介绍:
Heyang: A British study says a quarter of English men believe that they experience a monthly &`&man period&`&. Meanwhile, a more shocking statistic show that 58% of their female partners believe in them. Really?
英国一项调查显示，四分之一的男性认为自己每个月都会有特定的“大姨夫”时期，在这段时间内他们会觉得非常疲劳、烦躁、嗜吃和容易烦恼，症状类似于女性的“经前综合征”。男士们真的会有大姨夫吗？
This is a bit of delicate subject to discuss with two gentlemen. And I suppose as the lady here I will take the liberty of explaining the term 大姨妈 or “periods”. So basically in Chinese it’s quite funny. Translated into English it literally means “big aunty”.
Laiming: I think they have the same description in English for period.
HY: “Big aunty”?
LM: Yes. I’ve seen it in a TV series.
Michael: Have you? All right, I haven’t.
HY: Maybe you are not paying attention to such delicate matters.
Michael: Maybe we are watching different shows.
HY: It makes all sense in Chinese to translate this “man period” into 大姨夫, the husband of “big aunty”. So now you know what it is. And it’s super inconvenient, can be really painful and women hate it. Oh, and also it’s sort of like a privilege for ladies you go through that difficult period.
LM: It’s just unfair. It’s your privilege?
HY: In a way yes. And now men are actually competing with women and saying that they have this problem too. Physically do you? Do you? Do you?（重要的事情说三遍） No! So what’s the point here? Do you guys have this problem?
Michael: I even haven’t come across the expression or indeed the notion of a “man period” before, no, Heyang. This is new to me.
HY: This is new to you, all right.
LM: Physically bleeding, it will never happen to you, but how about the mentality that psychological stuff?
HY: Oh, guys, guys! Let’s not get so graphic about it.
LM: Do you get cranky or irritable sometimes?
Michael: Well, yes but I don’t think that has to do with any sort of menstrual cycle or otherwise.
HY: Ok, I think maybe this is pointing at a hormone fluctuation that maybe men experience more or less similar to what women feel. So we are not talking about the physical side of things but more of the psychological side of things. So guys, do you feel that every month there’s a few days you feel cranky, you feel grumpy, you feel unhappy, unsatisfied, you wanna eat a lot and you just hate people around you. Do you feel that?
Michael: I feel that all the time Heyang. That’s my default setting.
HY: What about you Laiming?
LM: So you are always on大姨夫. Well it seems I have a better control of my emotion. And since I’ve got married, my wife has offered me this valuable lesson about this other dimension about this world that is emotional dimension. So I began to realize that our emotions fluctuate through time. And I came to pay attention to these small changes in the state of mind especially. The way I realize that I have this kind of problem is when I get on public transport, for example a bus, when sometimes people don’t queue up, I from time to time will feel irritated. But I don’t always feel irritated.
Michael: Now I feel irritated all the time when I see that. But because I’m British, I don’t do, I just sort of stand there and maybe tut and shake my head to myself. But I won’t do anything more than that. But I wonder if maybe men are sort of cashing in on this a little bit.
HY: Aren’t you guys doing that?
Michael: This happens obviously every four weeks or so with women and as you explained Heyang, it’s very uncomfortable and unpleasant. As a result, you might feel a bit irritable and cranky. And maybe in some cases men have seeing that every four weeks or so, women almost have this of a free pass to be as irritable and cranky as they like. Maybe men are just thinking actually well maybe...
LM: I can be cranky and irritable every time every day!
Michael: Yeah.
LM: It doesn’t have to be during period.
HY: Oh, guys, guys! Now you are wondering why women turn into 女汉子. So women become a little bit more…
LM: Masculine?
HY: No, it’s like masculine in behavior as if women feel that we need to shoulder more responsibility, you cannot rely on men, you have to just do it yourself.
Michael: I’m a strong independent woman.
HY: Because look at the guys! The guys are demanding privilege from men period! No wonder we are being push to the other end of, I don’t even know what this is, but just pushing us to the opposite end.
LM: Don’t you just sympathize with people who don’t pay attention to their emotional wellbeing? I remember talking with one of our colleagues who is from Sri Lanka, who pays a lot of attention to her psychological wellbeing. She said a very famous quote I would like to say on this show. She said like our mind is kind of like our body. If we don’t wash our bodies every two days or every day, your body will stink. So is the same case with your mind. If you don’t pay attention to your mind, to your psychological wellbeing, your mind gets dirty.
Michael: So how do you wash your mind Laiming? What sort of mental exercises or whatever can you do?
LM: First person shooting games!
Michael: OK.
HY: And also getting married. See Laiming has said earlier a wonderful point of view that after getting married he’s matured. He’s learned how to manage his emotions a bit better.
Michael: I think call of duty probably helps with that.
LM: Yes, it helped a lot.
HY: See you need to have different avenues to like balance it out.
LM: But you need to recognize that there’s this alternate reality around you with this emotional dimension.
Michael: I’m not sure if I really buy into all this, to be quite honest with you? If you think too much about this because you don’t have enough else going on. I think if you keep yourself busy, you don’t occupy yourself with thoughts like this. I think it’s very easy to overthink when you are a bit bored or you are at a loose end. I think maybe that’s contributing to this sort of phenomenon.
LM: You mean we are self-pitying?
Michael: Exactly. Self-pity, self- loathing, whatever you want call it.
HY: I think it’s a constructive advice what Michael has just said. We’ve got a whole bunch of messages coming in, regard this topic. There’s “yszdd” saying that 大姨妈是生理需求，而男人的大姨夫则是心理的需求。I think that is a good point and I do sympathize with guys. Yes, you don’t always have to be strong. You can let your feelings out too. But don’t call it 大姨夫. You know, don’t make it bigger as what it actually is. That’s just whiny.
大家还在听
