Or is this PE teacher unreasonable about periods

[BigSandyBalls2015]

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.

Italiangreyhound: Got you. Several reasons.

• If a boy wishes to be excused on medical grounds, he needs to produce a note from his parents.
• Students sometimes lie about medical issues to get out of PE
• The teacher is accountable for the students' learning and safety and will be challenged about why (potentially) every girl in their class is sitting out of PE every week.

Obviously it's great that your DD likes PE but you are joking with me if you don't think students will see their friend isn't doing PE today and want to sit out with them, or want to keep their hair 'on fleek' for P4 Maths!

Thanks Italian.

I think this thread has really made me feel cross that people who have just normal or light periods just have no concept about the spectrum, admittedly my mum and I are on the extreme end (menopause was a nightmare for her and not looking forward to that!).

Can't help thinking it is because of this kind of stuff though, the people not wanting to know about them, not wanting to hear about other people's, being suspicious of them and these 'in this day and age' comments.

If you have steretypically normal periods then that's nice for you but many many women do not have light or predictable periods. Many women who didn't have steretypically normal periods as teenagers felt not just ashamed or embarrassed about getting them but also what they were actually like! If periods were just normalised and accommodated teen girls would feel less embarrassed and ashamed.

It has certainly been my experience that the embarrassment and shame caused 90% of the problem.

There are some good things about my periods though, although I bleed paradoxically I don't seem to often cramp too badly, I don't really get PMS, they are absolutely timely (down to the hour usually and even come back after pg/hormones to the same timetable they would have been in) and I seem to respond very effectively to hormonal contraception as it seems absolutely foolproof for me even with a margin of error whereas without contraception I am ragingly fertile.

Don't think there is a single woman that hasn't ever had some issue re PMS, cramping, bleeding so why isn't it just normal to accommodate it in every day life and expect it happens.

And trifle - periods are not a medical issue... they are just periods...

Offred: Semantics. If you need to be excused from a relatively normal school activity like swimming or running, you need to give a reason. The logic is the same whether the person who needs to be excused is male or female.

"If they are lying who cares, they are swindling themselves out of the joy of swimming!"

Well, in the circumstances described by OP there's rather more at stake than that, as they need to go through the special consideration route (which needs evidence) or they lose all the marks for that part of the GCSE (10%?)

Well no it isn't really just semantics. It is quite a fundamentally important distinction. If you are female you have periods, it is usually not having periods that indicates a 'medical problem'.

Knowing that females start periods in puberty just is something schools should be able to cope with without pressuring, ignoring or medicalising the issue.

"If you have steretypically normal periods then that's nice for you but many many women do not have light or predictable periods."

We do not know if the girls in the OP have heavy or irregular periods.

All we know is that they asked a question on behalf of those who do not use tampons.

It's also not terribly clear if the teacher's 'sort it out' meant 'get used to tampons' or 'sort out your sanpro ie however you want, this is not my call'

Offred: Fair enough. Doesn't change my point. If your periods are causing you problems so you can't do a school activity you need to bring a note.

But that's my point. Just because all women have them doesn't mean we can make pronouncements like 'just wear a tampon' 'periods shouldn't stop you doing things in this day and age' 'just bleed in the pool'...

Periods come in different shapes and sizes like women do but schools should expect that all girls will likely have them and they should expect to work around that whilst treating the girls with dignity and respect.

There is a work around - as mentioned by pps, those who cannot attend any part of a GCSE can apply for special consideration.

Offred: Of course no-one should be forced to wear a tampon. And yes, schools should work around them, but within reason, as with other issues of a similar nature.

LOL at the idea that girls who cannot / will not use tampons will be able to use a mooncup instead... (You have to be far more, erm, intimate with your fanjo to use them, and they are much bigger to insert...)

Each girl/circumstance should be treated differently.

No one should be forced to wear tampons.

I have dysmenorrhea and endometriosis. PE was absolute HELL for me. Bleeding out through shorts, passing out through pain when being made to run, never allowed to use periods 'as an excuse' to not do PE.

