On TMI

I'm unclear if it's just that I run in bizarre circles (very possible) or if the women of today have simply lost all sense of decorum (also very possible), but it seems as if lately the last tiny speck of decency has flown out the window and TMI has become the utter norm.

For instance, dropping off my littlest at the church nursery on Sunday, I was chatting briefly with the worker who I know by name but who is, hands down, not someone I consider a friend (close or otherwise). She's simply the woman who watches the baby during church. I know her name and that she's single and I can peg a guess at her age, but haven't spent much time thinking about it. I only recently discovered what she does for a living (and she ran the same class when my older boy was in it, so I've "known" her for several years now.) Innocently enough, thinking I was passing the time until the boy found a toy that would entertain him while I slipped off, I asked, "How's your weekend going?"

She replied, "Oh, well, my little red friend showed up yesterday, so that put a damper on my plans."

Really? Really!? Just say you're not feeling 100% and leave it there. I promise I'm just going to say, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Because I don't even know you well enough to dig further into your symptomology if you tell me that much. That's how not friends we are.

Sadly, this seems to be a trend. Is it meant to be part of some feminist movement? Do they feel they're breaking down some taboo wall? Realistically, any person who has made it through the sixth grade knows about the general inner workings of the female body. So it's not as if you're educating the world at large by going on about such things. But I'm finding more and more people are using this as an excuse -- and then wanting to go into crazy detail.

I've had volunteers for a church program I run let me know they're not coming because of cramps. (And then even more detail behind them that again, I don't care about.) Do they do this at work? I'm guessing they probably do. But why? Why do we accept this? I can basically say that, across the board, I don't need details about any of your bodily functions.

Am I the only woman who feels this way? I'm pretty certain that guys aren't on board with all this talk (and I've been in the room where women are going on about their cycles with men who are not their husband or doctor present, so there's certainly a group of women who seem to feel it's a necessary and important part of general conversation.) I wonder, sometimes, if men were to start talking about their morning wood if women would be expected to take it in stride. If we were to say to a coworker getting in at 10, "Hey, running late?" And they were to go on about how they had such a forceful erection they had to lay in bed for another fifteen minutes if we would just smile, nod and go on about our day. Because the women who respond to the same question with commentary about their cramps and flow volume really aren't much different.

Better than that, can't we all just agree that we don't need to talk about these things to people other than our doctors, spouses, and children (and the children is only in an age-appropriate teaching about their bodies kind of way, not filling them in so they are scarred for life with too much information)?

And if not...could you at least leave me out of the conversation?