HighSchoolVagMon

It's Shocking! Hide Your Daughters! Cover Your Ears!

Students suspended over the V-word

Students: 'Vagina' suspensions unwarranted
Teens say they were only making a statement against censorship
March 9, 2007

DELL WILLIAMS APPLAUDS THE THREE YOUNG WOMEN WHO REFUSED TO BE CENSORED BY THEIR SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AND TOOK A STAND FOR WOMEN TO DEFINE THEIR OWN BODIES

For those of you who did not hear the broadcast on the Today show, March 9th, the principal of a high school advised three young women to delete the word "vagina" from the performance of the Vagina Monologues. He claimed it was "inappropriate" for young ears. Ignoring the admonition, the three women performed the excerpt. It is hard to believe that in 2007, when we have reached a state when sexuality is being recognized as a necessary element for our well-being and happiness that someone would think it is shameful to say the word "vagina." We salute their stand in defending their right to free speech and to define their own body.

Lest we go back to a time when women's sexual nature was regarded as sinful, Eve's Garden wishes to inform this principal what a highly important function a woman's vagina plays in the very nature of existence.

The dictionary meaning of the vagina states "a canal in the female mammal that leads from the uterus to the external orifice of the vaginal canal." What is inappropriate about naming an aspect of the human body? It isn't any different than talking about the heart or kidney. But perhaps he objects to its function?

Let us enlighten him, as well as anyone else who thinks it is inappropriate to mention vaginas to young ears, and instead, insist that the vagina be treated with the respect it deserves. It is the place where life is conceived and the portal where all life emerges. It is to be worshipped as did the ancient people of many civilizations whose wall carvings and artifacts depict the vulva as the most sacred of all objects.

The sacred canal we call the vagina is also home to the clitoris whose 8000 nerve endings bring so much pleasure to women and also provide pleasure to men. In our view, the vagina is to be celebrated and venerated, and this principal, who suspended the three young women for "insubordination" should be suspended from the school system, which is supposed to educate young minds about the human body and not defame it. Shame, shame on him.

When I started Eve's Garden thirty-five years ago, it was my intention to encourage women to overcome any shame or guilt we had about our sexuality, and instead celebrate the joy our own bodies and sexuality. I applaud these young women who have done just that in taking a stand to express their pride and respect for their own body, their sexuality, and the magnificent, venerable VAGINA..

Dell Williams

Dell Williams founded Eve's Garden . Read about her in "REVOLUTION IN THE GARDEN" in the VFA Reading Corner

THE BACKGROUND STORY

Students suspended over the V-word

Students: 'Vagina' suspensions unwarranted
Teens say they were only making a statement against censorship
March 9, 2007

TODAY host Meredith Vieira talked with Eve Ensler, author of "The Vagina Monologues," three Westchester County High School students, who were suspended for using the word vagina during a school performance of her play, and Peter Breslin, school board president.

Three students who were ordered suspended after saying the word "vagina" while reading from a play at a high-school event say they were only trying to take a stand against censorship.

"Our main point is that 'vagina' isn't a word that should be censored from young children ... It's an important word. It's a part of the body," said Megan Reback, 16.

Reback and fellow juniors Elan Stahl and Hannah Levinson, also 16, were given a one-day suspension by their principal at John Jay High School in Cross River, N.Y., after their reading of a stanza from "The Vagina Monologues" at a school "open mike" night last week.
The three girls discussed the resulting controversy during an appearance Friday on TODAY. They were joined by school board President Peter Breslin, representing the Katonah-Lewisboro school district, and Eve Ensler, author of the award-winning play.

"The Vagina Monologues" is made up of a series of monologues about women and their their experiences of sexuality. It has been performed around the world since first being staged off-Broadway as a one-woman show performed by Ensler in 1996.

The excerpt that got the girls in trouble, which they repeated on TODAY, reads: "My short skirt is a liberation flag in the women's army. I declare these streets, any streets, my vagina's country."

Principal Richard Leprine has said the suspensions, which are being reviewed, stemmed from the girls' insubordination, not from their use of the word itself. He said the girls broke a promise not to include the word in their reading.

"They just said the stanza wasn't appropriate to say at an event that was open to the community," Reback told TODAY host Meredith Vieira. "In reality, it was only 9th-grade students through 12th-grade students, and parents who were there. There weren't any young children."

Stahl said she and her two classmates felt it would be inappropriate to read the passage without the "V word." "It really upheld the message of the monologue, the moral integrity of the piece of literature, and better represented women across the world," she said.

The suspensions are on hold while the school district superintendent reviews the matter, and the girls are hopeful they will be reversed.

'Stood up for what they believe'
Breslin, the school board president, said the episode highlights a need for a closer examination of school policy - especially considering another student wasn't challenged for using the "F word" during his reading the same night.

The principal had a difficult decision to make and was doing what we felt was right at the time, Breslin said.

"Principals make these kinds of calls all the time. Educators in every school in America say, 'Should this book be read by these students? Should this film be shown in class? Should this passage be read at this event?' " Breslin said. "It's difficult because sometimes they are very difficult calls, and that's what our principal [had] in this case." 'vagina.' I've heard it more in the last four days than I have to this point in my life, and that's fine .... I admire what they did. They stood up for what they believe and I have no problem with that."

Ensler said she is disappointed but not surprised that the girls got in trouble for using the word.

"I love these girls. I was not shocked that the school resisted saying the word," Ensler said. "We are still living in a world where people are terrified of the word vagina. It's a body part ... The fact that we still live in a world where that creates such controversy is disturbing to me."