Perhaps we’re talking past each other. The express purpose of the featured applications isn’t to track cycles for fertility-related reasons, but to alert the person to impending periods of PMS from many women in the person’s life, not just hir partner. It is an invasion of a woman’s privacy to chart her menstrual cycles unless she has expressly given you permission to do so (like in the case of a heterosexual couple trying to get pregnant / avoid pregancy). That these applications are pitched as PMS detectors and not family planning aids speaks to that fact. It is also deeply demeaning to say, as the products do, that women become irrational / hysterical / irritating once a month, and how ever will the poor men deal with such an inconvenience? The problem with the product does not stop at marketing: its defining purpose is sexist to the core.

I sure as hell don’t want some random asshole trying to track my genital functions on a phone just because we work together and ze is terrified of talking to someone cross.

Also, what’s with the personal attacks?

Not all women get *any* uncomfortable PMS symptoms. I don’t even notice I have mine, except for the fact that I’m bleeding.

Anonymous, it’s interesting to me that you cite the so-called “mental stress” (even though you only described physical discomforts) women experience during their periods, when I guarantee it’s more mentally stressful to have a dismissive, insensitive, mocking male family member or “partner” (word’s in quotes for a reason), who treats you like some sort of freak for menstruating, than it is to experience a few days of bleeding.

And thank you for further clarifying my comment, pcwhite. That is exactly what I meant.

wtf? How about this…it’s self-centered to invade a woman’s privacy by charting the function of her sexual organs on your iphone, just because you feel entitled to this information. Grow the fuck up. Whether or not a woman experiences PMS is none of your business, and it is not going to affect her capacity to interact with you, or you with her. If you’re so afraid of a woman with PMS that you dream up an elaborate scheme (like this app) to avoid interacting with her, then you are a baby. And a misogynist.

SarahMC never said that “women are not expressing their emotions, and when they do, they blame it on PMS.” I interpret her comment to mean that the women who DO blame their irritability on PMS do so because it isn’t socially acceptable for women to express anger, and women’s emotions are not considered valid or legitimate.

Also, gotta love the condom icon on ovulation day. Nice to know that all the women in your life are presumed fuckable.

Also, like anonymous pointed out, the period in women is very different. But also, it is not exactly clear if period in man do exist, how it operates and how it affects men.

And I’m curious about the mythical nature of the differences between men and women that you said.

I don’t deny that many women feel psychological/physical discomfort and stress before and during menstruation. But too often you hear “Oh, she’s just PMSing” as an excuse to avoid/dismiss a woman who’s standing up for herself or speaking her mind. That’s why this is offensive, it’s giving further license to diminish us based on arbitrary stereotypes about out biology.

(I had to get my two cents in, though I know I didn’t articulate it as well as Sarah. :) )