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Original poster

Or is this PE teacher unreasonable about periods

706 replies

BigSandyBalls2015 · 26/01/2017 21:32

DD(15) is doing GCSE PE. Part of this involves 'personal survival' which takes place in local swimming pool.

The school obv need to book this, can't just turn up, but DD queried what would happen if some of the girls had their period at the time. PE teacher (female) replied that they'd obviously have to use a tampon, they can't miss it, can't arrange another day. A few girls told her they didn't use/get on with tampons and she got annoyed saying they'd have to get on with it on the day as no other option.

OP posts:
MustBeLoopy390 · 27/01/2017 14:00

You aren't alone Livia. It doesn't sit quite right with me either.

AllPowerfulLizardPerson · 27/01/2017 14:09

Well, it's an option. Try them out, see if they get on with them enough to use them for a couple of hours when other options really won't do.

It's not often you have to be in water on a specified day - unless you are a competitive swimmer who would use internal protection for races, or suppress menses altogether (the latter perhaps better avoided until after puberty is completed, though I have seen it recommended on MN to avoid a teen having a period on a holiday so I'd assumed doctors will prescribe to this age group)

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 27/01/2017 14:14

I used tampons from my very first period aged 13 (usually with a pad too) until I got a moon cup aged 28. I still could not have gone swimming with one in (as mentioned above). Unless you wanted an 'Enoch Powell' situation at the poolside which nobody does. It's unsanitary for a start.

bloodyteenagers · 27/01/2017 14:20

Gcse pe unless it has recently changed,
Can be filmed and this sent in. So the excuse of the 'exam' is bollocks.

In the same group as this swimming safety also includes other sports not all water based. In the same group there's also the option to coach.

There are other options available to the school if they engaged their brains. But what this thread has shown is that parents won't support their daughters. Instead they want to follow the teacher who says shut up and shove a tampax inside you. Or take drugs. Fuck the rest of the whiny girls who for physical reasons cannot insert a tampax. Fuck the others that cannot take contraception or other drugs because of medical reasons. You girls will have to fail and the younger ones not doing the gcse don't bother because of a term of swimming over two years is so rigid.

SexTrainGlue · 27/01/2017 14:23

Only some activities can be filmed rather than assessed whilst happening, and swimming isn't one of them.

(Disclaimer - there might be an exam board whose specs I don't know which permits this, but unless OP discloses board, we can't check definitively)

NotMeNoNo · 27/01/2017 14:24

Is it a regular series of lessons or assessments or just one exam? They should book two dates if it's an assessment. If it's training, sitting out one session out of four should be able to be coped with, they can still watch what's being demonstrated. The school could handle it better.

Niskayuna · 27/01/2017 14:27

I cannot use tampons. I could always feel them, they felt awful and I was worried about TSS.

And those who just bleed into the pool - OK, first that's disgusting, and second, you clearly have very light periods. I can get through an overnight maxi-pad in 30 minutes, then usually through the pants and jeans too. I can't take a bath and, frankly, showers are unpleasant too. As is just about everything else for the week.

My DD would not be taking part. They can't force her to wear the tampon. We'd arrange the day another time, given that it's GCSE, but I don't see why the school can't rearrange another.

teachergirl2011 · 27/01/2017 14:29

They have to book the pool some girl will always be on her period. PE teacher is right.

Niskayuna · 27/01/2017 14:30

"Perhaps employers should insist that female employees wear tampons when, for example, they have a 'team away day' which involves swimming..."

A workplace insisting on staff swimming?

Interesting. I'd like to see how many would support an OP who didn't want to prance about in a swimsuit in front of male staff members, nor see their naked chests.

Our office tried that, once, some kind of water sport thing in a polluted canal. Wetsuits. I declined. I didn't even give a reason (because it was 'I'm pregnant, and I'm not getting in that stinking green water'), probably for the best, my face probably said "I don't come here to dick about in the water with you lot."

Blistory · 27/01/2017 14:33

The attitude that girls should just suck it up/give up swimming/stop expecting the world to revolve around them is the same one that idiots have to women being pregnant and needing that fact to be taken into consideration.

Employers don't get away with telling pregnant women to suck it up and accept it will limit their lives, they have to put make accommodations for them. We'd be outraged if employers asked us to time our maternity leaves around their peak work flows or denied us time off for antenatal appointments. Young girls and women deserve to have their needs recognised and catered for, not because they're special snowflakes but because it's one of the big steps towards equality.

Niskayuna · 27/01/2017 14:36

"When the time comes, too damn right I'm going to encourage her to get used to a tampon so that she can use one if she wants or needs to. Periods are shit enough as it is without having them stop you doing what you want, when you want."

I can't leave the house on my heaviest day. And no, before you ask, I currently don't work and I'm not sure how I'm going to manage it when I return.

