A new "Got Milk?" ad campaign is promoting the fact that drinking milk can alleviate PMS. There's actually research that suggests upping your intake of calcium and vitamin D can, in fact, lessen both physical and emotional symptoms associated with PMS; so as far as I can tell, this campaign might have been successful in terms of convincing women to drink more milk ...

So then why do the ads themselves have to be so ridiculously sexist?

In the days following KCBS reporter Serene Branson's scary on-air incident after the Grammys, everyone speculated a stroke was what caused her to speak in what came out sounding like unintelligible gibberish. We now know that the garbled speech was a result of complex migraine syndrome. Branson made the rounds to some news shows yesterday and on Thursday night, explaining what happened.

In her first interview since the incident, Branson told KCBS:

At around 10 o'clock that night I was sitting in the live truck with my field producer and the photographer and I was starting to look at some of my notes. I started to think, the words on the page are blurry and I could notice that my thoughts were not forming the way they normally do...As soon as I opened my mouth I knew something was wrong. I was having trouble remembering the word for Grammy. I knew what I wanted to say but I didn't have the words to say it.

It's not me, it's you.

Finding a running partner is pretty easy. Breaking up with one isn’t.

Getting to know a new exercise buddy is kind of fun at first, like flirting at the bar was back in college. But what happens if your new BRB (Best Running Buddy) turns out to be a whiny, negative mess of emotional baggage and just the idea of sharing your precious workout time with her makes you want to call in sick, every.damn.day? How do you dump her?

As if it weren't enough that we feel crappy when we're PMSing or ovulating. (Got mittelschmerz? No, it's not a type of German lager ... it's those strange mid-cycle cramps!) Turns out that our hormones could influence behavior, immunity -- and yeah, even our bank accounts at different points in our cycle. 

For instance, you may have heard that British scientists found that we're more likely to overspend when we're premenstrual. Yep, two-thirds of PMSing respondents had "bought something on impulse." 

That explains so many clothing items that now hang in my closet unworn. Sigh.

Here, even more ways our hormones are messing with us -- for better or for worse -- throughout the month. After all, it (literally) pays to know ...

Here's a pretty common scenario when my husband and I head out for a date night that includes a cocktail: The waitress arrives at our table with a Cosmopolitan and a Manhattan. She sets the Cosmo down in front of me and the Manhattan in front of my husband. We smile resignedly ... and switch the drinks back to their rightful owners.

I can see why she'd assume the Cosmo is mine, because it's pink, fruity, and strongly identified with Sex and the City. (Not mocking you, honey! Okay, maybe just a little teensy bit.) But food is gendered in all sorts of ways. If I write, "Chris is totally jonesing for some chocolate" you're picturing a female, right? If I substituted "nice bloody rare steak" for "chocolate," you'd most likely think Chris is a guy.

Photo by Seattle Municipal Archives In the battle of the sexes, who's the better gyno?

I've had both male and female gynecologists, and I've experienced pros and cons with each.  

While no one can argue the most important thing about your gyno visit is that you actually show up, just how important is the sex of your gyno?

Photo from necessit-ease.comSo, most of us girls have period undies -- the ones we wear at "that time of the month" -- right?   

But do we really need them with a capital P and a capital U, as in Period Undies being sold by Simple Necessit-Ease? They are touted as "groundbreaking intimate apparel to provide additional protection for women during the height of their menstrual cycle."

The come in an array of colors (including white, which I find funny) and feature "an ultra slim, waterproof, breathable, poly coated fabric liner that is soft and comfortable against the skin."

At first, I thought they were a joke, especially because the PR firm promoting them is called Mannfolk Public Relations. Or at least I figured they were the idea of a man who discovered his girlfriend's period undies (with lower case letters) and was appalled.

Photo by deaner2

Just for fun ... CafeMoms dish on some of the things that annoy them about being a woman:

-- When you bend over to pick up something and your boob/boobs fall out of your bra; then you're standing there trying to adjust yourself so that people don't see.

-- The way some ethnic groups of men stare at me, even when I'm looking my worst. Creeps me out.

-- Hair removal, especially bikini area.

-- The "better than you" attitude of many moms of high schoolers I've come across.

-- That men can get away with being a little overweight, but women are ridiculed for it.