3 Huge Things Women Have to Worry About That Men Will Never Understand

It’s hard to be a woman sometimes. Don’t get me wrong - I love being a woman, and my feminist heart loves a good women’s empowerment piece. So here we are.

There are a ton of things that women spend their time worrying about that guys could never understand. All you ladies are nodding your heads right now, aren’t you? Yeah. It’s tough, and no matter how you try to explain it, men will never get just how much we have going on in our heads.

1. Periods

I know this is an obvious one, but come ON! No man will ever understand the pain and difficulty of having one week every month that is miserable. Not only have all my favorite underwear been ruined (UGH thank you Victoria’s Secret for the constant sales so I can buy more), but the side effects of periods make the simplest parts of my week difficult. Cramps, bloating, back pain, nausea, mood swings, sex drive - the list goes on and on. And guess what, men...many women experience more than one of these symptoms EVERY TIME. So when your girlfriend comes home when she’s on her period and just asks for a back rub and to watch a movie instead of going out...don’t say you understand how she feels, ’cause you don’t!

2. Catcalling/walking alone

This is an everyday struggle in the world of being a woman. There are many reasons that men fear walking alone or getting in an Uber, but they can never understand what it feels like when you’re just walking home from class and a guy 30 years older than you tells you that your dress looks good on you and that you should smile more.

NOPE! I will smile however much I want to! It’s annoying and may make you cringe...but then the rest of your walk, you’re terrified, thinking of all the ways you could die or be kidnapped or mugged or whatever else you’ve seen on the news. Men - have you ever walked home with your house key between your fingers? Was your high school graduation present a can of Mace to attach to your key chain? Do you plan to have a “signal” with your friend when you go to the bar in case someone is starting to act weird around you and you need to be rescued? Probably not. Being alone and a woman is a whole different ball game. In our world, there’s always some part of us that’s on-guard, and men just will never quite understand what that feels like.

3. Keeping up with appearances

I cannot remember a time when I wasn’t thinking about how others perceived me the second I walked out of my house in the morning. As soon as my parents would let me, I did all the things I was “supposed to do” to keep myself as “attractive” as I could – put on makeup, shave my legs, straighten my hair. I added minutes - hours, sometimes - of time to my morning routine to keep up with the appearances I was told I needed to uphold.

Don’t get me wrong, I still do these things when I get up in the morning, but I learned to do them for myself and my own self-confidence rather than for others. Men have their routines too, but the standards are much broader. The pressures of being “presentable” as a woman are something most men will never be able to fully relate to.