...of rows you'd like to insert? say I want to insert 200 rows... do I really have to select a row, double it... double that... double that all the way to 200.

And if there is not a function like that - it seems a smart program made a stupid mistake. I might be wrong... that would be great!
Forgot to add an important detail.

The documents I work on have sections... sections need different amounts of rows added daily... so selecting a certain number of rows wouldn't work... the next section down would be covered by the new rows.

F1 does not tell me what I'm looking for.
So maybe that's a large oversight after all.

if you customize your toolbar buttons and put the insert/delete rows/columns buttons at hand, addition or deletion of rows and columns is just a click(s).
for your problem, select the number of rows you want to add from the row you want to start inserting.(don't worry about the datas in the rows you're selecting, they'll be moved down)
-then click the insert rows button.
the number of rows you've selected will be inserted. (if you find selecting 200 rows a bit cumbersome; select 10 rows and click the insert button 20 times etc.etc.)

yes, instead of inserting row one by one, you just select the row insert option, hold the shift key and move the cursor down as many rows u want, then select insert

To insert multiple rows, select the rows above which you want to insert rows. Select the same number of rows as you want to insert. For example, to insert three new rows, you need to select three rows.