Not every woman can wait a half hour to handle a period issue.
There are a lot of men out there who shy away from discussing menstruation with women. But any man who's ever taken a class in basic human biology or had a mother, sister, wife, girlfriend or any other woman in their life should know the basics of how it works.
That's why a mother on the Mumsnet message board was completely "shocked" that her daughter's teacher told her to "hold in" her period. Does he think a woman can hold in her period like it's pee? (Spoiler: She can't. Different point of origin, different muscles, different biological process.)
Mumsnet is a UK website where parents come together to discuss anything from adoption to women's rights. This post appeared under the "Am I Being Unreasonable" thread.
"Hold it" is not an appropriate response to a teen getting her period.Screenshot via Mumsnet
According to the post, the 15-year-old's teacher prevented her from using the bathroom because he legitimately thinks women can hold back period blood. Or he knows a bit about biology but still decided to put her in the position to be mortally embarrassed.
The mother later said that the lessons last two hours so the girl had a long time to wait before being able to change her pad.
A few parents said that the teacher was correct to say no because students often lie about their periods to get out of class.
"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," wrote one commenter.
We Tried To Not Leak On Our Period For A Week GIF by BuzzFeed Giphy
"Unless she is new to starting her periods then I would expect students to make use of time to change sanitary products," shared another. "Eg. Women know if we are a new pad every 2 hours or every 4 etc. Sadly, some girls do use having their period as some sort of get out of jail free card. I agree with him saying just wait half an hour. I think his phrasing was clumsy though."
Some women, however, shared that the nature of their periods would make waiting a half an hour potentially disastrous. Everyone's periods are different, and while some wouldn't have a problem even if it started out of the blue, some would.
"I used to have very sudden gushes and used to have to carry a change of clothes with me as no pad , no matter how super absorbent,would stop me flooding. Ever so embarrassing and very uncomfortable to have to sit and wait before going to clean yourself up. I'm very envious of the women on here who have never experienced it."
"This is ridiculous, I had undiagnosed endometriosis in high school and would have random clotting that meant I would immediately need to use the bathroom 
. If a male teacher said this I would be absolutely mortified, you should definitely complain!"
"Reminds me of when I was in Venice, I was on my period but use tampons. DH and I are walking down a canal and all of a sudden I look down and realise my crotch is bright red. Absolutely mortified. I must have flooded without realising and there was no hiding it. This was only 2 years ago so I still want to crawl into a hole when I think about it. Women can and do flood unexpectedly!!!"
Cramps and other discomfort are already hard enough to deal with when you have your period.Photo credit: Canva
Most parents thought the teacher did the wrong thing and needs a lesson in basic biology.
"I would be complaining, and I am not a complainer. There is so much wrong with that it's hard to know where to begin."
One poster was irate but completely right about the issue.
"Complain to high heaven! What if she'd leaked everywhere? I bet he'd have let her go to the toilet pretty sharpish. Hold it in? What a jerk!"
Another believes the daughter should have disobeyed the teacher and gone to the bathroom.
"In these 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 then 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 'that girl who leaked everywhere or shat herself' then nipping out of the classroom for 5 mins and maybe getting a detention."
One poster did a great job at re-framing the situation so that the teacher's actions seem even more ridiculous.
"Would it be ok to tell adults when they could or could not take action to stop themselves leaking blood?"
But the $50,000 question is: What subject does the instructor teach?
Hopefully it wasn't a biology teacher. Screenshot via Mumsnet
Bottom line: If a woman says she needs to use the bathroom for "girl reasons"—or any reason, for that matter—best to let her go and save you both some potential problems.
This story originally appeared five years ago and has been updated.
Autumn de Forest stands before a sign with her name on it
When Autumn de Forest was five years old, she picked up a paintbrush for the first time. It wasn't long before she was ready to show the world what she could do.
After a year of practice, the then-six-year-old asked her father if he could get her a booth at a local art-in-the-park program. "People would come up to the booth, and they would talk to my father, and they'd say, 'This is great!'" she said. "Apparently they thought it was Take Your Daughter to Work Day."
Almost everyone thought the artwork was her father's. When they found out that tiny Autumn was the artist, people couldn't believe their eyes.
Autumn created this piece when she was just 5 years old.Autumn de Forest
Soon, Autumn rose to national fame
When Autumn was eight, she was featured on the Discovery Health Channel. There was a slew of media attention in the years that followed. There was Disney. There was The Today Show. There was Wendy Williams. She was called a child genius, a prodigy, and an expert painter.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Suddenly, Autumn de Forest was everywhere.
