman to ask her.”
12. Hair.
“A relatively minor thing that I haven’t seen yet is hair. Body hair of any kind is often something women are expected to minimize/remove completely.
Also, long hair is a b**ch to take care of and manage, as I’ve come to realize by letting my hair grow past my shoulders during the pandemic.”
13. For many…
“Not for all women, but many take a lot of time to get ready because they feel it’s required.
Most men brush hair out of the shower and that’s it.”
14. Creeps.
“Creepy people following you.
My GF walked home from work sometimes. It wasn’t far and it was in broad daylight.
This guy drove by and asked to give her a ride. She declined said she was almost home. When she got home she told me about it and how he kept driving up and down the street looking at her afterwards. He followed her into the apartment complex and parked his car to watch her go into the apartment. I was obviously upset.
I went out with her so she could point him out but he had left. It was weird. I told her to call me right away if she sees him anywhere near here.”
15. Training.
“Training
When I began in the military everyone including all the girls were in far better physical condition than I was.
Two Months in I was bringing in a better performance than all but one girl. The difference in muscle growth, etc. is simply at a level where women are never able to keep up with men who put even half the effort in of them.”
16. Lots of pressure.
“Pressure to be a perfect parent.
My partner would get approached by strangers at grocery stores and parking lots and criticized for random stuff she was “letting” our then-2 y.o. get away with it. When I was public with our child, it was pretty much “Oh look at the good dad!” for just being.
The wicked stepmom trope pretty much reinforces how the expectations are set at a huge bar for women, while deadbeat dads make it a shrugging “oh well, that sucks but what are you gonna do?” bar for men.”
17. Painful.
“UTIs.
My wife will occasionally get a UTI after s** and has to suffer the discomfort and the irritation of trying to get a GP appointment (UK) while convincing the witch of a GP receptionist that you want an appointment today.”
18. A curse.
“Large b**bs seem like a curse to me (I wouldn’t want to own them if I were a girl but they sure look cool).
They can cause back problems and just look unwieldy and the only upside of them making you more attractive to many people is also a major downside when it comes to creeps/unwanted attention.
In general they get s**ualized more explicitly than men, with more of their value being tied to appearance than men deal with. Both can be insecure with their bodies but society definitely puts more pressure on women.”
19. Solo traveling.
“Traveling alone. Takes some guts to travel alone as a woman.
Especially in undeveloped countries.Women need to be careful and look out for things that we men almost never take even in consideration.”
20. Risky.
“The risk of dying when having children. Yes I know men can’t have children but hear me out.
I work in a maternity theatre and see hundreds of births every year. It amazes me the amount of s**t and pain and risk that women have to go through to have kids. Seriously, my respect for women has no bounds. I see what they go through during childbirth and I think I could never do that.
By the time they get to the emergency theatre they’ve usually already been struggling to progress for various reasons for HOURS!!. They arrive tired, scared, upset, worried, bleeding, in extreme pain and feeling a million emotions in between. Add into that that things can take a turn for the worse very quickly and it is quite scary for the theatre staff as well.
Ladies, just know, if you come into the theatre when I’m on duty, I got your back. I don’t think us men appreciate this quite as much as we should do.”
21. Hard to deal with.
“Periods.
I have a friend who has irregular periods caused by a hormonal thing and I can’t even think of dealing with that.”
22. Different stories.
“The prospective weight of s**ual encounters.
What is fun for one could be a life-altering disaster for the other.”
23. A lot of BS to deal with.
“The constant talking down to and the constant looking down upon. I’ve seen this in all areas of my life but it became prominent when I was a technical trainer at a large web hosting company.
I had a handful of incredibly brilliant women techs that were berated, insulted and man-splained to on an hourly basis by customers either via phone or chat.
I mentioned this to the director of our department who didn’t seem to believe me. Unbeknownst to him, I allowed several of the women techs to change their names in our chat program to more male sounding names.
Nothing else about their approach changed but the results were astonishing. Within the span of the first week, all of their NPS scores skyrocketed. A month into it, several were nominated for employee of the month awards.
My manager asked me how we were able to turn things around and I confessed that I let them change their names. I graphed several KPI’s to show that nothing else about what they were doing had changed.
I would listen to calls where men who would fall just short of saying they didn’t believe a woman could know such technical things, only to be transferred to a male tech who provided the exact same information. Only then was it accepted and acknowledged as believable.
My hats off to all women but a special shout out to women in tech. The amount of bullsh** I’ve seen you all have to deal with is astounding and embarrassing.”
24. Not enough talk about it.
“No one talks about Menopause at all but it truly does suck.
Irregular periods
V**inal dryness
Hot flashes
Chills
Night sweats
Sleep problems
Mood changes
Weight gain and slowed metabolism
Thinning hair and dry skin
Loss of breast fullness
Imagine having to go about your normal life with all of this s**t and then smiling and pretending everything is normal because otherwise you’re a b**ch.”
Now we want to hear from more men out there.
In the comments, please tell us what you think is harder for women than men.
Thanks in advance!
