The v-controversy around the globe
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- March
- 9
Here’s a quick look at our Cross River conflict as seen by the blogosphere.
The girls made a roundup on the status of women internationally on “Our Bodies Our Blog.”:feed://ourbodiesourblog.org/atom.xml
“appletree”:http://www.appletreeblog.com/?p=1643 points out that if the kids couldn’t say the word “vagina” in the reading then they couldn’t tell the audience what play they were reading. So what was the point?
The Washington Post’s blog “OFF/beat”:http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/03/ny_students_suspended_for_read.html wonders about the principal’s explanation that the problem wasn’t the word but the insubordination. But if the word wasn’t a problem, why forbid it?
“SheKnows.com”:http://sheknows.com/buzz/?p=203 puts the story its ‘law’ news category. Makes me wonder if anyone is going to sue?
The “Mother Jones blog”:http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2007/03/3759_new_rule_in_hig.html is not the only one recommending the kids, who are juniors, turn this episode into “kick-ass” college essays.
“Abandoned stuff”:http://www.abandonedstuff.com/2007/03/07/vagina-now-suspend-me/ challenges other bloggers to use the v-word in a blog post title and link them up to support free speech.
“But African American Political Pundit”:http://africanamericanpoliticalpundit.com/?p=667 blogged about it because he thought it was so stupid.
It doesn’t take much to find a lot more – some of which I didn’t link to because the language they used was too much even for me.
Thanks to JJHS parent who gave me this idea by pointing out that the WaPo was blogging about it in “this earlier post on The Hall Monitor.”:http://hallmonitor.lohudblogs.com/2007/03/06/406/
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on Friday, March 9th, 2007 at 10:17 am by Lanning Taliaferro.
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Actually, my point over at appletree was that banning the word “vagina” had the effect of banning a work that has an explicitly feminist message, and which dealt very directly with the shame that some women feel for their bodies and for their gender. Given those themes, it seems wrong to deny teenage girls, of all people, the opportunity to perform the play.
I think African American Political Pundit was being obtuse when he said that the whole controversy was “stupid”, but he (and how do I know it’s a “he”?) touched on an issue that went beyond the scope of my post: this could only have happened in suburban New York, not in one of New York City’s underfunded schools that serve the black and Latino communities.
I mean, a series of student readings sponsored by the school’s literary journal? Not many of New York City’s underfunded schools have such events.
Also, the girls at John Jay High probably thought they could get away with saying “vagina”, because the suburban schools usually encourage creativity and free thinking. In most of the schools in the Bronx, the students know from hard experience that creativity and free thinking are often punished.
In other words, these three girls who display all of the qualities that will help them become successful later in life are the products of schools that are available mostly to the overwhelmingly white schools in New York City’s suburbs. The schools that serve an overwhelmingly black and Latino population, on the other hand, are geared toward producing an entirely different kind of citizen: a subservient laborer.
Of course, that’s not the intention, and I think that the educators in the Bronx do their best with the facilities and resources that they have, but the effect is to create a two-tiered education system which is divided largely along racial lines.
Gordo – thanks for the clarification.
Now that these bright young teenage women have demonstrated the courage to say the word “vagina,” perhaps our middle-aged and graying members of Congress will find the courage to say “swift withdrawal.”
Graying and past middle age
With each passing day, I have become more upset and angry with the news coverage that this incident had generated. How did The Journal News become aware of what was going on at John Jay? Hope the paper and John Jay are getting some royalties from Ensle with all this free publicity she is getting
When the articles about the controversy at John Jay appeared on the front page of Wednesday paper, I went to Google to learn more about Eva Ensler and her book why it was translated into 45 languages. Perhaps Monologues would not have attracted so much attention with a less shocking title.
I also needed to define an “open mic. session.” What are the educational benefits and why it was being videotaped for a local cable television station? What message were the girls trying to instill? To quote one of them, “And we shouldn’t have to censor it and we’re not going to censor our own bodies.” How does this make these girls “strong, independent women in the school?”Womanhood and strength involve much more.
While “Googling about Ensler, an acclaimed playwright and feminist radical, the following caught my attention and seemed to be appropriate. “Eve Ensler went to Afghanistan and did not ask the women she met about their vaginas. There were, she says, more pressing issues to discuss: “Women were being beaten, and were starving, and were living in orphanages. Going in and saying, ‘So, let’s talk about your vagina’—it seemed so glib.”
As a concerned citizen, grandmother and a former member of the silent majority, I am urging others, especially the “Golden Years Generation.” to speak out. It is a disturbing world that is being created, especially by the media. Our grandchildren are the future of America. We need to help them. How did three, disobedient, willfull, untruthful teenagers (I do not believe their actions make them adults or women.) become so infamous and should ” stand as role model for their fellow student” and request the school board to “tell them that you respect the courage they showed in defying authority….”? These quotes were taken from Karen McCarthy, Retired Superintendent’s, ( thank goodness) letter to the Board of Education. How did insubordination and deceit become a censorship, freedom of speech and feminist issues? I do not want these teenagers to be role models for my grandchildren or their peers. I hope the School Board will up hold their decision. In 1957 and in the State of Kansas, their actions would be considered lying. I agree a one-day suspension is a small price to pay for all the controversy and deceit. I think the girls and the concerned parents be required to do community service at local social and human organizations. Ensler should join them. No media.
The media created an issue that should have been handled in-house and gave inappropriate fame to three teenagers. It is reminiscent of the unbearable and pointless amount of coverage given Anna Nicole Smith. Perhaps, we who condone all this publicity, could refused to buy the paper for a
Grandma J,
The Journal News learned about this story from a parent in the school district. An “open mic session� is when students are able to perform various works of literature, music, etc. of their choosing. Open mic nights are voluntary. I am not an educator, but I would think part of the educational benefit is that students have a chance to pursue their artistic interests and share the experience with their peers. The school district would have to answer why it is videotaped for a local cable station. I would think, however, that people in the community would like to see what is going on their schools. Board of Education meetings and other school events are also taped. Thanks for taking the time to comment.