Though the 15-year-old student knew that bathroom breaks were not permitted in class, she was worried her pad would leak. So she asked her teacher for permission to visit the lady's room, but her teacher told her to "hold it in" until break time.

Men are clueless about periods, but certain professions have to understand at least the basic issues. It's biology, not the latest fashion trend, and telling a young woman to "hold it in" is unacceptable.

The mother shared the story on Mumsnet

The girl's mother shared the story on UK's popular parenting site, Mumsnet, in the "Am I Being Unreasonable" thread.

She said:

"DD is 15, and her school has 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).

The only exception is if you have a medical note from a doctor. Today, in one of her lessons, DD says she could feel that she really needed to change her pad; she was getting quite worried about it leaking. She eventually asked the (male) teacher if she could go to the loo."

The mom of the unnecessary shamed teen shared the conversation between her child and the male teacher.

"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 till then."

The furious mother added:

"Obviously, those aren't the exact words said, but she says it's pretty accurate. DD is quite shy, so did just wait till break (no leakage btw)."

"She doesn't seem overly bothered, but AIBU 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?"

You'd think that everyone would stand with DD and her mom. But, that wasn't the case.

Some parents took the teacher's side

Putting a child, or a young woman, into a humiliating and embarrassing position, for no reason, is cruel. You shouldn't even hold in your pee, but when it comes to period, there's no humanly possible way to stop it.

The message that this teacher sent to this teen goes beyond that one class. It may ruin her sense of self, but not everyone was on her side.

One user wrote:

"It's true – girls do use "it's my period" to get out. I've never had a period myself that would cause instant drowning in a half-hour, I must admit."

User named Sanshin replied:

"Hold it in???!! How the [redacted] is she meant to do that? Does the moron not realize that we don't piss out blood voluntarily?! If we could do that then there would be no need for sanitary products surely? God, I am actually raging on your behalf. The [redacted] needs telling."

A few suggested that the teen girl would have been within her rights to disobey the teacher's thick-witted command:

"In situations (where teachers are being idiotic about the toilet rules) I would always tell my DD to just leave and go to the toilet, if she gets into trouble so be it – I would back her up. Trying to deal with a period leak or a dodgy tummy it would be worse to not go to the loo and spend the rest of your school life remembered as 'the girl who leaked everywhere or shat herself' then nipping out of the classroom for 5 mins and maybe getting detention."

Period problems are widespread

DD isn't the only girl who had this awful experience.

Just recently, an 11-year-old girl bled through her clothes twice because her teachers would not allow her to go to the bathroom. Here's her story: