This seems like incorrect information

[flabbergastedalways]

Scottish school, my daughter is going through her sexual health education.

We are a very open family so all good and they sent the slides through of what they are talking about but there is one slide about periods which i think seems wrong.

It says

"It’s important to
remember that not all
girls have periods. Every
girl is different and
unique!"

How can that be right, i looked on the NHS website and it specifically says

"If you haven’t started your period by around 16 though, it’s a good idea to see your doctor to find out why it hasn’t happened yet. However, a delay in starting periods isn’t usually anything to worry about."

So in actual fact it isnt normal!

All the slides are done by RSHP.Scot.

Am i just reading this wrong or not understanding?

It may be more common but it's not the biological norm and should be investigated medically to ensure no hidden issues.

OP I agree they need to say there is variation but give an age range and quote the NhS website to speak to your Dr if not started by x years old.

It's really not inclusive to pretend to children that they can change sex and that some "girls" don't have periods as they're boys. And then to mangle important information about pubertal development to the extent that a board of intelligent women can't be certain what is meant by an extract.
Children have the right to scientific accurate information about their bodies and their development. Not information that panders to an adult ideology that is currently doing terrible harm to girls - see the awful revelations from the Cass Review:

https://segm.org/Final-Cass-Report-2024-NHS-Response-Summary

The Scottish government have belatedly accepted the Cass report so hopefuly the needs of children may finally be centred again:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5071226-scottish-parliament-votes-to-accept-cass-report-forbes-made-deputy-first-minister

Some girls will have a disorder of sexual development, apparently 1 in 50 people do, and therefore may not have periods.

“It may be more common but it's not the biological norm and should be investigated medically to ensure no hidden issues.”

This needs repeating for the hard of thinking.

All of the examples given already on this thread had underlying issues which if it had not been for that issue, they would otherwise expect to have periods - because that is the default ‘normality’. It’s the whole biological basis on which women can carry babies ffs. I can’t believe the weasel words around this just to appease the batshit La La land dwellers of this world! 🙄

My mother apparently didn't start her periods naturally because of an imperforate hymen, which caused some (she was vague on this!) serious medical issues.

Girls (inc transboys) who don't start their periods by late teens do need to get it checked out. Boys (inc transgirls) don't.

It doesn't say "not all women have periods" it says "not all girls" which empathises the age of a child rather than post-pubescent women at large. The curriculum is clearly designed for the target audience so that a young girl will not think it is something abnormal to not have periods at the same time as her peers.

But it is true, not all girls have periods. Some girls have medical issues, some girls start later, some girls have very low weight which interferes, some girls stop when they get very stressed, some girls have hormonal issues, some girls are pregnant...

I think the message is correct.

It's missing the very important fact that not having periods as a girl is something that should be investigated once you reach and pass the upper age for starting. All those reasons given in the PP for not having periods need investigating, and in many cases, need active intervention. It's not just a normal variation that some girls do and some just don't have periods.

The school can't say 'if you haven't started your periods yet assume it is a serious medical issue' when talking to groups of girls in general. The NHS advice you quoted @flabbergastedalways is only: "If you haven’t started your period by around 16 though, it’s a good idea to see your doctor to find out why it hasn’t happened yet. However, a delay in starting periods isn’t usually anything to worry about."

I'd be really annoyed as a parent if school started stressing out all the kids over this - kids worry enough without scaremongering.

Yes they need investigating, but it is not school's job to set hares running across the entire school population.

@qwertyqwertyqwertyqwerty I'm not suggesting the school scaremonger, not at all. I said I hoped that the slides had some suitable explanatory notes, along the lines of what the NHS advice says. What they shouldn't be doing is stating that it's normal and unremarkable to not have periods at all. I hope that what was said to accompany the slides made that clear. Clear, as in, used appropriate language when talking to children, not scare mongering!

That’s not what it says. It clearly says some girls don’t have periods. For ‘unique’ read ‘male’.

Yeah, they mean boys.

How old is DD? I think age is relevant to how much information it's important to give about the nuances. I think at e.g. 10-11, this information is probably ok as an introduction to the idea that will probably get periods but might not yet and if you have but your friends haven't or visa versa then don't worry type of message, but at 14+ as possibly 13+ then more scientific/relevant information should have been provided, or at least some sort of medical caveat provided.

Initially I agreed but upon finding the whole slideshow that quote appears to be just an extract of the slide in question.
In full context I don’t think it definitively refers to transgender individuals.

They don't state it is normal, they say 'not all girls have periods' which is true.

If they are talking to girls who are 13, 14, 15 it would be irresponsible to discuss concerns for an older age group.

At 13, 14, 15 it is fine for some girls not to have periods.

My friend has an eating disorder and has never had a period. I was in hospital with a woman who had never had a period - she’d been born with part of her reproductive system missing.

(But I’d agree that both of these women would / should have seen a doctor in their teens to find out why they hadn’t started their periods! In both cases it indicated underlying health problems.

Worrying people unnecessarily is very irresponsible.

Telling 13yos info that applies to 16yos would be really ill-advised.

You say 'most girls start their periods between the ages of x and y' and leave it at that. You don't have to scare people ahead of time.

It's a shame that's not what this slide says or implies then.

Why start the post under guise of ‘confused naivety’ when you already know exactly what it means and are annoyed about it?

They should be much clearer here if they do mean girl who are actually boys.

My own mum got her knowledge of menstrual health from a very similar booklet I brought home from school. Not everyone has had a typical British education. It's irresponsible of the authors to assume that girls and their parents will know that they should go see GP if periods haven't started by 16

My first thought was girls who are very thin.

It night be helpful to add that some medical conditions can stop girls from having periods. Or that if you are an elite athlete or very thin, you may not have periods.

That's bollocks. Unless you're a TRA and have your own special definition of DSD which includes females with PCOS and males with hypospadias.

It's called primary amenorrhoea. It may be due to pathology or may not be. It is true that all girls are different and unique. The slide doesn't say it's necessarily normal, it just says that some girls don't have periods. I read the quote as perhaps inferring 'everyone's different so don't tease the girls who haven't started their periods - they may be completely normal/ just fitter and thinner than you/ be really quite unwell. And just because they haven't started their periods don't assume/bully them for being trans, because the chances are that they aren't, but even if they are it's really none of your business'.