But not everyone was so accepting of the young artist and her work. Some people in the art world had...questions. Sure, she was good for a kid. But was her art actually good? Others wondered if the whole thing might be an elaborate hoax.
Autumn ignored her critics and kept painting.
By age 14, she developed a startlingly organized daily routine that went far beyond a 9 to 5
Somehow, as the focus on her age began to wear off, Autumn's work ethic and art only grow stronger. She said that most days, she'd wake up in her parents' Las Vegas home at 7:30 a.m. After breakfast, she'd break out her supplies for a one- or two-hour painting session. From there, she dove into her school work. Most brick-and-mortar schools can't accommodate her travel schedule, so she did the majority of her schooling online.
Before dinner, it was back into the studio.
"That session can last much longer, that can be three or four hours when I really get into it," she said. "Then I probably have dinner and go to bed."
Autumn de Forest paints Autumn de Forest
The results speak for themselves
Her work has been displayed in galleries and exhibitions all over the world.
An Autumn de Forest paintingAutumn de Forest
Autumn held a public demonstration before a showing at The Butler Institute of American Art.
In 2015, Autumn received the International Giuseppe Sciacca Award in Painting and Art.
The award took her to the Vatican for a private showing of her artwork with Pope Francis.
Autumn de Forest stands with the Pope who looks at one of her paintings Autumn de Forest
At 16, she also worked with the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, headed up by former First Lady Michelle Obama.
As part of the program, de Forest traveled to underprivileged schools around the country and led painting workshops. Oh, and if you're looking for some hard numbers to attach to Autumn's talent, she's got those, too.
Her paintings raked in over $7 million at auctions by the time she was a teenager—fetching as much as $25,000 each—much of which has gone directly to charities and disaster relief funds.
Now 24, Autumn continues to be represented by Park West Gallery, the world's largest art dealer, and is keeping busy with her craft and philanthropy.
- YouTube youtu.be
The transition from child prodigy to respected artist has certainly kept her busy. In 2017, the Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center in Hendersonville, Tennessee hosted a major solo exhibition for de Forest titled "Her White Room: The Art of Autumn de Forest."
That same year, de Forest was listed as one of Teen Vogue's "21 Under 21." In her profile she was praised for her talent as well as her commitment to art education.
"In disadvantaged schools, they consider the arts an extracurricular activity," she told Teen Vogue. "It's devastating, as there could be child prodigies in these schools, but they don't know that they have this God-given gift because they're not given the opportunity because there's nearly no art programs in schools."
In 2018, de Forest was featured in the music video for the song "Youth" by best-selling recording artists Shawn Mendes and Khalid. The video highlights exceptional young people working to change the world, including de Forest, Emma González, and Elias and Zion Phoenix.
The video has over 88 million views on YouTube.
And of course, de Forest continues to share her absolutely incredible artwork on Instagram and in shows and exhibitions around the globe.
The Autumn de Forest Foundation helps her keep track of the kids she's met throughout the years and to continue to help them with their art careers
A portion of the foundation's money goes to a 529 account set up for the students while 10% goes to them directly.
"A lot of these kids that I work with, they're not very old, they're in second grade, third grade, fourth grade. Maybe in 10 years, they may only have four or five thousand dollars but that could be the difference between them going to college or not," Autumn told Teen Vogue.
Autumn's incredible rise in the art world is an astonishing feat for someone so young, but that accomplishment is easily matched by her generosity and commitment to helping develop tomorrow's prodigies as well.
De Forest's latest solo exhibition debuted in late August of this year, and ran through mi September at the Park West Soho Gallery. She now resides in Los Angeles according to her profile on the networking site, dot.cards.
For more information, visit her website.
This article originally appeared nine years ago. It has been updated.
Not every woman can wait a half hour to handle a period issue.
There are a lot of men out there who shy away from discussing menstruation with women. But any man who's ever taken a class in basic human biology or had a mother, sister, wife, girlfriend or any other woman in their life should know the basics of how it works.
That's why a mother on the Mumsnet message board was completely "shocked" that her daughter's teacher told her to "hold in" her period. Does he think a woman can hold in her period like it's pee? (Spoiler: She can't. Different point of origin, different muscles, different biological process.)
