Hey, you women out there. I got one for you:
You know if a guy grabs the butt of a woman he finds attractive and when she objects he’ll make the, “It’s the testosterone, I couldn’t help it” excuse?
Know how we don’t have any real sympathy for that?
Then why should we expect sympathy for flying off the handle at our hormone cycles? Why should the menstrual cycle give us a free pass? Don’t get me wrong, my moods are very much hormonally-driven. I just don’t think that me being mean in the face of that is excusable. I feel like I’m a grown up and responsible for my behavior. If I pull the “I’m at the mercy of my hormones” card, and then expect a man not to, then what I’m really saying is that as a woman I’m not as much of a grownup.
I’m not into that. I think expecting all the grownups to be grownups whether they’ve an innie or an outie is what makes the most sense.
And since we’re all human as well, yes, apologizing when one screws up[1] is a good idea, too. “I’m sorry, I was wrong to do that, and I’m going to try to do better” should be in all our repertoires.
[1] Not if. When. We all do screw up.