# Say vagina, get suspended **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 6, 2007, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864 "2007-03-06T22:10:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/141 "2007-03-07T20:49:28Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] It wasn’t titled Woo Hoo! Vagina! [/QUOTE] Too bad; they missed a golden opportunity to use the phrase “Woo Hoo, Hoo Ha” in the program. “Elmer, what does Woo Hoo, Hoo Ha mean?” “I think it’s what the backup singers are saying during ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight.’” “I’m so confused…” ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/142 "2007-03-07T20:50:32Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] Hey…you can’t please all the people all the time. The principal assumed the audience would be offended. He based his decision on what \*might \* happen and on what _might_ make his life a bit difficult; not on any real threat. He’s a pussy. [/QUOTE] My vagina resents that metaphor. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/143 "2007-03-07T20:51:47Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] My vagina resents that metaphor. [/QUOTE] How 'bout a ball-less sucker of cock? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/144 "2007-03-07T20:57:32Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] The principal assumed the audience would be offended. He based his decision on what \*might \* happen and on what _might_ make his life a bit difficult; [/QUOTE] Well, yeah. It’s called risk management. The wimp probably has car insurance, too. Because of what _might_ happen. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/145 "2007-03-07T21:02:23Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Band Name? [/QUOTE] It would probably have to be an all-girl band, though. And audiences would probably expect more than just music. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/146 "2007-03-07T21:04:32Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] How 'bout a ball-less sucker of cock? [/QUOTE] Yeah, that work---- Hey, wait a minute! I’m a ball-less sucker of cocks, too! :eek: You say that like it’s a bad thing. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/147 "2007-03-07T21:09:11Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Yeah, that work---- Hey, wait a minute! I’m a ball-less sucker of cocks, too! :eek: You say that like it’s a bad thing. 😉 [/QUOTE] So… Can I touch you with my pe… With my thing which is a citizen of the country that I call my street? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/148 "2007-03-07T21:14:16Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Well, yeah. It’s called risk management. The wimp probably has car insurance, too. Because of what _might_ happen. [/QUOTE] I don’t see how he could anticipate any more damage than a couple of pissed off parents. The word isn’t considered obscene in any dictionary. Do you think a judge would award damages to someone in the audience? Do you think parents would yank their kids out of school? Exactly what damage could come from students using a perfectly useful term to describe female anatomy? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/149 "2007-03-07T21:15:31Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Yeah, that work---- Hey, wait a minute! I’m a ball-less sucker of cocks, too! :eek: You say that like it’s a bad thing. 😉 [/QUOTE] Damn it! I trust you’ll have no problem with me calling him a felcher? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/150 "2007-03-07T21:18:46Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] Damn it! I trust you’ll have no problem with me calling him a felcher? 😛 [/QUOTE] If I did, do you think I’d admit it? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/151 "2007-03-07T21:20:29Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] If I did, do you think I’d admit it? 😃 [/QUOTE] (la-la-la I can’t heeeeeaaaarrrrrr yooooooouuuuuu!) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/152 "2007-03-07T21:28:05Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] I don’t see how he could anticipate any more damage than a couple of pissed off parents. The word isn’t considered obscene in any dictionary. Do you think a judge would award damages to someone in the audience? Do you think parents would yank their kids out of school? Exactly what damage could come from students using a perfectly useful term to describe female anatomy? [/QUOTE] Every few days we see a new thread in this forum about dumbass parents suing a school over dumbass stuff. Even if the principal would have won in court, it would have been a huge waste of time and money. Most public schools can’t afford either. As has been mentioned, principals often have to juggle a million things just to keep the school going. Frivolous lawsuits benefit no one. It comes under the heading of Choose Your Battles. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/153 "2007-03-07T21:31:14Z")
I’d take my chances that they’d file it under “frivolous lawsuits” and shitcan it before it ever grew legs. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/154 "2007-03-07T21:40:57Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] I’d take my chances that they’d file it under “frivolous lawsuits” and shitcan it before it ever grew legs. [/QUOTE] Sure, and when you become principal of that school, you can take your chances and spread your vagina all over the place. :eek: Some people prefer to play it safe. What actually happened was the best possible outcome. The girls got to show their vaginas, and the principal’s ass is covered. A day of suspension is not hard time. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/155 "2007-03-07T21:50:45Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Some people prefer to play it safe. [/QUOTE] Like I said…he’s a total vagina! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/156 "2007-03-07T21:51:56Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] I’ll add my voice to the chorus wanting to know what the bowdlerized version was. [/QUOTE] _The Ladies’ Front Bottom Monologues_. Probably not. ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/157 "2007-03-07T21:55:50Z")