Mumsnet is a UK website where parents come together to discuss anything from adoption to women's rights. This post appeared under the "Am I Being Unreasonable" thread.
"Hold it" is not an appropriate response to a teen getting her period.Screenshot via Mumsnet
According to the post, the 15-year-old's teacher prevented her from using the bathroom because he legitimately thinks women can hold back period blood. Or he knows a bit about biology but still decided to put her in the position to be mortally embarrassed.
The mother later said that the lessons last two hours so the girl had a long time to wait before being able to change her pad.
A few parents said that the teacher was correct to say no because students often lie about their periods to get out of class.
"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," wrote one commenter.
We Tried To Not Leak On Our Period For A Week GIF by BuzzFeed Giphy
"Unless she is new to starting her periods then I would expect students to make use of time to change sanitary products," shared another. "Eg. Women know if we are a new pad every 2 hours or every 4 etc. Sadly, some girls do use having their period as some sort of get out of jail free card. I agree with him saying just wait half an hour. I think his phrasing was clumsy though."
Some women, however, shared that the nature of their periods would make waiting a half an hour potentially disastrous. Everyone's periods are different, and while some wouldn't have a problem even if it started out of the blue, some would.
"I used to have very sudden gushes and used to have to carry a change of clothes with me as no pad , no matter how super absorbent,would stop me flooding. Ever so embarrassing and very uncomfortable to have to sit and wait before going to clean yourself up. I'm very envious of the women on here who have never experienced it."
"This is ridiculous, I had undiagnosed endometriosis in high school and would have random clotting that meant I would immediately need to use the bathroom . If a male teacher said this I would be absolutely mortified, you should definitely complain!"
"Reminds me of when I was in Venice, I was on my period but use tampons. DH and I are walking down a canal and all of a sudden I look down and realise my crotch is bright red. Absolutely mortified. I must have flooded without realising and there was no hiding it. This was only 2 years ago so I still want to crawl into a hole when I think about it. Women can and do flood unexpectedly!!!"
Cramps and other discomfort are already hard enough to deal with when you have your period.Photo credit: Canva
Most parents thought the teacher did the wrong thing and needs a lesson in basic biology.
"I would be complaining, and I am not a complainer. There is so much wrong with that it's hard to know where to begin."
One poster was irate but completely right about the issue.
"Complain to high heaven! What if she'd leaked everywhere? I bet he'd have let her go to the toilet pretty sharpish. Hold it in? What a jerk!"
Another believes the daughter should have disobeyed the teacher and gone to the bathroom.
"In these 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 then 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 'that girl who leaked everywhere or shat herself' then nipping out of the classroom for 5 mins and maybe getting a detention."
One poster did a great job at re-framing the situation so that the teacher's actions seem even more ridiculous.
"Would it be ok to tell adults when they could or could not take action to stop themselves leaking blood?"
But the $50,000 question is: What subject does the instructor teach?
Hopefully it wasn't a biology teacher. Screenshot via Mumsnet
Bottom line: If a woman says she needs to use the bathroom for "girl reasons"—or any reason, for that matter—best to let her go and save you both some potential problems.
This story originally appeared five years ago and has been updated.
A student accidentally created a rechargeable battery that she says could last 400 years
"This thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it’s still going." 
UCI doctoral candidate Mya Le Thai has developed a nanowire-based technology that allows lithium-ion batteries to be recharged hundreds of thousands of times.
A quote widely attributed to the Roman philosopher Seneca says, "Luck happens when preparation meets opportunity." In 2016, a doctoral candidate at the University of California Irvine proved that this is indeed the truth.
Nine years ago, Mya Le Thai, PhD was playing around in the lab when she made a colossal discovery that could lead to a rechargeable battery—that could last up to 400 years. That means longer-lasting appliances, laptops, smartphones, cars and so much more, plus fewer lithium ion batteries piling up in landfills.
A team of researchers at UCI had been experimenting with nanowires for potential use in batteries, but found that, over time, the thin fragile wires would break down and crack after too many charging cycles. A charge cycle is when a battery goes from completely full to completely empty and back to full again.
Phone charging.Canva Photos.
But one day on a whim, Thai coated a set of gold nanowires in manganese dioxide and a Plexiglas-like electrolyte gel.
"She started to cycle these gel capacitors, and that's when we got the surprise," said Reginald Penner, chair of the university's chemistry department. "She said, 'this thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it's still going.' She came back a few days later and said 'it's been cycling for 30,000 cycles.' That kept going on for a month."
