• rekabis@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    A woman’s cycle varies between 15 and 45 days, averaging 28.1 days, but with a standard deviation of 3.95 days. That’s a hell of a lot of variability from one woman to the next. And the same variability can be experienced by a large minority of women from one period to the next, and among nearly all women across the course of their fertile years.

    On the other hand, the moon’s cycle (as seen from Earth) takes 27 days, 7 hours, and 43 minutes to pass through all of its phases. And it does so like clockwork, century after century.

    Of the two, I am finding the second to have a much stronger likelihood of being the reasoning behind the notches.

    Strange how gender-bigotry style historical revisionism and gender exceptionalism seems to get a wholly uncritical and credulous pass when it’s not done by a man.

    • Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      While I agree with you that the teacher in this post is wrong about what this is, I don’t think labeling “gender bigotry” indiscriminately as something both sexes do under one umbrella is accomplishing anything but minimizing the struggle women have endured for basically all of human existence up until the last few decades.

      Personally, I wouldn’t fault this woman for thinking what she does if she’s willing to accept a broader explanation later, given that women have literally been sold as property up until a couple hundred years ago.

      Women have the right to at least posit the ways they as a group have been held down, and that includes accepting their indignation and allowing them grace for when they’re wrong, because without those things they won’t actually learn the truth.

      Further than that, I think it’s necessary for women learning now to have the same realization this one did that women throughout all of history save for this recent tiny sliver have been oppressed. Even if it’s built on an incidentally faulty premise, that doesn’t mean the realization itself is wrong.

      Covering up the discourse by labeling the process of realization as “gender bigotry” is itself an attempt at erasure, and very much puts you on the side of the oppressors, just because you think it’s distasteful to have this realization yourself.

      I’m sure gender bigotry exists in the direction of women towards men. This ain’t it.

  • Demonen@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    It occurs to me that the solution might be to start referring to men as “wermen” again, and revert “men” to it’s gender neutral roots. That also means we can have a bunch of other prefixes for other genders.

    Languages are fun.

  • jackpot@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    i think they mean ‘man’ as in ‘mankind’. also any ideas why would they carve it into bone and not bark or something more flat?

  • D61 [any]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    A man makes blankets and he “works in textiles” a woman makes blankets and she “has a hobby making quilts”.

  • Z3k3@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I always read this type of statement as man = species.

    I know this particular thinking is falling out of fashion but it’s not totally dead yet

  • FiskFisk33@startrek.website
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    1 year ago

    “man” as in human kind.

    I agree the linguistics here are unfortunate, but here we are, and that word, in that context, is normally gender neutral.

    Also, 28 day calendar probably means it’s the moon.

  • Emmy@lemmy.nz
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    1 year ago

    All the idiots claiming it’s the moon and giving more details about women’s cycles are missing the point of the quote.

    Which is spelled out, but I’ll place it here.

    The idea that it was a woman is just as valid as it being a man, but man is always assumed.

    The accuracy of the claim is not at issue. The assumption is.

  • mister_monster@monero.town
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    1 year ago

    I keep track of my girlfriend’s ovulation because she can’t be bothered to do it. I don’t want her to get pregnant either. Just pointing that out.

    • huf [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      well yes, but 28 day months dont divide nicely into 365/366 days, so it would not have worked well… uh, hang on. i’m being handed a note. huh. apparently our current calendar also doesnt solve this neatly at all, and is in fact a patched monstrosity more batshit than anything any single malicious person could come up with. well.

  • smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    Yeah, no way to know what gender someone had so we just pick one based on our twisted worldview where some gender must be better than other because reasons.