Little Women, and their little brains.

"Many women are saying the name evokes awkward associations with feminine hygiene products." “A lot of women when they hear the word ‘pad’ are going to think about feminine hygiene.”

"Girls always have so many questions, you know, about the way the guys interact with each other. They want to learn so they can manipulate, so they can use it to their advantage. Well, we're not going to give away all of our secrets just 'cause we're stuck on a bus together. Sorry, that's guy code and road code – combined." – Jack White.

"You see, as a man and a husband myself, I believe there are certain secrets to which the Opposition – ie, women/wives – should never be privy." – An asshat.

Being a woman, I'm constantly being reminded as how I am a variant from a normal human, not part of the regular distribution of humanity. Men are people; women are some oddly similar species that cannot fit in a binomial distribution with real people.

Sometimes it's Jack White explaining why he can't talk to Alison Mosshart, because that would tell chicks (subhuman) how men – real people – relate to each other. Sometimes it's this asshat telling us that he's letting us in on a secret – men want to sleep with women – that he can't discuss without losing his membership of the Man Clique.

Today it's 'the interwebs' – in this case the New York Times telling us that Apple's iPad is badly named because women associate the name with menstruation.

Sure, menstruation dominates my being. I don't actually have any thoughts in my head that are not concerned with what men think of my body and what my body's doing. The concept of abstract thought not based on monthly cycles (and what the men are doing to my body at each stage of the cycle) is completely alien to me.

Wait, no, actually that's not the case. I've used notepads and Steno Pads for as long as I've used menstrual pads and somehow, by sheer force of intellect, I've managed to keep them separate in my mind. I do understand that men like to shag women (mostly). And I'm clear that women's desire to manipulate men is not qualitatively different from men's desires to manipulate other men.

Generally I associate the 'girls have cooties' faction with Americans, who are deeply stupid when it comes to gender politics and could do with some forcible consciousness-raising. I'm disappointed to see someone from the UK Times of London coming out with a 1967-rated piece on how we (people) have to keep our fantasies from the little women (not people) because they just wouldn't understand. But I guess there are throwbacks in every era.

And I really don't appreciate being told I can't understand the term iPad because teh girls' brains is too small.