Another school one.

[Whatwouldscullydo]

This popped up on my news feed this morning. Apologies for the mirror link .

I felt it was a good example of how, there's no thinking about the whole picture with regard to Scotland new law that sanitary products should be made available for free in schools.

First up we appear to have an article written where a school complety misses the point. How can you provide products then lock the one set of toilets where these products can be accessed.

Then there's the thought process where apparently disabled girls don't need access to period products. Why arent they in the accessible toilets too.

Interesting that the girls don't want to use the " gender neutral " toilets and that they have to be blackmailed into doing so by being locked out the single sex ones. Seems Scotland realises boys don't have periods after all as they'd be in there surely? Clearly none of the girls use them and push comes to shove they won't pretend boys need products ...

It seems.incredibly unfair that the girls are punished this way for something 1 or a small group of boys did. Of course the boys who did behave are punished too but they don't have the added humiliation of bleeding through their clothes when walking to the floor where toilets are open.

I also think this is a good example of how things need to be thought out more. You can't create a need/facility then remove it. People will start to rely on things when they become available and when that facility is no longer available all sorts of problems arise. Dont start something you cant or have no intention of finishing.

I also found the article written a bit strangly. It appeared to absolve the parents and to a degree the child of any responsibility to ensure they are equipped. Free stuff is great but it shouldn't be a reason for those who are able to and can afford to, to not provide their children with pads and tampons etc

Fair play to the girl for standing up for herself and others though.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/teen-says-female-students-stripped-27986680

Would help if I posted the link. Sorry

The comments are vile, I'm not sure they read the article.

They usually are. I think of boys got " free stuff" they'd not be complaining.

I'm fact I'm sure I've seen it before somewhere a comment or article maybe on how boys shoukd have the cost equivalent of free stuff as its unfair.

I think we can all.agree that parents who are able to should do, but regardless if that girls should not be used to make this point this way.

There are several separate issues.

Parents not fulfilling their roles.

Cost of living crisis

Addiction meaning money is perhaps not spent where it should be.

Schools clueless about the basic needs of girls.

The fact if some thing is meant to he provided, stated it is provided, it should be provided.

Girls go on to be women who, on average, will earn less. They also pay more for the same products and are held to expensive time consuming grooming standards that far outstrip what boys and men are supposed to do.

I'm cool with the girls at my son's school getting free stuff. I cry inside when I see them walking in with perfect fake tans, straightened hair and flawless and yet subtle makeup. They are far more groomed (and better at it) than me. I know how much less sleep they must have had than my boy who rolls out of bed and sees no reason his long hair needs brushing.

Yes there seems to be no way to win. Spend money on grooming and you don't deserve " free stuff"

Don't spend money on grooming and you are dirty/rough/skanky etc

Also seems to be a common theme that girls are forced to use mixed sex facilities by locking of their own.

Even the badly behaved girls do not deserve this.

Don't deserve 'free stuff'? So the boys will be supplying their own toilet paper, right?

Aren't razors also considered luxury items for women and taxed. Unlike mens razors?

Anyway I thought boys amd men had periods too so arent the boys already getting the free stuff too
..

I’m a bit ambivalent about all this. There is no reason why the girl in the article couldn’t simply have used a wad of toilet paper in her pants to prevent any bleeding through her skirt while en route to the office for supplies, or asked a better prepared friend for a pad or tampon.
And I’m also surprised that any teenage girl, at a stage in life when periods can be irregular, doesn’t carry a spare pad or tampon in her schoolbag at all times, rather than risk being caught out like this.
My generation certainly did, and my mother, who grew up in slums and couldn’t afford commercial products, kept a supply of folded rags which were washed out at home and reused.

I’m in Scotland. DD’s school lock the main toilets outside break time with only the disabled ones open. She complains it can then be a long walk to the loo if she does need to go and if someone is in there already then obviously she has to wait. She is REALLY swotty and hates the amount of lesson time this means she misses. The school also only makes period products available at the office. They don’t have to be asked for but there is no privacy involved in taking them. We were running out the other day and I suggested she picked up some from school but she flat out refused, said no one did that as it was mortifying.

Anyway I thought boys amd men had periods too so arent the boys already getting the free stuff too

In the unisex toilets, which the girls are deeply uncomfortable using? If they are, it sounds like the girls are more uncomfortable using the unisex toilets than they are walking across the school, while bleeding, to ask for pads in an open-fronted office. I wonder what can be read into that?

I also wonder why misbehaviour in the boys' toilets means that the girls' toilets must be shut, while leaving open the unisex toilets which the girls won't use.

Boys misbehave, girls get punished.

First rule of misogyny: women are responsible for what men do.

