It was definitely interesting to me because my daughter was initially sure of her position. Now.. since this thread.. we have talked and we have both concluded this: the teacher was asked by several class members if she was lesbian or bisexual. The teacher didn’t respond. The reason I think she didn’t answer was based on political correctness and I will explain why: if she said that no... Anne was simply going through puberty and not in the best of circumstances (no close girl friends, fear, living in an attic etc) and she simply wrote what she felt... she could be seen as “anti-gay”. If she said yes... (and that would be inaccurate).. it wouldn’t be factual and it would be wrong and promoting an agenda. Sounds complicated, doesn’t it? I wrote out on #40 the paragraph that had her entire class wondering. IMHO, the teacher did an injustice simply by not telling them this was simple curiosity. To be fair to my daughter and her class... they are at the age where people are “liking” other people and their bodies are changing. With so much in the media, on t.v., movies, etc... about homosexuality... it is fair to say that they questioned these passages based on today’s society pressure. Their question was really innocent in a way... leaving it unanswered did way more damage than good. IMHO.
It does sound like political correctness. Maybe the teacher feared punishment if she answered “no,” or maybe she felt uncomfortable engaging the students in that discussion and ignored the question so that she wouldn’t have to deal with it.
It’s a shame those entries weren’t either destroyed or better-protected as the private thoughts of an innocent young girl.