Modern Family Doesn’t Understand Menstruation

Poor Phil. He has to live with ladies. Who bleed. Once a month. The horror.

Who else enjoys a good one two punch of sitcom love on Wednesdays? You’ve got Friends for people born between 1976 and 1986 (Happy Endings) and you have Modern Family. Yes it features the least sexual couple I’ve ever seen on my tv and yes Gloria sometimes reinforces stereotypes that have been around since Ricky Ricardo first banged his drum, but it’s a fun time people.

Last night was the first Wednesday I’d been home in a while and I was all “F yes sitcooooooms.” I poured a glass of port and sat down to watch….a guy suffer the abuses of three bleeding harpies.

….

What the hell Modern Family?

I’m totally down with menstruation syncing jokes even though it is apparently a myth and not real. But turning three out of the five women on your show into irrational balls of emotion that screech their ways through life for a week each month is idiotic. Do I even need to explain to you how it reinforces really negative stereotypes about women? How stupidity like that encourages people to make jokes about how women can’t be in positions of power because they turn irrational once a month?

I watched the entire episode with dread. I kept hoping you guys were going to turn it around. When Phil started weeping at the end I was totally expecting you to make some joke about how EVERYONE gets this way sometimes and it has nothing to do with gushing uterine lining but is a great excuse to gorge on ice cream. But instead you all played it “safe” in that you just went back to giggling over those “crazy” women and their hormones embracing the man they drove to tears.

Menstruation jokes can be funny. They are often funny, but tired old jokes about how stupid women are on their periods aren’t funny. They’re older than a Red Skelton gag about water bottle girdles.

What was the biggest cringe period joke of the night for you?

F that. What’s your favorite period joke of all time? Let’s chat about that instead. One time someone told me she was having a high flow day and it was like Carrie in the shower. That’s my go to. And personally I still hope to one day break up with a dude by just whipping my tampon out and slapping him in the face. Go ahead. get your p-joke on in the comments below.