OH DEAR. This viral Twitter thread proves just how little men know about periods.

When it comes to the male education of the female body – there are a few gaps – one of them being exactly what happens when a woman gets her period.

So much so that when Twitter user, Fabuticaba, shared her awkward date chit chat with her fellow Tweeters, thousands of other women chimed in with their similar experiences of masculine cluelessness.

“Just went on a date with a guy that thought periods lasted a month. He’s 28,” she wrote.

A collective face palm, please and thank you.

Just went on a date with a guy that thought periods lasted a month.

He’s 28.

— Fabuticaba (@wahweepop) September 1, 2018

The post has since gone viral with 17,160 retweets, 176,000 likes and nearly 3000 comments, with some users trying to guess the origins of the man’s ignorance.

“I’d bet my house he went to Catholic school,” suggested one user.

“His last girlfriend probably told him that so she wouldn’t have to sleep with him too often,” read another comment.

The questionable high school sex education of this one individual aside, the sheer amount of similiar comments proves the need for a global curriculum on periods and the female biology.

Perhaps starting with exactly how long they last, and which part of the female anatomy it comes out of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Like, all jokes aside, it’s actually scary how little men know about periods. I met a guy once who thought that women could control their periods: like turn it on and off like a tap. pic.twitter.com/XGngssGc5o

— L (@HollyHoelightly) September 2, 2018

doesn’t suprise me, a PE teacher at my school was around 40 & thought they only lasted a day? makes me think why do we seperate (biological) girls & boys for sex ed, when it would make much more sense for both sexes to know about each other’s bodies as well as their own?

— elle ???? (@onlinelle) September 2, 2018

Well, the Bible.

— (((Lisa Solod))) (@lisasolod) September 2, 2018

I hate to add insult to injury here, but this man even had a bachelor in biology (state college, fully educated in Wisconsin). He also referenced breasts once as “marmallary glands” in a winning moment.

— ~~ wombat ~~ (@WhimsyWombat) September 2, 2018

I once heard a boy say that women still had periods when they were pregnant, and that women could only get their periods at the very beginning or end of the month, never in the middle.

— Miskatonic Grad Student (@suzABXY) September 3, 2018

I had to tell my a guy you can’t just hold your period in when you go swimming

— Savannah (@Savvylovexx) September 3, 2018

I had a guy tell me “well you are cursed” when I answered his question of what was wrong with “really bad cramps”.

BC of, you know, the curse – not any underlying medical issues.

— ❄️Liberal Navy Vet Fu*k Your Civility????️‍????❄️ (@Jesmaec) September 2, 2018

I found out about halfway through a two and half year relationship that my boyfriend thought that I couldn’t pee when I had a tampon in because “doesn’t it all come out the same hole?” He was 21/22 at the time.

— Brittany “why am I still on this site” Lauren (@BrittanyLauren5) September 2, 2018

Quizzing the Mamamia office, other women have had similar chats with the male species.

One colleague recalled a high school conversation where one boy asked her if “girls got turned on when they put tampons in”.

“I can only assume he has a teeny tiny peen and was looking for a glimmer of hope,” she said.

Another had a 38-year-old boyfriend who struggled with the difference between tampons and pads… which she quickly rectified.

“In his 38 years he just never spoke to any of his girlfriends about their periods,” she said.

“I think it’s women not talking to their partners about it,” she added. “Like it’s some secret shame.”

And while we can’t control what the men in our lives have been taught, it’s true that we can only try and help them see the light.

Or you know… direct them to Professor Google. Might we suggest this post as a bit of Menstruation 101.

Have you ever had to have a similar conversation with a male partner, friend, relative or colleague? Please share your war stories in a comment please.

PS, this is what would happen if your period was a person. We definitely wouldn’t be friends.