Maybe you’re right inre their thought process. Maybe I am. Neither of us is gonna know now, though. I do seem to recall, through the mist-shrouded years, that sticking it top the man usually didn’t involve well-thought out soundbites. Maybe you went to a different school, though. [QUOTE=Kalhoun] Long before the performance. So what? Does it matter? [/quote] Immeasurably, yes. If it happened long before the performance, then the adult thing to do (sorta like adults get to say “vagina” onstage when they perform the show) would be to take it up with the principal and/or administration **then**. > [@](#): > > They knew they’d run into a brick wall with Mr. Uptight Principal with No Balls, so they decided to circumvent the system. Actually, he doesn’t sound all that uptight to me. Positively hip and groovy I’d wager. Here, let’s allow him to speak for himself: > [@](#): > > The event was open to the community, including children, and the word was not appropriate, Leprine said in a statement. He said the girls had been told when they auditioned that they could not use the word. > > The school “recognizes and respects student freedom of expression,” Leprine said. “That right, however, is not unfettered.” > > “When a student is told by faculty members not to present specified material because of the composition of the audience and they agree to do so, it is expected that the commitment will be honored and the directive will be followed,” Pretty straightforward. And note, too, that they aren’t being punished because of the word “vagina”, but because they used it in a place and context that they had promised they wouldn’t. And since it bears repeating once more: The fucking superintendent said that they were welcome to perform the show. > [@](#): > > Where did you see that attorneys were involved? You’ll have to point that out to me. All I saw was that they knew they’d be suspended and chose to do it anyway. I didn’t see that. Point taken and I retract my accusation. Of course, nowhere does it say that they knew they would be suspended and bravely stood up to the slack-jawed, knuckle dragging cretin of a principal and said in a firm, clear voice, “Vagina!” either. Looks like we both read something into the link. Oopsie. > [@](#): > > I never accused you of saying it. A thousand pardons, I beg of thee then. Y’see when you say things like: > [@Kalhoun](#): > > There was nothing obscene about the reading as written. Then I have a tendency to think that you were claiming that I had said it **was** obscene. Clearly, your communicative powers are giving your comprehensive powers a run for their money. > [@](#): > > . . .the point I was making is that the only reason to edit it (for purposes of a high school reading) would be if it _was_ obscene or too lengthy. Since it wasn’t, there was no good reason to change the author’s words. Or just for the hell of it. “Most people” be damned, it happens. All the fucking time. Learn to deal with it. Or get apoplectic. No skin off my ass one way or the other. > [@](#): > > You don’t honestly believe the principal would have given his approval after forbidding them to use the word, do you? Not at all sure what the principal would have said. I do, however, have this quote from the superintendent: > [@](#): > > Bob Lichtenfeld, superintendent of the Katonah-Lewisboro school district, which includes John Jay, said that had the teens, who are in their third year of high school, wanted to perform the play, they would probably not have encountered opposition. > > “As long as the intended audience knows what to expect, we don’t have a problem with it.” Golly! “As long as the intended audience knows what to expect, we don’t have a problem with it.” Thinga beauty, innit? The superintendent said that the students could have performed the entire fucking show. As written (since that, for some odd reason or another, seems to be a real issue with you). Not a reading. Not selections from. The whole. Fucking. Thing. And what’s more, the superintendent trumps the principal. Y’wanna lay odds on anything written before hand holding was popular being performed there anytime soon? > [@](#): > > In order to make their point, they had no choice. I suppose they could have given up, but why should they? He was wrong and they wanted to point it out. Funny, the desire to point out the wrongness of the principal was something else I missed in the link. Maybe, though, you got the super-duper version. The one where the girls are artfully backlit. With fans blowing their cherubic hair around. And a special for each of them. With Roscolux 33. > [@](#): > > Hey…you can’t please all the people all the time. The principal assumed the audience would be offended. He based his decision on what \*might \* happen and on what _might_ make his life a bit difficult; not on any real threat. Which is, y’know, part of his job description. Proactive rather than reactive and other exciting new paradigms and suchlike. What would you have had the principal do in the same situation? Once more, since I imagine it’ll be overlooked: I doubt that anything that _might ever_ be construed as controversial won’t be performed anytime soon. So, well played ladies. You just fucked yourselves for the rest of your high school careers. Take a bow. ---
**Author:** ![Jelymag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jelymag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jelymag)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/158 "2007-03-07T21:56:16Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] Speaking of the punishment, how lame is it that each girl serves a separate, _in school_ suspension? How do they even do that? [/QUOTE] They stick you in a room sequestered from other students for the school day. In most schools you have to be escorted to the restroom and you eat lunch separately. It comes from the theory that students recognize that they have a psychological need for companionship and when deprived of it they will straighten up. In my experience, it’s not very effective. The same kids usually end up in the room, suggesting they aren’t really learning much from it… ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/159 "2007-03-07T21:57:05Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] And not to be snotty, but boys are indeed taught to be proud of their penis, unlike girls who are most often not encouraged to touch, look or interact with their vaginas in any way. [/quote] Really. Not having a vagina, I couldn’t speak to the second part of that, but all I was taught about my penis was to leave it alone. Proud of it? Hah. :rolleyes: > [@eleanorigby](#): > > Does that equate to a speech in front of a school audience that praises the penis? No, of course not. Exactamundo. And when we get around to such a speech being acceptable - indeed, when a solemn, sober and male-liberating _Penis Monologues_ plays in theatres (as opposed to the clowning around that is _Puppetry of the Penis_) - we can start arguing for female parts being discriminated against. > [@eleanorigby](#): > > But I think that one reason the principal assumed others would be offended was because the mention of female body parts is this way is still looked at askance. I probably should have wondered about if they mentioned breasts instead–that would have been a better query. Indeed. Since, as I remember, breasts can be mentioned in Christmas carols without anyone being offended. It’s not the fact that it’s female, it’s the fact that it’s genitals. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864/160 "2007-03-07T22:33:06Z")
[QUOTE=Jelymag] > [@](#): > > Originally posted by **kaylasdad99** > Speaking of the punishment, how lame is it that each girl serves a separate, in school suspension? How do they even do that? They stick you in a room sequestered from other students for the school day. In most schools you have to be escorted to the restroom and you eat lunch separately. It comes from the theory that students recognize that they have a psychological need for companionship and when deprived of it they will straighten up. In my experience, it’s not very effective. The same kids usually end up in the room, suggesting they aren’t really learning much from it… [/QUOTE] So. Incredibly lame, then? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-vagina-get-suspended/394864.md?page=9)