Sex Ed (RSHP) in Scotland: 'not all girls have periods'

[MagnoliaTaint]

This was mentioned in the Sunday Times letters page, so I went to check. Right enough, here it is:

'Periods: When a girl goes through puberty her ovaries release an egg every month. For a few days each month blood and other fluids pass out through the girl’s vagina. There can be some fluids called pre-period discharge before the period starts. Periods are also called menstruation. When a girl has her period, she wears a sanitary towel or tampon or menstrual cup to absorb the fluid.

During a period, girls can feel that it is a bit painful or uncomfortable. It is important to know that a girl can still do anything she wants when having her period. It’s also important to remember that not all girls have periods. Every girl
is different and unique!'

rshp.scot/second-level/
(Part 2, point 8)

oh that's fine then, no need to visit GP if 'a girl's' periods haven't started, to investigate the cause. As the cause might be that you are a penis owner, presumably?

And for reference, NHS advice:

'See a GP if your periods have not started by age 16 (or 14 if you do not have any other signs of puberty).'

www.nhs.uk/conditions/periods/starting-periods/

Actually, the whole bit:

'Possible reasons for delayed periods include being underweight, doing lots of exercise (including dance, gymnastics and athletics), stress and a hormone imbalance.

See a GP if your periods have not started by age 16 (or 14 if you do not have any other signs of puberty). Your GP may suggest a blood test to check your hormone levels.

You may be referred to a specialist (usually a gynaecologist – a specialist in women's health) to find out what's causing your delayed periods and discuss any treatments that might help'

🤦‍♀️

rshp.scot/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Part-2.-My-body-is-changing-Activity-plan_2.2020.pdf

Activity no. 8.: "It’s also important to remember that not all girls have periods. Every girl is different and unique!"

From the Times letter thread.

What a very confusing educational resource this is.

I check it from time to time, Embarrassing. Most of it is fairly straightforward, but there are some points, like this one, that really could have consequences.

Absolutely appalling that such potentially dangerous information is being given to girls in school. This puts the most vulnerable at risk.

Obviously if a penis-owner does start bleeding then they need to get medical attention.
If an old-fashioned dinosaur type girl doesn't start, then it needs checking out as the NHS says above.

The other issue with the confusing messages is pregnancy, isn't it.
"Hey, not all girls have periods, so it's fine if you don't. Also your trans girlfriend is definitely a girl and you are in a lesbian relationship so....."

Yes, absolutely, the absence of a period can also mean pregnancy, Plasmodesmata, that hadn't occurred to me as another gap in knowledge.

It seems to risk us going backwards wrt sex ed - 'you can't get pregnant if you do it standing up' becomes 'you can't get pregnant if you do it with an enby' etc.

As someone has noted, all of the vague gender terms rely completely on biological knowledge being there as a sort of unspoken vestigial knowledge. That will very, very quickly vanish if a generation is taught 'some girls don't have periods' or 'some girls have penises'. Once the words 'girl' and 'woman' lose the tether to reality that is biological sex how the FUCK will we explain reproduction to anyone?

I'm confused. Having read the resource at the link above it's never shying away from the use of girl and boy. The Usborne resources it links to, unless they've been edited in the past few years, are reliable, factual books. Could this reference to "not all girls have periods' just be a clumsy, overstated nod to those girls with DSDs? If the language was being mangled elsewhere in the resource ie. references to not all girls having vaginas or boys having penises etc. then I'd share your concern.

Genuine question - do you think the reference may be there to explicitly raise the issue of transgender bodies? I'd just be surprised that if they were going to embrace that approach then they wouldn't allow all the other 'exclusionary' wording and phrasing.

Whatever the reason for putting that sentence there, it needs qualification.

They could note that periods may not start until age 16.

Or that a small amount of conditions may mean girls don't have periods - this would undoubtedly require medical investigation, though - I believe onset of puberty/lack of is one of the times some DSDs may be flagged up?

Implying that some girls will just 'not have periods' at all and this is totally fine and normal is enormously misleading and could lead to poor outcomes for various people for various reasons. Conditions/diagnoses could be missed, pregnancies not understood, etc.