But nobody cares how PMS affects women, we need to make sure the mens aren't unfairly affected! PMS isn't real, it's a sitcom staple, a joke, an insult, or is discussed even by women in terms of how the man is inconvenienced by strong emotions and/or no sex.

I have to laugh at the idea of a guy trying to chart the menstrual cycle based on his misperception that a strong opinion or slightly cranky demeanor means PMS, though. "I accidentally dented her new car and she yelled at me, must be PMS..."

Well, this is good in one way. It will allow women to easily identify sexist douchebags and remove them from her life. And, since apparently the sexist douchebags who are excited about such a product are clearly cheating on their significant others (or at least want to be), there's an extra handy-dandy self-labeling feature. This product says "i'm a sexist douchebag and cheating on you." Perfect!

And, if it were a woman in charge of hiring for a company, it would be easy to whose resume should end up on the trash.

Personally, I rather like it when misogynistic morons make it so easy to identify them.

And also note how ovulation days are marked by a condom, as if that's the only time of the month it's important to use them.

Um...I'm pretty sure that it means it will "save you money" by making sure that you don't "plan your dates" when your girlfriend is on her period. You know, so you don't waste your money paying for dinner when she can't even put out.

i couldn't agree more Endor... i love it when it is painfully obvious that someone is a misogynistic sexist barley human jerk. weather it be by the Tee shirt they are wearing, or the ridiculous comments they make, or the lighter they use, its just so, so convenient.

Okay, first of all I've seen plenty of girls claiming PMS was the reason as to why they acted in X way. So, since I don't have PMS, I would just take their world for it and believe that some women indeed act differently. So the guy looking for that app might just have to deal with a woman that experiences intense psychological changes. I don't really understand how it is "perpetuating" anything, as it is only an app. Can't people even state that something happens? Is it forbidden?

Second, a guy is not allowed the privilege of saying that something is difficult for him just because it is more difficult for the woman? Is the guy simply supposed to shut up and accept everything because the woman happens to have colics? I'm not saying it is okay to be insensitive, just saying that it is not insensitive to be annoyed if someone acts annoying.

But yeah, the way the app was marketed was stupid, but its efforts are not. I say it is being self centerted to point fingers at a guy trying to keep tracks of PMS.

As per usual, this particular brand of sexism is based on myths re: the differences between men and women. Men have hormonal cycles, too, which affect anger, irritability, energy and sex drive. But that fact is barely acknowledged by the masses (sort of gets in the way of yukking it up at women's expense).

Plenty of women use PMS as an excuse when they become irritated, or "overly" emotional, because women internalize sexism. Many women don't think they have a right to their feelings, so they blame even their most righteous anger on PMS.

SarahMC, I am now your internet fan. Well put.

Men do have hormonal cycles, but we don't menstruate or have the cramps etc that accompany this. The cramps, physical discomfort, possibility of bloody "accidents" all increase the mental stress on women at this time. It doesn't seem arguable to me that this isn't a difference between men and women.

I also tend to think people in these threads are incredibly elitist when they talk about "the masses". You, and the way you think, are not incredibly special. Many people feel the same way.

Funny thing is, I've never pulled the PMS card, and neither have any other women I've known. I get cramps that time of month, and generally like to sleep a bit extra the first day, but I've never felt unusually cranky. My friends from Japan and Taiwan even say they'd never heard of the concept until they moved here.

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. :) )

While that does happen, I don't think it is also accurate to say that it always happen. Of course I'm just speaking from my personal experience, which obviously differs from yours, but I think it's going too far to say that women are not expressing their emotions, and when they do, they blame it on PMS.

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 say it is being self centerted to point fingers at a guy trying to keep tracks of PMS."

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.

Mythical differences between men and women = men are ruled by cold, hard logic whilst women are irrational and emotional and ruled by their hormones.

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.

This seems dangerous in another way--if a couple plans contraceptive use based on how an iPhone app charts her cycle, they're putting a lot of trust in a calculator instead of in her own body's signals. Better to learn about how your unique body operates than to rely on an impersonal guess, because the iPhone is not going to care if it guesses wrong... but you very well might.

pcwhite, wether or not it would be an invasion of privacy would simply depend on how the couple communicate. Like I said earlier, people are different. Some people might have the need to keeping track of it. Not everybody is the same, that was the whole point, not generalizing how every women or how every men act. That's why the product itself isn't bad, just the way it was marketed, it was marketed based on generalisations. What the product does can be done with any calendar, it only makes it all a whole lot easier.

Also, what's with the personal attacks?

ok...not once have I tried to generalize how all women or all men act. Where are you getting that?

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.

Sarah if you think that physical symptoms do not lead to mental stress, congratualations to you. That is not how it works for the rest of us. My physical well-being and my mental state are very linked.

I have no words, other than to say I am disgusted.

This product is disgusting, but I do get warm fuzzies from imagining some jerk trying to use this product by entering 'known occurences of PMS' everytime a woman acts non-doormat-esque. Eventually he will come to realize that either he is surrounded by women with freakishly irregular periods and near constant PMS, or that his definition of 'PMS' is way way way off.

Nice how this also assumes that every woman's cycle is regular, too.

well, i am a woman who considers herself to be geek-friendly and a severe case of PMDD... so i think this is pretty helpful. i think there could be a more "sensitive" way of handling it, but yeah. some women have strong enough symptoms to end marriages and attack ex husbands. ahem. i am sure you all want to flame me, but for some men, this can be a good resource for handling the surge of hormones during the luteal phase.

good app and help the boys care about my girlfriend. I'm looking for a good mobdro para smart tv to use for my TV.