Why don't Men Menstruate?

The battle of the sexes - this has long been ongoing; discrimination against each other, the feminist movements, the continuous quest for gender equality. I won't say I'm a hardcore feminist but as a woman, I do believe and would of course want discrimination to end and push for gender equality. However, the long list of man and woman differences make things even more complicated than they already are. These physical, emotional, physiological and behavioural differences affect the roles we play in the society - who cooks, who gets saved first when a boat sinks, who becomes a carpenter, who becomes a secretary. Most of these roles and professions are highly gendered and these are explained by the differences we have compared to the opposite sex.

Yesterday, I battled one of the worst days a woman can ever have - a very painful period. Yes, I'm one of those unfortunate women who suffer from extreme cases of dysmenorrhea. Throwing up, upset stomach, headache, body ache, cramps, name it...I had them all. Needless to say, I was bedridden yesterday next to the only and most important thing in my eyes - my bottle of hot water (hot compress).

Don't get me wrong, this wasn't my first time to experience such. It's happened before that I've become accustomed to popping a pill every time this happens, it's my saviour. Dysmenorrhea never fails to ruin my day because it's always THAT bad. It has sent me home from school, shopping, and almost even ruined my trip to Thailand one time. Good thing my dear old friend 'mefenamic acid' is there to save me. Only this time, I didn't have any.

I endured the pain for a couple more hours after I woke up, and had to physically drag myself to the bathroom countless times trying to get 'comfortable'. It was a horror but my body was just so confused and in so much pain that it just can't tell which part aches more.

That's when I started to think, WHY DON'T MEN MENSTRUATE??? It's so unfair! Incidentally, I'm also in the process of finishing my uni homework on ABORTION. The fact that men can always just turn their backs from the women they have impregnated and assume no responsibility to the repercussions of their actions again just made me think how lucky they are that they don't get to experience the physical and emotional hardships we women experience during our entire course of life. The menstruation, pregnancy, giving birth...all these are women issues, and while men can always play a role in one or some of these...it doesn't make it really any different because they don't get to experience this first-hand...