The mom revealed that her daughter was worried her pad would leak but she had to go back and sit because she wasn't allowed to use the loo.
It's 2020 and there is still a large chunk of the population barely has any idea about menstruation and what it entails. To a large extent, this is on the society that treats menstruation as a taboo and doesn't discuss it as openly as it should.
Recently, a mother of a 15-year-old daughter was left aghast when she learned that a male teacher at her school declined her request to use the washroom and asked her to "hold in" her period till the break as taking loo breaks amid classes aren't allowed in her school.
She took to Mumsnet, a popular discussion platform for parents in the United Kingdom and asked the users if she was being unreasonable for being shocked at this entire incident.
She began by writing, "DD is 15 and her school have a no going to the toilet during lesson time rule, which I completely agree with on the whole as I know how disruptive it can be if people are constantly in and out, and how everyone just uses it as an excuse to bunk off (I am a teacher too - very different environment though). Only exception is if you have a medical note from a doctor."
She goes on to explain the emergency that her daughter faced, "Today in one of her lessons DD says she could feel that she really needed to change her pad, she was getting quite worried about it leaking. She eventually asked the (male) teacher if she could go to the loo."
Teacher: No, you know the rules
DD: I really need it.
Teacher: What did I just say?
DD: It's a girl problem...
Teacher: What do you mean?
DD: Umm... I'm on my period
Teacher: Break is only in half an hour, hold it in til then.
"Obviously those aren't the exact words said but she says it's pretty accurate. DD is quite shy so did just wait til break (no leakage btw). She doesn't seem overly bothered but AIBU (Am I being unreasonable) to be pretty shocked at him telling her to hold it in? Surely even men have some basic idea that it doesn't work like that?"
A commenter on Mumsnet thought that what the teacher did makes sense because girls use periods as an excuse to bunk classes. "It's true - girls do use "it's my period" to get out. I've never had a period myself that would cause instant drowning in a half-hour, I must admit."
But most of the commenters expressed their anger and shock at the teacher and opined that he was wrong to have held her back. "I would complain. Just because some girls may use it as an excuse is no reason to humiliate the many girls who may randomly flood or generally have very heavy periods," wrote a commenter.
"I was 14 when I started my periods. At 15, they were still all over the place. I got sent home a couple of times (once they settled down they’ve not been problematic at all). I really think adults need to show a bit of flexibility with adolescent girls," wrote another.
Needless to say, we need more moms like this. More power to DD's mom for bringing the issue up and starting a conversation around this.
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