Advertisement
We independently evaluate the products we review. When you buy via links on our site, we may receive compensation. Read more about how we vet products and deals.

How much do men know about women's bodies? Viral game show quizzes bros about vaginas, IUDs, pregnancy and more — their failure is funny (and a lesson)

Roe vs. Bros asks questions about female anatomy to men on the street — but how much do they really know? (Photo: Roe v. Bros)
Roe vs. Bros asks questions about female anatomy to men on the street — but how much do they really know? (Photo: Roe v. Bros)

"How many fallopian tubes does a woman have?" comedian Tiffany Springle, wearing a bright purple suit, asks in the latest Roe v. Bros video. "Wow! ... What is a fallopian tube?!" her male subject responds earnestly. How do you use a tampon? What does PMS stand for? Can pregnant women go swimming? How big is a human egg? From New York to Georgia, Springle quizzes men about the female bodily experience — and the answers she gets expose a hushed fact: the sex education gap is very real.

The intention of the Roe vs. Bros, a video game show series, isn't to shame or mock the men who participate. In fact, some of the members of the Roe v. Bros team are actually dudes themselves. The series was created by art director Ivan Blotta, writer Billy Custer and director, editor and producer Brian Neaman. Tracy Moore is the show's executive producer, while comedian Springle was brought on as the host. The first episode, which asked men whether or not women can pee with a tampon in, went live Nov. 2, just days before the midterm elections.

And that timing wasn't coincidental. The conversation around reproductive care has only gotten louder in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June. Scaled-back abortion access has meant many reproductive decisions are no longer in the hands of the person with the uterus, but in the hands of lawmakers — often male lawmakers. That's what inspired the title of the video series.

"We wanted to show the hypocrisy of how little men know about women's bodies, [even though] they're the ones voting and they're the ones making decisions in government," Custer tells Yahoo Life. "We got the idea for the game show, and we teamed up with Brian Neaman, who came up with the plan to put it on TikTok. We found Tiffany, and within one week, we went out to Union Square Park [in New York City] and made it happen."

Roe vs. Bros chat with men about women's bodies. (Photo: Roe vs. Bros)
Roe vs. Bros chat with men about women's bodies. (Photo: Roe vs. Bros)

Roe v. Bros quickly took off online, amassing 424,000 followers on TikTok. On Instagram, the account has more than 148,000 followers, which include stars like Sophia Bush and Amber Riley.

Comments on the Roe v. Bros TikTok videos show just how much people are loving the content — if not also groaning over what men don't know they don't know.

"The confidence of these guys tho is what gets me," one commenter wrote on the first video. "Like know nothing but act like you know all."

Another added, "I don't blame men for not having the answers to these qs, but I do blame them for thinking they can still govern our bodies w so little knowledge lol."

Neaman explains that Roe v. Bros videos wouldn’t be quite as funny if the questions were too hard, stating that the perfect question is "something that every woman knows the answer to, but guys might be uninformed."

Roe vs. Bros chat with men about women's bodies. (Photo: Roe vs. Bros)
Roe vs. Bros chat with men about women's bodies. (Photo: Roe vs. Bros)

"That would be like, ‘'Why are there different sizes of tampons?' When my wife sent me to go to Duane Reade to shop for tampons I was like — ‘What does this all mean?’ I figured it out, but it's not something I knew coming out of college," he says.

As funny as it may be, there are reasons why men are not as informed as they should be on these questions. Sex education in the United States runs the gamut from comprehensive to completely lacking, according to experts, and only 22 states require puberty education to be medically accurate. It's no surprise, then, that many teens are even turning to TikTok for the education they are not receiving in schools. Social stigma can also prevent men from learning about things like periods from family members and friends.

Roe v. Bros has declined to publicly take a side politically so that they can be open to people across the political spectrum. In fact, that’s why Springle wears a purple suit — a mix of red and blue, to show that the issue of bodily autonomy isn't a partisan issue, but a human health issue.

The way Roe v. Bros is able to keep things civil, Springle explains, is by making sure that as a host, she never "shames or judges or sets anyone up as the butt of the joke."

"This is truly to see what a person knows," she tells Yahoo Life. "We are trying to start a civil and lighthearted conversation around topics that are considered fairly serious or taboo. If we can laugh together, and then have a thoughtful, well-meaning conversation about it, I think that's how we move forward."

The response to the videos has been overwhelmingly positive. Custer says he's proud of the fact that one of their latest videos received almost 20,000 comments, most part of a "cordial discourse."

"People are learning and communicating," he says. "It's very refreshing."

Springle loves that viewers are using the comments section on the posts as a place for "knowledge sharing," and says people are "willing to go deeper" into the answers shared on screen in order to explain some topics to people who might not understand.

"We've gotten some messages from parents who are showing these videos to their kids to educate them," she says. "They're using these videos as an educational tool, which is pretty wild and promising."

Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life's newsletter. Sign up here.