Buddy, I Got Your PMS Right Here

When last we visited with Freakonomics, they were comparing prostitution to rice consumption. Today, Stephen Dubner introduces his readers to a tracking tool for men to keep tabs on the menstrual cycles of the women in their lives:

A Menstrual Site for Men

That's how PMSBuddy.com pitches itself. To wit:

PMSBuddy.com is a free service created with a single goal in mind: to keep you aware of when your wife, girlfriend, mother, sister, daughter, or any other women in your life are closing in on "that time of the month" - when things can get intense for what may seem to be no reason at all.

Note that they are smart enough to not include "employees" in the list of women to keep an eye on.

Is there anything the internet can't do?

Yes. Be free of misogyny.

With regard to Dubner's commentary, I love how he takes care to point out the wisdom of excluding employees "in the list of women to keep an eye on," which not only implicitly suggests that all men are employers and all women employees (female bosses? zuh? twenty-first century whaaaaat?), but also makes one positively giggle at the thought that there's hardly a need for PMSBuddy.com to make the suggestion when there are bloggers at the New York Times to do it for them.

And with regard to the premise itself, specifically the idea of "things [getting] intense for what may seem to be no reason at all," I will merely direct you to this old post, in which I explain that women who suffer irritability as a symptom of PMS are not losing their shit for no reason. PMS does not lower one's ability to reason; it lowers one's patience and, hence, tolerance for bullshit.

Perhaps I should launch a menstrual site for women: The PMSBuddyBuddy—a free service with a single goal in mind: To give the wives, girlfriends, mothers, sisters, daughters, and other women in the lives of douchebags using the PMSBuddy a place to explain what those self-centered assholes are doing day in and day out that's driving them fucking nuts, i.e. the reasons that "things can get intense."

Like signing up to a social networking site and finding a de facto friend waiting for you, each user at PMSBuddyBuddy will have "He uses PMSBuddy" automatically generate at the top of her list.

[Thanks to Shakers Emily and TJ for passing that along.]