Subtheme 2: Communicating with Others

In addition to the topic of puberty in education, the participants also discussed the ability to communicate with other people about the menstrual cycle. This included members of staff, for example when supplies were needed, but also members of the opposite sex. Most participants expressed some form of discomfort in having to tell males about women-only complaints, such as period pains; one voice provided the exception to this. The topic of menstruation was introduced in the focus groups by one participant, who mentioned that signs had been placed in the female bathrooms describing how sanitary supplies were available. The girls had mixed views on this; ‗I think that’s lovely actually’ (Sarah, line 45); ‗I hate it’ (Laura, line 52). However, several participants agreed that the signs had some usefulness, as the participants did not have to directly request supplies from staff.

‘I think it’s good to have it there, because I can see if we don’t have things we don’t want to just sit in the toilet until you can go home scared. And they do have pads and tampons. Everyone at some point will have their day when like...’ (Kara, lines 57-9)

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This quote implies that the participant would ‗sit on the toilet‘ until she was able to ‗go home scared‘ rather than communicate to a member of staff that they were in need. The participants did not indicate whether it would be more or less comfortable to talk to a staff member whether they were male or female. Sam also shared the view that the sign was helpful, as you could help yourself, explaining that ‘obviously you don’t want to go into the office

and say.’ (Sam, line 62).

Many members of the focus group also agreed that they would experience some level of discomfort in talking about their period to the opposite sex. For instance, one participant expressed a belief that males would not be able to empathise with the particular pains associated with the menstrual cycle. They claimed that this created further awkwardness in trying to broach this subject, as their complaints would not be understood.

‘if I was to go up to a guy and say like, oh my chest hurts because of this and that, it would feel a lot more difficult cause they don’t have the same things, they wouldn’t have known too much about it’ (Amber,

lines 660-2)

In addition to this, a different participant feared the reaction of her male friends and anticipated that they might feel uncomfortable, which would have a ripple effect on their own emotions. Sam included herself in the category of people who don‘t like talking to males about puberty ‗at all‘ in the following statement:

‘I think some people don’t like talking about puberty to guy friends at all...because girl puberty is extremely different to boy puberty...Like if I went up to a boy and said, I’m on my period they’d be like....and I’d just like. Well, that’s what my friends are like.’ (Sam, lines 675-81)

However, one member of the focus group did suggest that communicating is heavily dependent on personality, rather than sex or gender. They rather suggested choosing carefully who you shared information with, in order to avoid being ‗taken the mick‘ out of but also to gain the empathy and support that you might be seeking. They made the following claim:

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‘Well, it depends on the guy. If you go up to some random guy, obviously they’re going to take the mick out of you for the rest of your life, but um if you go up to like your friend who’s a guy and say, yeah I’m not feeling too great today because I’ve got monthly cycle or period or whatever you want to say, generally if they’re a good person they’ll be like oh alright and they’ll try to support you.’ (Sarah, lines

682-6)

Furthermore, the same participant suggested that males are able to empathise with the pain specific to period, despite not experiencing this. They recommended comparing this pain to a similar type of pain experienced by men.

‘And another thing about not understanding it, particularly with menstrual pain, instead of saying menstrual pain which they probably won’t understand, if you say cramping they understand that.’ (Sarah,

lines 691-3)

However it can be noted that the reluctance to share with males came from three participants, whereas only one spoke in their defence.

4.5.3 Theme 4 Summary

This theme and two subthemes have discussed participant views on the subjects of puberty, both in terms of the education received and the ability to communicate with others. It is certainly true that this topic generated the most debate and differences of opinion within the group, as previously stated. The factors that could be contributing to this include age, friendship group (female versus male majority) and individual personality differences. However, due to this it is hard to make overall conclusions based on the opinions shared. It is also important to note that topics relating to puberty, sex and education arose on several occasions despite not being a main focus of the group (or indeed the aims of the research project). This might suggest that girls have not yet discovered an appropriate outlet for these discussions.

92 4.6 Findings Summary

This chapter has explored the themes and subthemes that have been interpreted from the data collected. This research project aimed to hear the voices of the participants, and the collect their views in relation to their friendship experiences. It is certainly true that several aspects of friendship were explored, including ideas around understanding our friendships and what support and provision the school could provide in order to support the females within the setting to have positive friendship experiences. Additionally, sections described narratives around the sense of belonging that may or may not exist through their sense of gender: whilst some participants did not feel ‗feminine‘ there was a notion of a shared female bond. Finally, whilst not the main aim of the project, the focus group unerringly found its way to discussing female puberty and the various issues surrounding this. The willingness to explore this topic amongst a group of women might imply that this topic is both more easily explored amongst same-sex groups, but also that the females involved in the sessions had not yet found an outlet for these thoughts. The importance of females meeting together and having a shared identity might therefore be an important thing to consider moving forward in the setting and from this research project.

93 Chapter 5: Discussion

5.1 Introduction

This chapter will further explore the findings of this study, including the implications of this data for school and Educational Psychology practice. It will consider how the data collected has answered the research question and what, if any, link it has to the existing body of literature. Opportunities will be taken to critically evaluate the study design, the tools used and their effectiveness in fulfilling the stated aims of the project. This will include reporting on the dissemination of information into the research setting, how this was received by staff and what changes were brought about as a result of the research conducted. Finally, it will explore potential further research that may be beneficial in adding to this narrative.

5.2 Research Question

The aims of this study were to collect the views of females attending a specialist autism setting, relating to their experiences of friendship. By hearing the voices of the children and young people, it hoped to inform potential changes to school support and provision in order to improve females‘ experiences of friendship within the school. There was a single research question created in relation to this aim:

How do girls with autism or social communication difficulties at [name] school feel about friendships?

To answer this question, two semi structured focus groups were carried out around the topic of friendships. The findings related to this have been presented in Chapter 4: the following sections will think about the implications of these findings.

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5.3 How do girls with autism or social communication difficulties in a