A mum has expressed both her shock and outrage over a male teacher telling her teenager daughter to 'hold in' her period when she asked to use the bathroom during class.
Just when we thought the universal understanding of periods and menstrual cycles was better than ever, clearly there's still some serious progress to be made.
This has been proven by a thread on Mumsnet from 2017, in which a mum took to the forum to explain the shocking situation her teenage daughter found herself in with a male teacher.
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The mum explained how her daughter was 15 and her school had a 'no going to the toilet during lesson time rule'.
"Which I completely agree with on the whole as I know how disruptive it can be if people are constantly in and out, and how everyone just uses it as an excuse to bunk off (I am a teacher too - very different environment though)," she added.
The only exception to use the toilet during class was if the student had a medical note from a doctor.
"Today in one of her lessons DD [dear daughter] says she could feel that she really needed to change her pad, she was getting quite worried about it leaking," the mum said.
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"She eventually asked the (male) teacher if she could go to the loo."
The mum then broke down the conversation: "Teacher: No, you know the rules / DD: I really need it. / Teacher: What did I just say? / DD: It's a girl problem... /Teacher: What do you mean? /DD: Umm... I'm on my period /Teacher: Break is only in half an hour, hold it in [sic] til then."
The mum went on: "Obviously those aren't the exact words said but she says it's pretty accurate. DD is quite shy so did just wait til break (no leakage btw).
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"She doesn't seem overly bothered but AIBU [am I being unreasonable] to be pretty shocked at him telling her to hold it in? Surely even men have some basic idea that it doesn't work like that?"
Well, the mum wasn't alone in feeling anger and frustration over the situation, with one commenter saying: "Hold it in???!!! How the f**k is she meant to do that?
"Does the moron not realise that we don't p**s out blood voluntarily? If we could do that there would be no need for sanitary products surely?"
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While someone else said: "There is so much wrong with that it's hard to know where to begin."
And another pointed out how sadly, this man doesn't seem to be the only one with a lack of period knowledge: "I went out with some in his early 20's who had no idea how periods worked and asked if it just spits out every so often.
"Write a letter saying he needs to brush up on his biology and it's not something you can hold in."
Do you think there is still an issue surrounding the understanding of periods and menstrual cycles?
Emily Puckering