# To Sir With Love (the movie) I have a question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-sir-with-love-the-movie-i-have-a-question/160478>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 11, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-sir-with-love-the-movie-i-have-a-question/160478 "2003-03-11T04:04:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Nvme77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Nvme77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nvme77)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-sir-with-love-the-movie-i-have-a-question/160478/1 "2003-03-11T04:04:27Z")

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😕 **Somebody out there must know this…**

I love this movie, but I have been stumped for years on this one scene. Sidney Poitier leaves the classroom and returns to find the kids watching something burn in a little stove/portable heater. He throws the boys out and admonishes the girls for having no sense of decency and for being filthy.

What the hell where they burning?

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**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-sir-with-love-the-movie-i-have-a-question/160478/2 "2003-03-11T04:37:48Z")

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I haven’t seen the movie, but I read the book. IIRC, it was a used “sanitary napkin” (i.e. a used maxipad).

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**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-sir-with-love-the-movie-i-have-a-question/160478/3 "2003-03-11T05:22:22Z")

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I posted this question myself ages ago. I’ll spare the hamsters and not dig it up, but the answer I received was that the girls were burning a sanitary napkin or tampon (some sort of “feminine product”). So **Kat** , I think you did recall correctly.

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**Author:** ![Nvme77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Nvme77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nvme77)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-sir-with-love-the-movie-i-have-a-question/160478/4 "2003-03-11T05:25:42Z")

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Thanks!!

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**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-sir-with-love-the-movie-i-have-a-question/160478/5 "2003-03-11T07:08:31Z")

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It was a tampon. They don’t make it clear in the movie but it is explicit in the book.

Haj

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-sir-with-love-the-movie-i-have-a-question/160478/6 "2003-03-11T09:09:20Z")

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Maybe someone can fill the rest of us in…what is this movie about? I’ve heard the song of the same title (by Lulu) for years. Is it (supposedly) someone’s autobiography? - Jinx

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**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-sir-with-love-the-movie-i-have-a-question/160478/7 "2003-03-11T13:12:07Z")

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The book is autobiographical. Written by E.R. Braithewaite, who was a teacher in London’s East End. I want to say in the 1950s, but I’m not certain about the dates.

Braithewaite was in the RAC and trained as a engineer, then discovered engineering jobs were scarce for blacks. He went into teaching instead, and the book recounts his experiences in trying to first control, and then teach, a roomful of rowdy kids (I’m guessing high school age - the terminology is very British, so I was never clear on the ages.)

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**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-sir-with-love-the-movie-i-have-a-question/160478/8 "2003-03-11T15:48:11Z")

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No, not a tampon:

“I pushed through them for a closer look, and was horrified to see that someone had thrown a used sanitary napkin into the grate and made an abortive attempt to burn it.” (p. 70)

A “sanitary napkin” is not the same thing as a tampon.