Basically because I get through the pad in 30 mins, I need to not be far from home. 15 mins out, 15 back. And I'll then have to put my jeans in the wash, because there's always a damn leak.

Got worse in my late twenties. However we did have a girl at school who ended up taking time off each month because she too could get through a max strength tampon and a max pad in around 45 minutes, and the teachers weren't agreeing to let her go change. In the end she took the worst day off.

You can't 'train' a child to use a tampon. You can't 'insist' they ignore the period if it's simply too heavy.

SexTrainGlue · 27/01/2017 14:41

So should all swimming galas be run in halves with a 2 week ago?

So there's no barrier to participation in competitive swimming.

Genuine question - because you could just keep the time scores from first half and amalgamate with second half, and it seems it won't matter if you double the cost and impact on other competitions (or in this case, exams)

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 27/01/2017 14:42

Nisk it was just an example about the away day - and I don't think school should necessarily have loads of different sessions. Out of interest, to the people who would tell their DD to suck it up, if they couldn't or didn't want to, how would you propose to make them?

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 27/01/2017 14:43

Sorry I see you are agreeing with my point Blush

The attitudes on here are disgusting. Is a PE GCSE really worth potentially fucking someone up?

Gileswithachainsaw · 27/01/2017 15:02

So should all swimming galas be run in halves with a 2 week ago?

Well unless you are holding a gun to their head they don't actually have to do it if they don't want to.

And not wanting to wear a tampon now doesn't mean they won't embrace them.at another point.

You just have to give girls a chance to figure things out and holding things over their head like this is unfair.

Some will started at 9 or 10. Others will start at 16. No one's gonna know In advance if they can use a tampon or not or how they are gonna feel. And nor should they have to sit back and watch the world go by just incase their period is harder to deal with than expected.

Fauchelevent · 27/01/2017 15:09

I ADORE the idea that it's us women with heavy periods who cannot leave on their heaviest day because of extreme pain, nausea and clots who are letting women down and preventing "equality". Love the idea that it's realistic for women with impossible periods - especially young wonen who still are uncomfortable or irregular - must just get on with it, because we're making the women for whom tampons can stop their few teaspoons of blood look bad.

Yeah ok.
Can you let my uterus know, please?

SexTrainGlue · 27/01/2017 15:10

No-one's going to put a gun to their head to make them do PE at GCSE, or even if they do choose swimming when there are about 40 sports to choose from.

And, if they want to swim in galas, why should they not do so and let their life go by, just because they might one day have a period when there's a competition?

Sorry if that sounds more abrasive than I mean it. But if there is a genuine menstrual barrier to girls participating in swimming when there are fixed day 'judgements' (whether exam or competition), shouldn't the barrier be removed for all?

carefreeeee · 27/01/2017 15:40

It has taken me till my thirties to be confident managing periods and even now there are things I prefer not to do on day one.

As a teenager it was a nightmare - didn't know about pain killers, couldn't use tampons, hadn't discovered mooncup, pads didn't last long enough, school toilet facilities were inadequate, blood all over my clothes on a regular basis, the whole business was dirty, embarrassing and I used to dread it.

Teenage girls would probably get on a lot better with sport if they were allowed a week off PE once a month with no questions asked (they could go for a walk or something instead).

GrainOfSalt · 27/01/2017 16:14

I haven't RTFT as some of the early responses have made me see red. Have to wear a tampon? Well you'd have had to insert the thing for me because I sure as hell couldn't at 15 and not for 10+ years after that (and that was not for want of trying either). And how dare anyone tell me or anyone else they HAVE to insert ANY object in their fanny?

mycatwantstokillme1 · 27/01/2017 17:35

I still can't believe there are women here telling other women they just have to shove a tampon in/go on the pill so they don't put anyone else out and no-one else is inconvenienced by their periods. And that if we want equality we just have to use tampax and not let our periods ruin our lives.

Fuck me. It's not even April Fool's day.

Karlakitten1 · 27/01/2017 17:39

Yes of course, lets cancel or move the whole thing or provide a variety of sessions for all the girls on their periods. Seriously?!!! Some people don't live in the real world and are pampered, pandered to princesses. Get a grip.

Gileswithachainsaw · 27/01/2017 17:42

Wanting to avoid using something that causes them pain or discomfort or provides a great deal of difficulty is not being a pandered to pampered princess. Ffs.

Karlakitten1 · 27/01/2017 17:42

Go for a walk instead carefree seriously? Yes, lets employ extra staff to walk with the girls on their periods!!

abbsisspartacus · 27/01/2017 17:42

They could try sponges perhaps?

Trifleorbust · 27/01/2017 17:46

I'm not saying anyone should have to use a tampon, but if they can't then PE GCSE probably wasn't the best choice!

What I want to know - and I genuinely curious - is why anyone wouldn't be able to use a tampon? I understand a teenager not being used to them but there are adults here saying they can't use them. Do these people not have sex?