Why do some people say beginners shouldn't start with épée? Is that true?
It is not a rule, and plenty of fencers start in épée and do very well. The advice is partly a real coaching opinion and partly old tradition. For decades most clubs started everyone in foil, and women in particular were steered away from the other weapons: women's épée only joined the Olympics in 1996. Some clubs still run foil-first programs for practical reasons, such as coaches, equipment or class sizes. So if someone tells you épée is off-limits for beginners, it is worth asking what they actually mean.
The genuine argument for starting in foil is about habits. Foil uses right-of-way, a set of rules deciding who gets the point when both fencers hit, so it forces you to learn to attack properly, defend with parries and control your point on a small target (the torso). Some coaches find that épée beginners drift into a narrow game of standing back and poking at the hand or counterattacking everything, which works at the bottom level and then stalls. They also argue that moving from foil to épée later is easier than going the other way.
The case for épée is just as real. It has the simplest scoring: the whole body is target and whoever hits first scores, so a beginner understands every touch from the first bout. Because a double hit counts for both fencers, épée teaches you not to get hit, which is a sound basic instinct. Foil habits can need unlearning too, like ignoring the arm as a target. Many clubs start adults straight in épée for these reasons. The injury worry is weak: épée blades are stiffer and a hard hit can bruise, but good technique, standard protective gear and sensible partners make it about as safe as foil.
The honest verdict: the best starting weapon is the one your club teaches well and the one you enjoy enough to keep coming back to. The fundamentals, including stance, footwork, distance and timing, carry across all three weapons. If your club has a foil-first policy, ask how long it lasts and what it is meant to teach. If it is only habit and you love épée, a polite chat with the head coach usually sorts it out.