Check out “My Short Skirt,” from “The Vagina Monologues”
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- March
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Click “here”:http://www.pandys.org/overtherainbow/ensler.html to read the monologue that has caused such an uproar at John Jay High School, or click “here”:http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070306/VIDEO01/70306019/-1/WEBHEAD01 to watch a video of the girls reading it.
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on Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 at 7:27 pm by Diana Costello.
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Well then it was absolutely ok to say. This was a poem against rape etc. and perfect for HS setting. because of some of the boys out there. Sorry if i had young kids i might be a little surprised but ya know what it was not said in a vulgar fashion and its anatomical. If a colloquial term was used then i would have been upset. Schools enforce the stupidest of rules. Sorry I cannot defend the principal on this… nope. Next he will ban catcher in the rye. which i just had my son in 6th grade read because i felt it was time. its when i read it. which reminds me, i should read it again. ;-]
I agree with the principal. The girls had agreed prior not to say it. If they felt so strongly about saying the verse in its entirity,they should had had the strengeth to refuse to agree to administration’s directive. Its not a matter of suppressing their freedom of speech. By agreeing to not use the word vagina and then using it,they only simply demonstrated insubordination and that is what they are being punished for.
We can all agree with the principal in that he is punishing them for disobeying. But the principal is to blame for censoring a word that is NOT profane. Our society is becoming more repressed every day. Kids should and have to be respectful. In Europe this would never have been an issue.
As Americans we need to have more open minds when it comes to language.
If the principal of John Jay had half a brain he would have allowed the “v-word” to be used. His pathetic attempt to intimidate the kids (and their courageous defiance) served only to give the fearsome word much wider publicity. His decision also makes him and his entire school district look stupid. No wonder it’s hard to get the best people to enter the teaching profession and stay in it when those entrusted to run the schools are such boobs. (Oops!)
ooh you said Boobs! shame on you. wait so that means we should not call TV the BOOB TUBE. or should we?
;-]
Well,once again the ugly head of censorship rises once again. Not,that I havent been fighting this same battle since I was in high school in the late 60’s. I dont care what these politically correct puppets say or think.They all have some scared board member or worse lawyer with his/her hands up their skirt. We all must be so politically correct. I applaud these teenagers. Where would we all be if it wasnt for young people who fought for Civil Rights,Womens Rights, Environmental issues,VietNam. We live in a society full of prudes unlike our English cousins. It filters in our newspapers,our television,and our society. I remember when I was 18 we were marching off to war. You couldnt drink. Couldnt vote. But you could go off and kill. So,what does all this teach these teenagers. That Pink Floyd was right ”....all and all your just another brick in the wall….” Next is banning books because it has “damn” in it Great works of art because a nipple is showing. Is ‘jack boots ” next going to be part of the school uniform. To these teenagers. Wear this as a badge of honor. As one who was suspended also for protesting Civil Rights in the 60’s I salute you. A stand against censorship makes you a better American than the sheep that sit and watch the parade go by
One more thing. I have to laugh because its such a stupid line. And something I just read. The principal states”...I suspended them for disobeying me not for what they said…” Yeah, could you write me. Cause,I have this bridge in New York I want to sell you
dave they are censoring books. Name one teacher that can give Huck Finn and teach it without being given approval to discuss the N-word. especially if they are not white. And since are guys we would be frowned upon for discussing vagina because we have a penis. This is what is happening to the world. everyone has their cubby hole. dont ever think outside your ability. hmm what book was that oh yeah brave new world.
The principal was right in that he gave them a rule and they broke it. so they get punished I fully understand and accept that issue. My issue is with the banning of the word. you let them read a poem then say dont use that word?! what in the world?! i remember reading chaucer and a girl was embaraces to talk about flatulance in its monosyllabic form. “fart” . she stammered on it and said ,. gas escaped. our english teacher, a woman, chuckled and said this is literature the word in the book is FART do not be afraid to use it. And that is how a school should be..
The girls should not have made a promise they werent going to keep and the principal shouldnt have made them make the promise.
ok so my fingers faltered several times. please look beyond typos. i am an oldschool typer. hunt n peck and pound away.
Okay,I’m a child of the 60’s How many of us have bucked the trend in high school? All except the goody goody “Mandys” of the school LOL. The article should of been read and then we all move on. Or he should of did the punishment in this office behind closed doors. Suspension is a travesty. But,Steve your so right. We read Chaucer,Twain,and Brave New World.But,its this politically correct stuff that makes me nuts. We cant go back 100 years or even 500 years ago and change life back then. Without social comentary such as this we wouldnt have an Obama,A Condie Rice,Colin Powell or Hillary Clinton. I worry more about children born out of wedlock to teenage mothers. Kids snorting coke or worse.But,the free world is in an uproar over the word”Vagina” What does this misguided individual think. That all high schoolers are stupid? Do parents still think their children are those innocent fresh scrubbed faces of 2nd grade? These students were intimated from the beginning. But took a unified stance to defy censorship. Like we all should. And Steve dont mention Chaucer…I still see Shylock in my nightmares along with my High School English teacher
we had to memorize the whole preamble to the canterbury tales. in middle english. talk about a nightmare.
What did Col. Kurtz say in Apocalypse Now ”...the horror of it all. The horror….”
I hope there is enough spirit left in the young narcissists of Westchester that next week someone gets up and reads a poem about their own ass holes to the John Jay Mothers Club. We are not ashamed of our bodies are we? All adults?
Well,its a start.If somebody does invite me. I like to see the looks on their faces
go anyway. what are you afraid of? if women can go to boys only events . men should be able to turn the table.
;-]
The claim that the girls chose to read the passage because “it had inspired them to ‘embrace our bodies, our femininity and our womanhood,’� is difficult to understand after reading the passage: ““My short skirt is a liberation flag in the women’s army. I declare these streets, any streets, my vagina’s country.� As someone who is not familiar with Kinsler’s The Vagina Monologues, I do not understand how this line can be seen as a display of feminism. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word feminism as “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.� The common argument of a feminist is that females should be equally as respected as males. This line however, especially to the general public, would promote quite the opposite. Claiming a woman’s “short skirt,� rather than, say, one’s integrity or brains, as her “liberation highway� is, in the opinion of many, highly degrading.
you have to read in between the lines. What it is basically saying is just because i wear a short skirt doesnt mean i want to be oggled or molested or raped. I just want to be able to wear what i want when i want because i am a women, so hear IT roar cause it has teeth. ;-]
See a jesuit College has its perks. all the philosphy and garbage i had to take. i get to translate rhetoric
Would someone please tell me what word the girls were supposed to use in place of “vagina’? This principal and school district need a wake up call. They punish those that suit them and let other students get away with behavior that should lead to suspension. Just look into JJHS athletics. Every player signs a code of conduct. It states any player caught drinking/drugs will be suspended from the team yet they have a star athlete who has been arrested for DWI (allegedly) more than once and continues to play. What kind of message does that send to the other athletes? That the code of conduct at JJ is BS? If you’re really good at helping the team win but break the rules don’t worry we’ll cover for you? JJ has soooo many issues it needs to address. This one’s a joke!
whale eye.
Isn’t the whole point of the Vagina Monologues to desroy the stigma associated with the word “vagina?” Wow, good job Mr. Principle, you fail. “Vagina” is not a profane word. It is an anatomical term. This is what the Vagina Monologues are all about- getting rid of the dirtiness of the word for the most potent part of the female body. High School kids can handle the word “vagina.” Wake up.