A male high school teacher forbade a female student from using the bathroom during class, telling her to “hold in” her period rather than letting her change her pad. Mumsnet user yaela123 took to the popular message boards to reveal her 15-year-old daughter’s experience and it infuriated commenters, for good reason!
- The class has a “no bathroom” rule. While this is pretty much the dumbest rule because schools aren’t prison and students aren’t convicts/babies, OP said she understands the rule as a lot of kids use bathroom breaks as an excuse to go socializing and get away from lessons. The one exception to the rule is those who have a “medical note,” but how could someone with a period get a doctor’s note for a condition that most girls have every month?
- The girl even told her teacher what was going on. After initially asking to use the bathroom, the teacher reminded her of the rule of no breaks. When she then told him she had a “girl problem,” he humiliated her further by asking her what she meant. She then came right out and said she had her period, to which the teacher told her to “hold it in” until their break 30 minutes later.
- Because she’s shy, she didn’t fight the teacher. While I probably would have just gotten up out of my seat and walked to the bathroom to change my pad, OP reported that her daughter is “quite shy” and therefore just accepted the teacher’s ruling and said nothing despite worrying about leakage.
- Stop forcing students to ask to go to the bathroom. Especially by high school, you should be preparing students to be adults. As adults, you don’t have to beg to use the restroom – you just get up and go. They should be trusting students to use their best judgment (and maybe have a member of staff in halls to make sure no one is wandering around), not treating them like imbeciles.