Same, hence the ‘on the rag’ phrase!

but currently lots of schools have micromanaged rules about when and where you can take your bag with you and when it has to be in a locker (or when popping out of the classroom for a toilet break it is left in the class). And girls uniform trousers and skirts are absolutely crap in terms of usable pockets (blazer fine but no good if accidentally left on chair)!

plus, I used to have terrible flooding in the early years, bad enough to have a prescription to help it (same now in peri, but I’m a lot more able to be organised and period knickers are a great invention).

so I don’t disagree with you in theory but in practice it can be a bit more challenging and school rules haven’t always been thought through in a way that suits girls rather than the default-human, boy (hence all these mixed toilet issues).

which is why I’m sending my youngest to a girls school from next year.

It occurs to me you rarely see a sanitary dispensing machine in a loo nowadays - they were ubiquitous throughout my teens. When you do come across them they are fossilised relics and I doubt any work/are refilled.

maybe something like that needs a comeback, and all girls could have automatic (free) credits on their dinner money accounts to use them (seeing as it’s almost all cashless in school and kids use their finger print to pay)?

I also wonder why misbehaviour in the boys' toilets means that the girls' toilets must be shut, while leaving open the unisex toilets which the girls won't use

Well quite.

Personally it says to me that a) girls are being used to manage the boys behaviour in the mixed loos. And B) that they need the girls to use them to be able to declare there are no issues and get their SW points.

plus, I used to have terrible flooding in the early years, bad enough to have a prescription to help it (same now in peri, but I’m a lot more able to be organised and period knickers are a great invention)

I'm.sure the confusing sex education doesn't help either. I wonder if girls just assume they are a person who doesn't bleed by a certain point.

I found this guidance on school toilets, the DofE wouldn't download for me but I think this is quoting it:

...states the appropriate number of units for secondary school children. This details:

Male toilet and urinals: one per 20 students while urinals should constitute no more than two-thirds of the boys’ fixtures.
Female toilets: one per 20 students.
Handwash basins: one per toilet/urinal where there are three or fewer fixtures. Two per three toilets/urinals where there are three or more fixtures. Toilets and urinals should be near to a handwash basin.

Unless they were originally greatly over supplied with loos, the school surely can't be complying with this. As it's only guidance I suppose they don't have to, but it'd count against them if any formal action were taken.

I think we can all.agree that parents who are able to should do, but regardless if that girls should not be used to make this point this way.

Well sure, but even the most organised girl with access to products can sometimes be caught short.

My workplace provides free san pro in the loos. At first I thought it silly- not one person in my office can't afford their own. But actually it is brilliant. I won't ever again (as long as I work there) have to spend the day with wadded up loo roll in my pants, worried that it's about to flop out of my trouser leg. It's so much better to not have to do that.

And no, girls should not be punished because of something boys have done.

I've signed Zara's petition, link at the bottom of the article.

Or sidle up to a female colleague. Toilet roll was rubbish, barely better than nothing.

Would we be expected to sidle up to male colleagues now?

Well sure, but even the most organised girl with access to products can sometimes be caught short

The teenage mind set certainly baffles me. Having carried around a small but fully stocked kit since juniors apparently understanding why, when they actually need them they start removing the kits from their bags 🙄

I guess in a few years when they have their own families their bags will once again contain everything for every occasion just in case

I think this article is also another example of how women and girls are written to be whiny and entitled.

Its the same with the ridiculous uniform requirements articles. They pick the most horrendous photo possible and the actual point of the article ends up lost. Many a time the mum and the child have a point. But enough piss takers are also given article space to ensure that no one takes it seriously when there is an actual issue.

Covid also seems to have become an excuse to make people feel guilty or look petty for having any reasonable expectations at all. People died, no one can see a dr why re you complaining the supermarket delivery driver was rude or dropped your stuff etc

A school not following the law and treating pupils worse than prisoners should create more outrage than it seems too.

I remember little about my school days, but I clearly remember a girl asking to go to the toilet in history and then taking her bag with her.

When she came back the teacher boomed across the room asking why she had taken her bag, every girl in the room cringed on her behalf. I didn't do history for GCSE so we were less than 14.

Stories like this are why I feel all these " initiatives " effectively miss the point.

If only instead of bringing in lobby groups allowing them to trample all over the rights of students, they brought in some people who could lay out in simple terms just how they could facilitate girls attending school without the discrimination.

The training could include everything from uniform issues , to travher ignorance on periods and related issues. Covering how would be best for girls to access the supplies, unisex toilets akd the problems they cause. A reminder if the other 8 protected characteristics etc

All the free products in the world does not erase the actual problems girls are facing in school