Girls protesting about loss of single-sex toilets in schools

[Ofcourseshecan]

I've just seen this on another thread and thought it deserves one of its own. Sorry if it already has a thread -- I didn't see one.

There have been protests and riots in some schools the past few days, organised on Tiktok. And while some of the protests are about other issues, the loss of single-sex toilets seems to be a major concern.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11802555/TikTok-protests-rock-Britains-schools-Pupils-scale-gates-trash-classrooms-rules.html

In Southampton, two hundred pupils staged protests at Weston Secondary School yesterday after being left 'uncomfortable' by new unisex toilets.

As they chanted 'toilet rights', the youngsters pitched up at the lavatories to also take a stand against rules preventing them from leaving lessons for the loo.

The children reported worries about the same-sex toilets at the academy school after their introduction in September.

One female pupil said 'girl emergencies' mean they should be allowed to use the toilet without having to wait 'up to two hours' for a break or lunchtime.

Meanwhile, a parent said their daughter felt so uneasy about sharing a toilet with boys that she has stopped going to the toilet during school hours.

Pupil Chloe, 14, said: 'We don't think it's fair, girls in our school are not comfortable. People think it's funny to unlock the doors while you're in there.

'We're trying to tell the teachers that it's just not fair. We've tried to talk to them before we did a protest but they're just ignoring it.'

It's not 'good on them' when people are being seriously hurt through violence and aggression.

However legitimate the concerns in some schools, these 'riots' shouldn't be being condoned by adults, as the spread of them on social media is adding a level of danger which noone should have to put up with in school or a workplace.

It happened in our school, where we have single sex toilet areas, all individual cubicles with communal sinks opening on to the corridor, and each member of staff has a give a corridor pass if pupils request it during lesson times. Our pupils had no reason to complain, yet we had ambulances out on Friday afternoon for pupils and staff.

Sunnava · Today 12:44 · Today 12:44
Fascinating that the Guardian can write an entire article about this and not highlight in any way that the main issue is that girls do not have separate toilets as females…

One reason is that organisations like schools are confused about the Equality Act which does allow for discrimination based on sex for things like this. But thanks to Stonewall et al, the meaning and the interaction of the various laws have become clouded, and it would help if greater clarity could be brought in.
www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4722618-petition-to-update-the-equality-act-thread-2

BiggerBoat1 · Today 10:22

It is not treating children like prisoners, denying their human rights or any of the other garbage spouted on twitter. A teenager should be able to sit through an hour's lesson without having to go to the toilet.

If they wet themselves, it's an affront to their human dignity, as the Police and Government found, when they prevented IRA suspects from going. When the suspects did their business in the interview rooms, the Police charged them, but lost the law case.

I’ve seen videos of girls fed up with having their skirt lengths inspected by teachers who are holding them entirely responsible for the boys behaviour towards them.

I absolutely think they have the right to protest this. Of course the behaviour isn’t going to be perfect during the protests. The loudest gets the most attention. But if they hadn’t protested would anyone be listening? And who’s to say the timid kids don’t agree with them?

These changes have been implemented with no consultation to the pupils or the parents. There has been no thought as to how this will actually work or the long term consequences. The thought that the freedoms I took for granted as a teenager at school are being stripped from todays kids I have it makes me so angry. For some of those girls there will be long term medical consequences for having to hold their wee all day every day, not to mention the loss of feeling safe and expectation of being publicly shamed for having a period. That is not any form of progress and I am not at all surprised they are protesting and angry.

Its an hour!!!

So? Your period can start within the hour. When I was starting my periods they were as irregular as fuck and paid absolutely no attention to ‘but it’s the middle of a history lesson.’

Once a pupil gets to 14 they can choose their subjects ( apart from Maths, English ) and many larger schools now have quite a. wide variety of subjects from which to choose, including more practical or vocational type subjects.

I understand ( as an ex teacher) that some children do find the whole culture of schools and of learning, and of the discipine required, quite alienating, and that poor behaviour or disrespect to staff that results can negatively impact upon the learning of other pupils who do want to learn and who are able to behave appropriately; also of course, it makes the job of a teacher very stressful.

In my parents' generation you could leave school at 14 - and then go on to some kind of apprenticeship or other work. In my home city there is a technical college for pupils between the ages of 14 and 18 which educates children in the up and coming growth areas of the city economy. It is the first school in the UK to specialise in science, engineering and health care for students aged 14 – 19. They still have to do English and maths, though.

Whatever they end up doing, though, personal discipline and the ability to tolerate doing things that they don't necessarily love are vital to success in any field of endeavour for any pupil.

I guess the idea of pupils staying on until the age of 16 and learning a wide variety of knowledge areas was to open up prospects for young people and make sure they were fully literate and numerate before leaving school; and of course opening up routes to further and higher education.

BiggerBoat1 · Today 15:08

Its an hour!!!

In a three hour Geology GCSE practical exam, I had to go twice. This was despite me going before hand and only having one cup of coffee in the early morning, for a 1pm exam.

I can piss and within a few minutes, have an urgent need to go again.

