was this a weird thing to say

amother

Tue, Nov 12 2013, 5:35 pm

my dd has a drama class at school and they had this new teacher who is an old man, the class is made up of all girls. So the teacher was introducing himself for ages and then he said yes and we will do some physical exercises, if it is that time of the month it's fine just let me know. Many girls started laughing including dd but I'm not sure if she is being silly or if that wasn't the right thing that he said.

greenfire

Tue, Nov 12 2013, 5:36 pm

I think it's like gym - a lot of young girls do not feel comfortable exercising - so they need an out ... he's letting them know ahead of time that they have it if it's that time of the month

marshmellow

Tue, Nov 12 2013, 5:40 pm

I don't know if it was weird, he might have meant it genuinely, or maybe he is a creep. I personally think it was the wrong thing to say. But in any case, he is an old man and they are girls so it is totally understandable that they were laughing and embarrassed

zaq

Tue, Nov 12 2013, 5:45 pm

EEEEWWWW. DOM (dirty old man) alert.
Yes, inappropriate.
he could have said simply "if you don't feel well".
In fact, there was no need to say anything at all.

I'd tell dd to watch out for this guy.

amother

Tue, Nov 12 2013, 5:48 pm

Wow...yes it was. I am a female teacher and I would not say that to my students. It goes without saying that I understand completely about periods, but I would never say it out loud to any student. It just doesn't seem right. Also teachers have to be careful what they say as students report everything to their parents, as your dd did. He sounds a little dodgey if you ask me.

granolamom

Tue, Nov 12 2013, 5:54 pm

very weird, very inappropriate. if a girl isnt feeling up to whatever exercises he has planned she can tell him she isnt feeling well. why on earth would a teacher (male, no less) need to know she has her period? talk about lack of tznius.

amother

Tue, Nov 12 2013, 6:02 pm

As somebody who did Drama for 4 years in secondary school and did the physical exercise kind of side to it, I have to say that is really quite weird but not because he is male, I would think it to be weird even if the teacher was female.

Your period would not affect your ability to do a little bit of running and rolling around and what not.

But I have to say that it's perfectly normal for a male PE teacher to say that so why not a male Drama teacher?

I hope I helped.

Barbara

Tue, Nov 12 2013, 6:14 pm

amother wrote:

Yeah. It sounded a bit like something out of the 1950s. Not creepy, just outdated.

amother

Tue, Nov 12 2013, 6:30 pm

If he is really as old as you think, he may have been taught that women are fragile when we have our periods, and should not do physical exercise. He may also have female family members who get incapacitated by theirs.

It was a bit odd for him to say that, but he was probably trying to be understanding. It's not like men do not know about periods and that girls/women have them. Personally I would not have been embarrassed by this - he was just being open.

FranticFrummie

Wed, Nov 13 2013, 5:43 am

He knows that a girl will automatically feel safe discussing that with a female teacher. He's letting them know that it's safe for them to say "I don't feel well today" and he'll understand why, without further explanation from the already miserable girl.

When I was in PE, I had a male teacher who was like that. I thought it was awesome. He gave us a code word to use. T.ime O.f the M.onth. TOM. If we said "Tom came to visit" we could sit out the class and work on our homework instead.

It was such a relief to know that we wouldn't have to deal with him saying "Why? What's wrong? Do you need to go to the nurses office? Come on, you can do this!"

amother

Wed, Nov 13 2013, 6:15 am

Barbara wrote:

amother wrote:

Yeah. It sounded a bit like something out of the 1950s. Not creepy, just outdated.

I agree. Maybe he has a lot of daughters and got used to that talk while they were growing up (had to go buy the pads) and he was really just being helpful - how old is he? - I think it's kind of cute

amother

Wed, Nov 13 2013, 7:00 am

No.

He just wants them to be able to move freely and not be uncomfortable.

My PE teacher in my first year of high school was also a man, and he used to tell us that we should let him know if we were on our period, I.e. to let us be excused from class.
It's normal.
Do they not have experience of feeling uncomfortable in PE or do they not do PE?

I don't get it though...why did they get embarrassed about it? They get periods, right? Laughing just shows immaturity. And I mean...it's not like they HAVE to tell him they are on their periods. It's up to them. He was basically saying that if they were, they could just sit it out and he would understand why, they wouldn't have to say anything. He doesn't sound weird, he just sounds understanding. It was considerate of him to say that and if they didn't interpret it in that way but found it amusing then they are just very immature.

No, it wasn't a strange thing to say.

chocolate chips

Wed, Nov 13 2013, 1:45 pm

I think it is actually quite considerate of him.
He may not have worded it very well but it is nice that he is telling them in advance if need be they can sit out.

I remember in high school every time we wanted out of PE we would say "Mrs X I have a cramp, its that time".
She wasn't all that smart so we could use it at least a few times a week LOL.

Shana_H

Wed, Nov 13 2013, 1:51 pm

FranticFrummie wrote:

Oh yeah FF? Tom's in town? You should know I've been wanting to introduce him to my Aunt Flo, I think they'd get on really well!

Sanguine

Wed, Nov 13 2013, 2:55 pm

I don't remember this being a problem in my teens. In HS I don't think the gym teacher even had sneakers, we would just sit around the gym and talk. In 7th and 8th grade gym class was more serious but I don't remember my period being a problem (I don't remember noticing anyone else either)