Dirty slut in p6 school reading book!?

[Iamlora88]

I need some advice from other mums. DD class has been reading The Suitcase Kid ny Jaqueline Wilson. There's a line in it when someone calls a character a dirty slut. No wi get that this is a children's book but there's no room for the word slut in a class dull of ten year olds. DD told me and showed me the book and I asked her what the word meant and she told me it's the worst word you could ever call a girl. We left it at that. DD wants me to bring it up with her teacher and I do too but I'm not sure how to address it with the school without going all crazy raging feminist on them. Ten year olds shouldn't have words like that introduced into their vocabulary and that fact that the word is basically about shaming women for enjoying lots of sex (to put it very lightly) makes it even worse. If it was just a normal swear word I could let it slide but the word slut is so damaging and shaming and I'd hate to thing that they're all running around the playground calling each other dirty sluts! If anyone can help me draft an email it'd be much appreciated.

AHellofABird - Sophie speaks to the Queen about dreams/the fact the children have been eaten. So I think it passes by a whisker - although most of the conversation between them is about the BFG himself, admittedly!

I think telling her it's 'the worst word you could ever call a girl' was unfortunate. Short step from that to believing that being a 'slut' (whether of the older or more recent variety) is the worst thing a girl can BE. I'd have had a quick look at the context, explained it in context, then explained its current meaning, along with why it's so offensive (because of the double standard, victim blaming, etc).

Matilda doesn't fail reverse bechdel - dad speaks to brother about cars

I think telling her it's 'the worst word you could ever call a girl' was unfortunate. Short step from that to believing that being a 'slut' (whether of the older or more recent variety) is the worst thing a girl can BE

Not necessarily. When I was in primary school, boys used to call each other "wanker", and I am pretty sure they didn't actually believe it was a bad thing ... to be honest, I am not sure they really knew what it means.

But, yeah, explain what it used to mean, what it means nowadays, and why you should never ever use it. Knowledge is power.

I had to actually teach my mother to not call me a slut. (She liked to use the term to voice her anger at the fact that I hadn't cleaned my room ... )

If you bring it up with the teacher, there's no need to go all feminist, you can just pretend you're old-fashioned and a strict parent and don't want your daughter to learn dirty words.

Or, of course, you could go full on feminist and tell her that they usually don't use racist terms in books (or if so, discuss it in class) and that misogynist terms should be treated the same.