by Jamie Kenney

TikTok

A woman’s body is mysterious. Not because it’s inherently more complicated than the male body, but the historically and predominantly male medical institution has historically paid far less attention to it. When we’ve asked them to, they’ve all but shoved their fingers in their ears while screaming “La la la la la have you tried losing weight?!”

TikTok account Roe v. Bros puts a humorous twist on this sad fact of life by asking men questions about women’s bodies, gameshow style.

In a series of “Man on the Street” interviews (emphasis very heavily on “man”), host Tiffany Springle asks a series of basic questions about women’s bodies. Like… extraordinarily basic. The kind of thing most of us learn in 5th grade health class. Questions like, “Can women pee while their tampon is in”; “Why there are different types of tampons”; “How many tampons someone would use over the course of their period”; and even the most basic “What is a period?”

The answers were… I’d say disappointing, but in order to be disappointed you had to have had hope in the first place and over the past few years that’s worn a bit thin for me. Judge for yourself…

But it’s that last question— “Are you registered to vote?” — that makes this less funny. Because whether or not guys know about women’s bodies, they will nevertheless be voting about them.

It’s also true of those legislating our bodies. And time and time again lawmakers have betrayed a profound ignorance on the topic. From suggesting a fetus simply “floats” and does “not directly connect to the woman”’s body (ditto the umbilical cord and placenta) to assuring voters “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing [i.e. pregnancy] down.” A 2019 bill in the Ohio house would have made insurers may cover a procedure to treat ectopic pregnancy (where a fertilized egg implants outside of the uterus) that would re-implant the ovum into a woman’s uterus, despite the fact that such a procedure does not currently exist.

Basically, some govern by vibes rather than actual science. It’s dispiriting to say the least. Perhaps Springle says it best when closing out the video.

“Don’t let manbrains outvote women in the upcoming election.”