This discovery is mind-blowing because the average laptop battery lasts 300 to 500 charge cycles. The nanobattery developed at UCI made it though 200,000 cycles in three months. That would extend the life of the average laptop battery by about 400 years. The rest of the device would have probably gone kaput decades before the battery, but the implications for a battery that lasts hundreds of years are pretty startling.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
“Mya was playing around, and she coated this whole thing with a very thin gel layer and started to cycle it,” Penner added. “She discovered that just by using this gel, she could cycle it hundreds of thousands of times without losing any capacity.”
“That was crazy,” he added, “because these things typically die in dramatic fashion after 5,000 or 6,000 or 7,000 cycles at most. ”"The big picture is that there may be a very simple way to stabilize nanowires of the type that we studied. If this turns out to be generally true, it would be a great advance for the community."
Not bad for just fooling around in the laboratory!
bill nye chemistry GIF by NETFLIX Giphy
Since her discovery, Mya Le Thai earned her PhD and has gone on to a successful career as the Principal Scientist with the Enevate Corporation, a company set "to develop innovative battery technologies that accelerate adoption of electrified mobility," according to their website.
She has also filed patents for her various inventions, the most recent of which being "Cells with blocking devices for delayed heat propagation" in July 2025. Her full list of patents can be found on Justia.
This article originally appeared eight years ago. It has been updated.
Not every woman can wait a half hour to handle a period issue.
There are a lot of men out there who shy away from discussing menstruation with women. But any man who's ever taken a class in basic human biology or had a mother, sister, wife, girlfriend or any other woman in their life should know the basics of how it works.
That's why a mother on the Mumsnet message board was completely "shocked" that her daughter's teacher told her to "hold in" her period. Does he think a woman can hold in her period like it's pee? (Spoiler: She can't. Different point of origin, different muscles, different biological process.)
Mumsnet is a UK website where parents come together to discuss anything from adoption to women's rights. This post appeared under the "Am I Being Unreasonable" thread.
"Hold it" is not an appropriate response to a teen getting her period.Screenshot via Mumsnet
According to the post, the 15-year-old's teacher prevented her from using the bathroom because he legitimately thinks women can hold back period blood. Or he knows a bit about biology but still decided to put her in the position to be mortally embarrassed.
The mother later said that the lessons last two hours so the girl had a long time to wait before being able to change her pad.
A few parents said that the teacher was correct to say no because students often lie about their periods to get out of class.
"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," wrote one commenter.
We Tried To Not Leak On Our Period For A Week GIF by BuzzFeed Giphy
"Unless she is new to starting her periods then I would expect students to make use of time to change sanitary products," shared another. "Eg. Women know if we are a new pad every 2 hours or every 4 etc. Sadly, some girls do use having their period as some sort of get out of jail free card. I agree with him saying just wait half an hour. I think his phrasing was clumsy though."
Some women, however, shared that the nature of their periods would make waiting a half an hour potentially disastrous. Everyone's periods are different, and while some wouldn't have a problem even if it started out of the blue, some would.
"I used to have very sudden gushes and used to have to carry a change of clothes with me as no pad , no matter how super absorbent,would stop me flooding. Ever so embarrassing and very uncomfortable to have to sit and wait before going to clean yourself up. I'm very envious of the women on here who have never experienced it."
"This is ridiculous, I had undiagnosed endometriosis in high school and would have random clotting that meant I would immediately need to use the bathroom . If a male teacher said this I would be absolutely mortified, you should definitely complain!"
"Reminds me of when I was in Venice, I was on my period but use tampons. DH and I are walking down a canal and all of a sudden I look down and realise my crotch is bright red. Absolutely mortified. I must have flooded without realising and there was no hiding it. This was only 2 years ago so I still want to crawl into a hole when I think about it. Women can and do flood unexpectedly!!!"
Cramps and other discomfort are already hard enough to deal with when you have your period.Photo credit: Canva
Most parents thought the teacher did the wrong thing and needs a lesson in basic biology.
"I would be complaining, and I am not a complainer. There is so much wrong with that it's hard to know where to begin."
One poster was irate but completely right about the issue.
"Complain to high heaven! What if she'd leaked everywhere? I bet he'd have let her go to the toilet pretty sharpish. Hold it in? What a jerk!"
