A social media post has gone viral after a male teacher was placed on leave because he wouldn't let a female student use the bathroom.
u/Existing_Ad_9509 shared his story to Reddit's infamous "AmITheA**hole" forum in hopes of getting feedback from the community. The original poster (OP) received thousands of comments in a matter of hours.
The Redditor began by explaining he's in his early 40's and teaches high school physical education. The OP noticed that one of his female students — whom he gaave the name "A" for the sake of the story — didn't participate in class as much as required. The student asked to use the bathroom multiple times within a 2-month period because she was "on her period." When it came time to grade each student on skills learned in class, it was hard to grade the student since she rarely participated.
According to the CDC, in 2017, about 51 percent of students in high school participate in PE classes during the week, but only 29 percent attend classes on a daily basis.
"[A] was concerningly behind everyone in our unit and I had nothing to grade her on and I was getting increasingly annoyed and up until this point I had never told her no when she always used the bathroom and would come back after 45 minutes," he wrote. "So once again she asked if she could use the bathroom because she was on her period and I just snapped. 'A, if you're on your period this often, multiple times in 2 months then I honestly think you need medical help. I have to grade you, come up and participate.'"
After the incident occurred, u/Existing_Ad_9509 was placed on temporary leave due to many complaints from "A" and her friends parents.
"I was being called sexist and multiple other names by the students parents and I was honestly so confused," he confessed.
Some parents took to social media and even had their kids switch schools because they were not comfortable around a "sexist" teacher.
The Reddit community discusses their thoughts with many siding with the students' rights of bodily autonomy.
In a popular comment, with over 30,000 upvotes, u/gratefulnothateful11 weighed in. "It is never ok for you to comment on a teenage girl's biological functions, true or untrue. You should have just said, 'You have not participated in (X number of classes/ X number of weeks), and if you do not participate I am going to have to give you a failing grade.' That is the limit of your authority."
u/Megustavdouche agreed. "A teacher coming to a student privately and saying 'listen, if you miss every class I have nothing to grade you on and will have to fail you. What's going on? How can I support you so you don't fail? Would you like me to grab the health teacher/counselor/female pe teacher to talk about what's happening with your periods? I'm worried about you and I care.' Is 100% appropriate."
"YTA- so you chose humiliation to try and stop this. After the first month you call a meeting with the parents or send them an email. You totally missed any chance of helping her with whatever issue is going on," shadow-foxe said.
In response to u/shadow-fox, u/kristinaEP concurred. "I would be livid if my kid had been missing class and the teacher didn't bother to inform me for over a month, complete absent the additional public humiliation and misogyny."
About the writer
Ashley Gale is a Newsweek reporter based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her focus is reporting on trends. She has covered trends, ... Read more
