the v-word

i know i’m a little weird (eccentric is for people with money) but i’ve never really considered myself or my opinion that drastically different from the mainstream. short of the bush elections, i’ve felt in step with joe and jill america. but my recent participation in the vagina monologues has made me think twice.

selling tickets – even at the school of public health and tropical medicine – was special to say the least. people wouldn’t make eye contact, turned away and blushed…not just at the vagina shaped chocolates but at the very name of the show.

but ok…we had a pretty good crowd so i didn’t think much of it, but then someone sent me an article about the use of the word vagina by three high school kids who got suspended. the principal said they got in trouble for insubordination because they were told not to use the word and not because of the word but isn’t it the same thing? the rationale was that their might be children in the audience.

when did vagina become a bad word?

i can hear all sorts of profanities on tv and radio, women can be broken down into their parts with little thought it seems, as long as those parts are named colorful euphemisms for the actual anatomical names.

i don’t want my nieces or any other little girls referring to their bodies as pocketbook or coochie snorcher. we don’t call a heart a bloody thing, we call it a heart, and a lung a lung and skin skin. when did vagina become a sin?

but maybe i’m not too far off…even ensler(the shows creator/writer), a bunch of students and even some of the parents began their own type of protests and discussions of disapproval. last i heard they were going to have a meeting to “discuss” the girls’ punishment. so maybe most of america isn’t as prude as i was starting to believe.

squeamishness aside, i realize chocolate vaginas are a bit much, i hope that people can learn to say it even if they don’t want to buy it for a midday snack.

Tags: me-ness, soapbox, speakinggigs