Would love to meet that bitch of a teacher now

Yes life does carry on, but not for some. I'm stuck indoors for 2-3 days every month because blood loss is so severe. I can't wear tiny hot pants, or get a massage, or go zip wiring in my tiny hot pants (yes, thank you sanitary product adverts). All this outsmart mother nature bullshit, by popping in a tampon and getting on with anything. Fuck off.

YANBU

Trifleorbust

' medical grounds' periods are not medical grounds, it is normal biology.

'Students sometimes lie about medical issues to get out of PE' Why? Why do they dislike PE so much? I can see you would not want students taking the piss, so at the start of the year you get all the girls together and say if they cannot do PE due to a very heavy period, whatever, they can just say they can't do PE. If it happens often you will need to access this process.

"The teacher is accountable for the students' learning and safety and will be challenged about why (potentially) every girl in their class is sitting out of PE every week." Well I am quite sure every girl would not be sitting out of PE every week because no one would believe that! I guess I would say don't take the piss (in teacher language)!

"Obviously it's great that your DD likes PE but you are joking with me if you don't think students will see their friend isn't doing PE today and want to sit out with them, or want to keep their hair 'on fleek' for P4 Maths!"

Maybe this is why I am not a teacher or a PE teacher, too much of a soft touch, and what the hell is 'on fleek'... Goes off to Google 'on fleek'!!

Italiangreyhound: Well, look, with respect I have taught teenagers for years now and I know what I am about. They will lie to get out of PE because the alternative is more attractive, for lots of reasons. That's normal - doesn't make them bad or deceptive. But it is the responsibility of the teacher to make sure they are not swinging the lead. A realistic approach is to show understanding, but be firm about requiring evidence.

Adj. 1) (slang) a state of completeness and flawlessness, the quality of being perfect 2) the combination of fly and sleek . Synonymous with on point.

Who knew!

Given that periods are a normal part of being female I think the onus is on the school (and the world generally) to accommodate that, not the individual to plead for 'special consideration'.

trifle my dd convinced me for years she was off sick, I would have written copious notes - had I been required to. She fooled me about how much she hated school. She actually made herself feel ill, I think.

I am not sure a note from home will get to the truth but it may well be a stumbling block to too much lying.

I bow to your ability as a teacher but I think until we recognise and factor in periods into PE for girls post age 12 (or 11 or whatever) this issue will be a live one. IMHO

Honestly I would like to do away with compulsory PE in high school altogether. IME it is rife with bullying and humiliation and often has the exact opposite effect to what they intend - certainly has given me a lifelong pathological fear of team sports and put me completely off any physical exercise for many years when in primary I was really sporty.

Winnie I meant lying about normal PE lessons and not about exams.

Who knew!

Indeed

Offred I do think PE should be 'done differently'. I am pretty sure my lack of sportiness started in school!

I am pleased my dd likes it, she is not very academic so she needs different things to excel at (I think) and seems to enjoy it.

Triffle I am not meaning to be horrible but I just think you are not getting it. School and PE etc seems to not see normal girl's biology, instead seeing it as a problem. If periods don't allow girls to do swimming when on then so be it.

In 20 years those same girls may have provided the next lot of kids for the gym class, and they will have done that using their natural biology, which includes periods!

Im Allergic to tampons, they give me all the symptoms of TSS, absolutely nothing could make me use one

One thing I have never been able to understand is why we have this obsession with requiring high school children to perform in PE. It can't be about health since one hour lesson a week does not have much impact on health rather we should be looking at teaching children holistic things about a healthy lifestyle but there are no standards to guide schools re this so they can just tell them any bloody thing they like (like in my kids' primary a 'healthy dessert' had a week's worth of sugar in but was fruit so healthy!!). Forcing tweens/teens to take part in compulsory physical exercise just seems counter productive and archaic to me. Have general promotion of healthy lifestyle with properly scientific and credible guidance for schools and provide various opportunities for exercise that are available outside the one hour allocated slot of PE lessons and are able to be chosen by the DC... like in adulthood...

Virtually no-one approaches exercise as an adult in the way a child is forced to take part in PE. And it isn't the best way to be healthy. The best way is to think holistically about your general nutrition and exercise in everyday life.