VAGINA! VAGINA!
I have a vagina. I love my vagina. After all, she is my vagina, and we have the perfect working relationship. I was never ashamed of her, even when I wasn't entirely certainly how friendly we would be. I can't imagine my life without her because she is so influential in my identity.
So you can imagine my outright fury when a town in my homestate of Florida got involved in Eve Ensler's V-Day campaign, set performances for her play, and then changed their marquee to advertise their production of "The Hoohaa Monologues." I'm sorry. I don't have a hoohaa. I don't even have a pussy or a cunt or a kitty. I have a vulva? And eventually I guess I'll have a birth canal. But for now, I have a vagina. I have a medically accurate, neutral, beautiful vagina that I am very proud of, thanks.
CNN's coverage is, of course, appalling, making a joke of vagina slang as newscaster suggests new names with a "censored" stamp over his mouth and bleeping out of the sound. Yeah, thanks, because there's no good name for the damn thing...
A representative of the theater said that a woman and her niece driving by had seen the sign. The girl asked her aunt what a vagina was, and the woman called the theater to tell them that she was offended by the word and then offended to have to answer the question.
Offended by the term vagina. One older female resident of town claimed that children don't need to be reading things like that.
How do people rationalize this stance? Is it bad when it's a vagina but wonderful though unmentionable when it's a birth canal? Or is it never okay, are infants tainted because they have to pass through this place-which-must-not-be-named?
I feel like I've been criminalized, that I'm offensive because I walk around hiding one of these insidious things. Frankly I'm offended that the name was changed in the first place. With any luck these people will have copyright issues on their hands.
Yeah, I just read about it.
Yeah, I just read about it. I really can't believe these people were offended by a neutral term for a part of a woman's body. I worry about the niece, and about what she is learning about her own body from her aunt. What term would the aunt prefer?
I also really can't believe that the theater caved, especially when the monologues are so about reclaiming "vagina."
That's a lot of it, Ellen;
That's a lot of it, Ellen; you're exactly right. "The play love vaginas, but we can't read the word." The people complaining wouldn't be seeing the play anyway.
And people wonder why the youth of America have such contradictory relationships with their anatomy and sexuality.
"A woman for a general, and the soldiers will be women."
That's a lot of it, Ellen;
That's a lot of it, Ellen; you're exactly right. "The play loves vaginas, but we can't read the word." The people complaining wouldn't be seeing the play anyway.
And people wonder why the youth of America have such contradictory relationships with their anatomy and sexuality.
"A woman for a general, and the soldiers will be women."
I also find it ironic to
I also find it ironic to change the name of the play when to me, it's about empowerment and reclaiming it as something not vulgar, not meant to be shocking, but merely a part of a woman's body. Utterly sad, and more unfortunately, not entirely unexpected.
If it's any consolation...
...the licensing for the Vagina Monologues is incredibly strict, so, to my understanding, this theater is in easy violation and will have to probably pony up some cash... which most likely would go to all of the awesome programs the V-Monologues support which help fight this kind of malarkey in the first place.
But yeah: big ugh, all around. By no means should a female child be scandalized (gasp!) by knowing the proper name for a part of her own body. Oh, the horrors that could cause. Grrrr.
::sigh::
I agree with Heather. We are putting on the performance of this show at my college, and you can not change the name. In fact, you can change very very very little about the production. Taking a play about the empowerment of women and their vaginas and invalidating that very aspect of it with the title change is reprehensible. To be honest, I hope the show gets canceled if it can't follow the rules. Paying money simply isn't good enough, in my opinion. It's a slap in the face to the purpose of the play, and that's disrespectful.
Hoo... haa... You're kidding.
I hope that the sorts of people who WOULD go see that play would be offended and abstain. Seriously. They don't deserve to be pulling in money for the Hoohaa Monologues. (Who the heck thought of "hoohaa"?) If I were an actress and the theater made that decision over my head, I would have walked. If they reproached me on contract issued, I'd say, "You hired me to perform the VAGINA monologues."
...Hoohaa?!?!
~Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
That makes me mad, as well.
We should cherish our very special place.
How aggravating, that people find that offensive!
"Hoohaa" update
Good news! You go law school ladies!
"A woman for a general, and the soldiers will be women."
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