I dunno, if the worst thing I ever found in a filthy women’s room was comparable to a well-used Kleenex, I’d be a happy person. Menstruating is waste elimination, you had some uterine lining, it’s past its expiration date, it needs to go.

Things can be important and also be icky.

But seriously, you really need to provide us with no small number of examples before we can take YOU seriously. Especially, examples of me talking about me peeing, pooping, etc.

“and intercourse”

Really very, very different from waste elimination…and if you don’t find it so, I’m sorry for you.

“Objectively speaking, it’s no worse than sneezing, which involves all sorts of lovely fluids,”

Sneezing comes in a wide variety of types, from the type that is entirely self-contained and involves the release of no fluids at all, to the (most common) kind that involves a small effluent of saliva (which is not a waste product) that is contained in a hand or Kleenex, to the kind that involves blowing a bucket of snot out. Again–for us to take you seriously here, or at least me, you need to provide an example of where I discuss the snot-blowing sneeze type, which is the only kind that can really be considered as some kind of “waste elimination,” and did not apologize for sharing TMI with the audience.

I don’t consider that “pearl-clutching,” but “couth;” of course, we don’t all have to agree.

‘Couthness’ being one of the watchwords of this blog.

*glances at masthead*

Yeah, that’s the ticket.

But seriously, on this blog I’ve seen no small number of references to waste elimination, and intercourse, and so forth, which nobody deemed worthy of apology. But with anything related to or referencing menstruation there seems to be this pervasive feeling that it is somehow specially awful, as though merely reading about it might cause my testicles to shrivel up and fall off (oops, I alluded to the fact that I have male sex organs, sorry to gross everyone out). Objectively speaking, it’s no worse than sneezing, which involves all sorts of lovely fluids, as well as the possibility of spreading disease, but no one feels weird about that coming up in conversation.

That day will come. I have no doubt.

Er… so that’s not normal?

Oh yes.. totally agree with you on that, even though I qualify for the “sausagefest” part! Dedicated “muscle” gyms are even worse. I ignored the warning signs once (run-down location, posters of obvious steroid-abusers in the reception lobby etc) and went for a ‘taster’ session in one. Never, ever, again.

It wasn’t that I was made to feel unwelcome at all, and there were (a few, very well defined) women there so it wasn’t all testosterone fuelled, but I just felt deeply uncomfortable even though I was pretty fit at the time.

Each to their own, but the over-developed physiques of male or female bodybuilders doesn’t look healthy to me, and the obvious narcissism is a complete turn-off.

As a matter of fact, that was the year I got my first period..! (TMI, no doubt. Sorry, folks. )

Pfft, it’s just a little uterine lining, nothing to clutch pearls over. It’s not as though every other fortnight you release a vast cloud of shrieking vampire-bats from your ladyparts.

…one assumes.

Ah, but the weight room is manly man safe space. In my gym there are usually more women then men total, but the freeweight section is a narcissistic sausagefest. I understand the point of the mirrors, but it’s still creepy to be in that room full of muscular guys checking themselves out. I’ve never been made to feel unwelcome there, but there’s definitely a weird vibe. I stick to the machines.