S.L.U.T (have I been wrong for so many years)

Jesus fucking wept!

You are precisely the sort of colleague (yes HELLO fellow teacher here!) that I have to battle against day in day out when I counter sexism in schools.

You are part of the problem, you are not being cool or edgy you are PART OF THE PROBLEM girls face everyday to put them in their place.

Find another acronym, one that isn't so unbelievably offensive to a whole sex/class/group. And do it quickly before you damage your career forever.

OP - tip. When you are in a hole, stop digging.

If you'd already decided it was inappropriate, why did you have to keep them behind to ask?

You kept them after class to ask them 'anonymously'. When I was 15, I think I could have worked out that my teacher probably knew what my handwriting looked like. Just saying.

Also, at 15, aren't you supposed to be educating them? Not the other way around...

If you'd decided not to use it because it is derogatory, misogynous, and staggeringly crass, what was the point in singling out these girls? Why not just apologise and move on rather than getting them to reassure you that you are hilarious?

Oppressed groups are socialised to lie low, to take the joke, to not make a fuss. Girls are taught to be compliant so men don't assault them. What on earth did you expect them to say? 'You are a massively offensive wanker, Sir, see you next lesson'

I'm in my 40s and would struggle if put on the spot by my boss like that.

Blimey, I had to check you were a legit poster as I couldn't believe a teacher would need to ask this, or would think checking this out with the (offended against) pupils was an appropriate way to behave.

Well done for recognising that this was inappropriate. To clarify why keeping the girls afterwards & getting their approval wasn't equally inappropriate. Remember being 14? Remember the pressure to fit in & conform, to be cool? Now imagine you suffered from something that a cool, edgy (I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt...) female teacher frequently used as a source of humour. Maybe you had a small penis, or suffered from premature ejaculation. Something you worried about, and felt insecure about, but was embarrassing to admit to. One day, out of nowhere the teacher kept you & a few other kids back (not the whole class,so you are already feeling singled out) & asked if you were offended by the jokes she'd been making. Do you honestly think you'd have told her?

I know it's not completely analogous, because as a bloke, you don't find yourself constantly the butt of jokes and put downs about your whole sex. As such, I'm pushing it up a scale a bit to give you the idea.

OP, when I was a 15/16 old boy doing my GCSE maths, i'd've found this so creepy and really uncomfortable. And by keeping the girls back to ask if it was ok (ffs) you've made it worse. You could've dropped the acronym quietly but now everyone's going to be talking about what a sleaze you appear to be.

I wonder if it's just slightly off for certain posters to be constantly calling the OP a knob, even though it appears to be, er, somewhat accurate.

Thinking about having taught teenagers for a few years now, I think I have (over)heard more girls than boys use the word slut. Sometimes in a jokey manner and sometimes to insult another girl.

I'm not sure it hits many 15/16 year olds as a misogynist term, they're not usually into that sort of feminist analysis.

Not condoning its use by a teacher, but I don't think it's the same thing as using an overtly racist term. It's entirely possible that some of the girls were left thinking that they were kept behind and not the boys because girls are more delicate and prone to be offended by bad language, rather than any sexism in the word.

Out of interest, why do you assume that all the boys were cool with it?

At 15/16 some boys will have strong ideas around these things. Some might identify as feminists / feminist allies. Others might be absolutely mortified at you bringing sex into the classroom at what is a pretty sensitive age for both boys and girls.

What makes you assume that only the girls would have a problem with your behaviour. That's quite interesting in itself.

yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck

I think I probably would have laughed etc at 15 as well.

As a grown-up I am really horrified. I can't believe that you kept the girls behind after class to ask them if it was OK for you to use the word SLUT to get the class to remember something about graphs.

This reminds me of that UKIP fella and his fridge cleaning remarks.

IN what way was it anonymous? DId you not explain to the class you were wrong to do it? Or did you just ask if you thought it was offensive. DId it occur to you to tell the whole class it was wrong? Or are the boys to continue thinking SLUT is funny?

I refuse to believe this is real because, if it is, I don't want to live on this planet anymore and there's nowhere else to go.

I have conceded that I was wrong ffs

Oh sorry if the misogynist slur and then further offensiveness you put the girls through for no apparent reason wasn't immediately ignored and you weren't given many cookies and pats on the back.

Year sorry about that.

for fucks sake indeed

Sorry x posted

I understand that you have conceded that you were wrong

But I and many other posters think that your asking the students was also inappropriate .

Why did you ask them if you knew it was wrong?

Would you have asked a group of black students if they found the word " nigger " offensive ?

But, partial, you were totally wrong to keep those girls behind after class, to get them to collude with you in the use of the word slut. And you being the teacher, and in charge, and them being 15 means they will have colluded.

Nice one. Not.

And if you really kept a bunch of 15 year old girls behind in class on a Sunday to ask them if it was ok then you're an even bigger knob that you seemed from your first post

^^ this, also. That was a bit shitty, really. "Is it OK if I use derogatory words? Yes, I know I'm an adult male, and a teacher and you are a bunch of teenagers but I just want to point out that I keep saying SLUT, and make sure you all think I'm super edgy"

FFS.

It's rude

When I was 15/16 I would have said I found it funny, because it's really hard to articulate feelings like that when you are constantly on the back foot. I wouldn't have wanted to be the humourless girl who couldn't take a joke. Then I would have dropped maths like a hot potato at the first opportunity.