I guess then we’ll have to agree to disagree. While I love vaginas (Honest! The more the better!), I see it as still being a bit taboo. And I’m not alone in that. If I walked up to a random woman in my workplace and asked “How’s your elbow?”, the worst that would happen to me is I’d be looked at a little strangely. If I asked “How’s your vagina?”, you can bet that someone would sit me down for a little talk. It’s not impossible that I’d get fired for sexual harassment.
Maybe this speaks to the medieval mindset of society at large, but the sad truth is that speaking about one’s genitalia in public is still considered impolite at best.
However, the school agreed that the subject matter was NOT taboo. They gave permission to perform the excerpt, which is about vaginas, but objected to the word that describes the subject matter. The stupidity of the whole thing defies all logic.
So what, exactly, is the excerpt? Until I can read the entire thing the girls read, I’m not prepared to accept that it was 100% about vaginas. I’m not familiar with the work. The part quoted seemed to me to be more about feminism in general.
Where do you get the idea from that we men are encouraged to go around being proud of our penises all the time? Or talk about them publicly (you know, like on a high school stage)?
My short skirt
is not an invitation
a provocation
an indication
that I want it
or give it
or that I hook.
My short skirt
is not begging for it
it does not want you
to rip it off me
or pull it down.
My short skirt
is not a legal reason
for raping me
although it has been before
it will not hold up
in the new court.
My short skirt, believe it or not
has nothing to do with you.
My short skirt
is about discovering
the power of my lower calves
about cool autumn air traveling
up my inner thighs
about allowing everything I see
or pass or feel to live inside.
My short skirt is not proof
that I am stupid
or undecided
or a malleable little girl.
My short skirt is my defiance
I will not let you make me afraid
My short skirt is not showing off
this is who I am
before you made me cover it
or tone it down.
Get used to it.
My short skirt is happiness
I can feel myself on the ground.
I am here. I am hot.
My short skirt is a liberation
flag in the women’s army
I declare these streets, any streets
my vagina’s country.
My short skirt
is turquoise water
with swimming colored fish
a summer festival
in the starry dark
a bird calling
a train arriving in a foreign town
my short skirt is a wild spin
a full breath
a tango dip
my short skirt is
initiation
appreciation
excitation.
But mainly my short skirt
and everything under it
is Mine.
Mine.
Mine.
So no, it’s not all about vaginas at all. It’s about a skirt. And omitting the word vagina, it still reads just fine. In fact, that’s how I found it on another site.
I imagine everybody in the audience was so upset that they left, and the poor guys doing a scene from Puppetry of the Penis had to play to an empty house. Very unfair to those young performers, and deserving of severe punishment.
Speaking of the punishment, how lame is it that each girl serves a separate, in school suspension? How do they even do that?
Elbow, no objection. The other two, yes, mostly because if I generally keep a part of my body covered, I don’t want pictures of it on the internet.
But that’s irrelevant. This wasn’t a slide show, it was a monologue. I would absolutely understand the outrage if they had pictures or used sexually explicit terms. They didn’t. The used a word that is completely and totally benign.
And so totally out of place it’s just silly, I might add. I have to say that I kind of like the poem, but “These streets are my country” is nonsensical enough. “These streets are my vagina’s country” is way out there in left field. What does it even mean?
And the fact that all three girls said that one word together is not liberating, it’s trolling.
I know the “the chicks will cream” line stayed in when my high school did it. There wasn’t a single complaint or lawsuit that I’m aware of - other than my complaints that I hate Grease.
Which brings this right back to the original problem: a scientific, common, recognized-as-not-obscene word was equated with obscenities.
I can think of one, but it’s about an old woman having an orgasm, which would arguably be more objectionable.
They probably said the word together to make their point, but if you’ve seen the show staged a couple of times, you realize that it’s very common to have the cast say certain words together. If that’s the end of the piece, it might be said that way anyway. The text is designed to be adaptable that way.
I’d love to see your cite for that. To me, it doesn’t matter if the kids bucked the system on general principles or just for themselves. They were on the wrong end of a dumb and pointless rule, and I think that’s all the justification they need.
Maybe. Or maybe they decided, “hey! If we, like, use this word, then we’ll be striking a blow for Rosa Parks and against Hitler!”
So. . .when do you imagine the stupidity of the agreement (which I also think was stupid) sunk in?
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that the ensuing publicity didn’t come from the school, but that it probably came from these girls and their attorneys. Seems to me that they handled it in a fashion in keeping with what I would expect from adults. Martyrdom complex? Yep. Publicity out the ass? Yep.
So you are also incapable of simple english comprehension. Good to know.
Where have I claimed that it was obscene? Even once? Find that instance, and I’ll be waiting right here.
Which happens all the damned time. Things get edited. Sometimes for length. Sometimes just for the hell of it.
Really? No choice? Are you sure you want to go with that?
You’ve never been a school principal I take it. Hell, neither have I, but I know the tiniest amount about what a principal goes through, and certainly well enough to recognize that it matters a great deal what the “community” (and why the quote marks? What’d the “community” ever do to you?) thinks. The fact that you’re ignorant of the myriad aspects of dealing with a public school district speaks volumes.
Whoa. Where did that come from? I wasn’t impugning anything onto penises–one of my favorite body parts, btw.
It just seems to me that penis is more accepted in what passes for social discourse than vagina, that’s all. Look at something like the Daily Show–Jon Stewart can call so-and-so is a dick, but I am sure he would be bleeped if he called so-and-so a cunt.
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.
Does that equate to a speech in front of a school audience that praises the penis? No, of course not. 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.
No, I think it’s more along the lines of what I said: From the link:
Long before the performance. So what? Does it matter? They knew they’d run into a brick wall with Mr. Uptight Principal with No Balls, so they decided to circumvent the system.
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 never accused you of saying it. For the comprehension impaired (that would be you), 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.
“Just for the hell of it” isn’t a good enough reason for most people.
You don’t honestly believe the principal would have given his approval after forbidding them to use the word, do you? 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.
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.
I would guess your claim that if a boy had said penis instead of a girl saying vagina, he would have gotten a free pass. Your claim very much came off as an “It’s a man’s world” double standard type of thing. But I am pretty sure that had a boy wanted to say “My street, any street, is my penis’s country”, the principal would have 86ed that as well.