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It's because some people still can't figure out what a subtrope is.
Well, when us women have an accident from our menstruation, it's because we couldn't get to a toilet room in time to change the pad/tampon/cup. Unlike guys' wet dreams, during our periods we bleed fairly constantly (and heavily, for some of us) & most of us use the bathroom to change our protection — not just bedsheets get bloodied, but also our clothes, and that can happen at any time of day, not just at night. It's not just Embarrassing Damp Sheets — we get Embarrassing Bloodied Clothes, and I couldn't find any trope that covered that (likely because media rarely shows that, because of No Periods, Period).
Honestly, when we need to change the protection, we can get just as intense about finding a toilet area as during a urinary Potty Emergency. Most of us don't want to get blood-soaked clothes, especially not in public.
On top of that, even in this day & age, thanks to inadequate sex ed in too many regions, too many people (men & women) still lump a woman's vagina into the general "down there" area where poop & pee also come from.
So, yeah, I can definitely see why someone subtroped it to Potty Emergency.
Edited by FranksGirl
Yes, and us men have Nocturnal Emissions, which are mentioned as part of the trope, but have nothing whatsoever to do with a Potty Failure.
But, there are definitely at least three examples in media of people wetting the bed via urine.
^ What does that have to do with anything asked? The question wasn't if wetting the bed via urine was a trope.
Edited by pikachu17 17 pikachus all in a row.
I agree that supertrope/subtrope relations are often all over the place.
If you spot some inaccuracy as in this case, you can remove it. And it's always great to ask others to avoid edit wars. There is a dedicated forum thread for this issue: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13660558210A22724600&page=1
⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️ Yes, Rallybot, but women's periods are the other half of the trope and can fall into Potty Failure. Maybe women's periods should be moved off of Embarrassing Damp Sheets, then: we're talking about two entirely different biological things that happen for entirely different reasons.
I mean, nocturnal emissions are embarrassing because of the sexual undertone & subsequent teasing/bad jokes that usually accompanies them in media. Women's bloodstains are usually only embarrassing if they happen to our clothes in public. At home, initial embarrassment quickly turns to matter-of-fact annoyance: bluntly, we get used to it, and everyone usually avoids talking about it.
There's two parts of the trope. Are sub-tropes supposed to be an all-or-nothing thing, then?
Edited by FranksGirl
^ They are. Every subtrope must be an example of the supertrope, but narrow enough to be it's own thing.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Sister Trope might be more appropriate?
No, what I meant was that Embarrassing Damp Sheets is a Supertrope of both "Wet Dreams" and "Peeing the Bed"
Nocturnal Emission (Wet Dream) is most certainly not a subtrope of Embarrassing Damp Sheets.
(Provided the guy's wearing pants.)
Edited by RallyBot2
^ The description of the latter disagrees.
^ And isn't that what's in dispute?
The fact of the matter is that every example of a subtrope should be an example of the supertrope. Otherwise, they're just overlapping tropes.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
There's a but of problem about Embarrassing Damp Sheets's subtrope-supertrope relationships.
The trope description clearly states that wetting due to semen (i.e. Nocturnal Emission or Wet Dream) or menstruation counts as this trope.
Nobody would count those as examples of Potty Failure. Then why it says "A subtrope of Potty Failure"?