Another believes the daughter should have disobeyed the teacher and gone to the bathroom.
"In these 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 then 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 'that girl who leaked everywhere or shat herself' then nipping out of the classroom for 5 mins and maybe getting a detention."
One poster did a great job at re-framing the situation so that the teacher's actions seem even more ridiculous.
"Would it be ok to tell adults when they could or could not take action to stop themselves leaking blood?"
But the $50,000 question is: What subject does the instructor teach?
Hopefully it wasn't a biology teacher. Screenshot via Mumsnet
Bottom line: If a woman says she needs to use the bathroom for "girl reasons"—or any reason, for that matter—best to let her go and save you both some potential problems.
This story originally appeared five years ago and has been updated.
Where did we go wrong as a society to make women feel uncomfortable about breastfeeding in public? No one should feel they have the right to tell a woman when, where, and how she can breastfeed. The stigma should be placed on those who have the nerve to tell a woman feeding her child to "Cover up" or to ask "Where's your modesty?"
It's particularly ironic given the immense pressure we put on mothers to breastfeed from the very moment they find out they're pregnant. Everyone's heard the expression that "Breast is best," which guilts moms who might not want or be able to breastfeed. But then, for the ones that do choose that road thinking they'll be appreciated for it, we police when, where, and how they're able to do so. We're cool with it, sort of, as long as it's done "tastefully." Even in situations where it's totally legal and acceptable to breastfeed in public, some people will judge whether she does so "respectfully." When, in reality, the only disrespect is coming from those who are being judgmental about how a woman feeds her child.
This really shouldn't make us uncomfortable, no matter how much skin is showing. Photo by Dave Clubb on Unsplash
One mom is going viral for taking a stand against the idea of "respectful" breastfeeding.
A mother on the Breastfeeding Mom Facebook page posted a powerful image of a woman breastfeeding that shows just what "respectful" breastfeeding looks like.
Spoiler alert: It's really indistinguishable from any other kind of breastfeeding. Here, see for yourself.
via bfmamatalk / Facebook
"Stop telling moms they need to be respectful when they breastfeed in public," the meme says. "When you can't even respect the fact that a baby has just as much of a right to eat in public as everyone else."
Breasts were made to feed babies. Yes, they also have a role in sexual arousal for both men and women, but there's still debate over whether breasts have been sexualized because of something inherent in our biology or because we've learned to sexualize them through media and culture. Some even argue that we find breasts attractive because they're a signal of a woman's fertility, which brings us right back to babies! Besides, anyone who has the maturity of a sixth grader knows the difference between a sexual act and feeding a child. It's pretty obvious, actually. If the woman is holding a child to her breast, she's not being sexual or indecent.
In fact, we should probably rethink whether the idea that a bare breast is indecent in the first place. Men can show off their nipples in public, why can't women? If anything, the societal expectation should be flipped. Providing necessary nourishment to your baby should be the thing that's completely normal.
It's completely backwards that male nipple is acceptable in public, but not a breastfeeding mother's Giphy
The meme was accompanied by a fantastic explanation.
This is how a mother respectfully nurses a baby. With dignity and confidence.
The way someone chooses to nurse a child "doesn't define the amount of respect they have for themselves and doesn't define who they are. We are all human beings and somehow we are divided by something as natural as breastfeeding."
If you choose to cover up, that's awesome. If you don't, that's awesome too. The purpose of nursing isn't about who shows more boob or who doesn't. The purpose is to feed a child. And whether it's done covered, in a private place, or uncovered in the middle of a restaurant, does not define the amount of respect you have. The stigma needs to end. We are just trying to feed our babies.
Legally, mothers in all 50 states are allowed to breastfeed at any location public or private. Workplaces of more than 50 people are also required to provide a private space other than a bathroom for mom's to use for pumping or feeding. Breastfeeding in public can not be considered an act of public indecency or sexual conduct — most states explicitly state as much, and in the others, it's implied by granting mother's the right to legally breastfeed anywhere at any time.
But these legal protections don't stop the stares and the stigma. Advocacy groups continue to fight for laws that would punish bystanders from harassing breastfeeding moms. Sometimes, mothers have even had the police called on them! It's mind-boggling.
Let's stop litigating the amount of boob or nipple that's showing and equating that to "respect" or "decency." The decent thing to do is leave mothers alone and let them do what's necessary.
This article originally appeared six years ago.