In which case @SinnerBoy I would assume you would have a medical pass to go to the toilet whenever you needed to. There are lots of children in school who the teachers know to let out of class and those children know where the unlocked toilets are.

I didn't have a medical pass, sometimes I can go hours without needing a pee, sometimes, it's every half an hour!

My point is that with the best will in the world, some people won't feel the slightest urge, then half an hour later, they will feel it urgently.

But parents can de-register their children and educate them at home if they wish, at any point. Most parents cannot because both parents are now expected to go out to work, but the option is there. I have noticed on some threads parents deciding to home educate because of gender woo woo in schools. The real point is that most parents cannot afford to educate their children at home (no qualifications necessary and Education Otherwise will offer help and support) because we have got into the stupid situation where we have gone back to needing every member of a household able to, to go out to work (with the dislocation of the social and cultural fabric that causes). This disenfranches people who cannot do the logical thing and vote with their feet against schools which e.g. introduce unisex toilets. NB I was not saying most parents can withdraw their DCs but the law allows them to do so - we don't legally force people to send DCs to school, but coerce them economically.

Do you believe that students should all be able to use the toilet whenever and however many times they want, regardless of the disruption it causes?

Ex-teacher, so 'no'. Going to the toilet is a major disruptive activity in schools, used by students who wish to cause trouble in a class room.

Surely after a certain point you’d know which children are taking the piss by going to the loo during lessons and which aren’t? Because some of those kids have a good reason.

I remember a particularly mean teacher refusing to let me go to the toilet because I was feeling unwell. She realised I was telling the truth when I projectile vomited over her shoes.

These are my thoughts too! Our school let us go to the toilets whenever we wanted. We never met up in them for fun. A few girls in the year once got caught smoking in them at lunch and they came down on them like a ton of bricks, it never happened again. I can't imagine wanting to meet in them for some sort of fun, they werent the nicest places to be! We had plenty of time to chat to each other at break times. Surely it must be a certain group that a teacher would get to know about?

And how do you suggest schools deal with the minority who are abusing the system? Part of the problem as with these 'protests' is that parents support their children regardless.

'Parents can choose to homeschool' isn't helpful if you're a teenager who doesn't fit in the school environment for whatever reason but your parents won't (or can't) homeschool you. The choice is the parent's, not the teenager's - they can't deregister and homeschool themselves. Therefore, there are plenty of young people who are forced to be in school and don't want to be there.

Isn't much of life about doing things you don't want to do?

Re my friend's daughter: the ban on lesson time wees would be reasonable if pupils were allowed to go between lessons and there were not impossibly long queues at morning and afternoon break times. After lessons many have to run for the bus

Some girls are like me who start their period hard, fast and very sudden. When I was 14 my cycles would last anywhere from 23 days to 45. So there was no way to predict when my period would start. But when it did it was straight up niagara falls. Doctors didn’t care. I would be using super plus tampons and overnight pads in school at the same time.

Not all girls can get by with a little panty liner for 3 days with a perfect clock work 28 day cycle like you. Sorry to be an inconvenience for your teaching lessons!

No one should have to explain themselves. Not to mention some people have other embarrassing ailments they shouldn’t have to explain such as irritable bowel syndrome, UTIs. Do they all need to carry around a brown card or a yellow card? Do we all need to start explaining in debt to the teachers why we might not make it through the precious hour?

What like wetting yourself - or bleeding through your clothes?!

No, like going to school. Honestly if a child can't wait a bit for a wee they should visit the drs. We are all expected to do this at various times in our lives. Re periods- change regularly. Double up cup/tampon and pads and pants and again if you're regularly overflowing all of that just after you change, visit the gp.

And if you have a toileting issue you get a toilet card to let you go whenever you need. That's normal and never questioned because it's on medical grounds.

So what are the kids that can’t get to the toilet in breaktimes because the queues are too long supposed to do?

It has been explained to you how difficult it can be. Why should girls (and some boys) suffer because schools refuse to provide adequate facilities for that most basic if human functions?

Tbh you sound a bit like our HT - she has little care or interest in the physical requirements of the students and girls struggle as a result.

My teenage daughters school is on the brink of doing this, they went back after half term to find all of the toilet mirrors have been replaced with pictures of Jesus ( Catholic school) and toilets are now "attended" during break time by year 11 prefects and locked during lessons. My daughter is devastated, she's from a long line of very heavy bleeding women. Her sister has endometriosis and PCOS as do I, , loads of women have had fibroids etc in our family. She regularly floods at home, ever with two night time pads and a tampon. When she HAS to go, she has to go. The school want a letter from a gynaecologist stating she needs a a toilet pass and why but the GP won't refer her as she's only 14 and it's "normal" for them to all over the place apparently. I fully support my daughter in taking herself to the toilet wherever she needs it. If she can't access a toilet, she can keep on waking all the way home. She's a GOOD girl. Very high achieving, impeccable behaviour and reports. Why would they punish her this way? Twice she's leaked at school and then she refused to go back into her period was over. And I stood by that.