PZ Myers. 2005 Apr 22. I ♥ Vaginas. <http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/i_heart_vaginas/>. Accessed 2008 Sep 06.
Posted on M00o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr on Friday, April 22, 2005
I ♥ Vaginas
I like the town I live in. It's small, quiet, and a bit remote, all things that are sometimes constricting, but at the same time, it's an extremely comfortable way to live. Unfortunately, I'm also sometimes embarrassed by small-minded hicks. The latest incident in Morris was our theatre discipline's production of the children's play, Cootie Shots, which is all about promoting tolerance—that's a message some people in the community found offensive, prompting the cancellation of regional elementary school field trips. We've been reading people's complaints about the play with real disbelief.
"Oh, it's very obvious," countered Laura Carrington, a Morris school board member and retired teacher. "There's a script called 'The Parable of the Stimples.' The Stimples are people who are told that it's OK to make loud noises, but just don't make them in public. Isn't that similar to what, for years, homosexuals were told?
"Suddenly, there were more Stimples than ever. They mention that Stimples don't seem quite so 'queer.' That's pretty out front. I don't think it's the school's responsibility to promote the homosexual lifestyle."
What a bizarre interpretation of the play, and what a strange fear. I worry about my kids getting beat up at school, or being mocked and ostracized for being different, or of failing to work hard enough to succeed, but I've never, ever had a moment's fear that they might see a play and suddenly turn gay.
Carrington, who taught elementary school for 31 years, challenges the show's worth.
"It's not Cooties they're talking about, it's AIDS," she said. "Our job is to protect all our children."
It's all obviously irrational scare-mongering. This is not a play that makes AIDS desirable, nor are students going to get inoculated with viruses when they show up.
And then there's our other regional silliness: the "I ♥ My Vagina" witch hunt.
…after Carrie Rethlefsen attended a performance of the play "The Vagina Monologues" last month, she and Emily Nixon wore buttons to school that read: "I [heart] My Vagina."
School leaders said that the pin is inappropriate and that the discomfort it causes trumps the girls' right to free speech. The girls disagree. And despite repeated threats of suspension and expulsion, Rethlefsen has continued to wear her button.
The girls have won support from other students and community members. More than 100 students have ordered T-shirts bearing "I [heart] My Vagina" for girls and "I Support Your Vagina" for boys.
The Winona Daily News has plenty of silly quotes from people who are afraid of girls acknowledging the existence of their reproductive tracts. Another local UMM student blog, BMW for Peace, has been following the story since it broke.
But then, I realized I was looking at the issue backwards.
It's so easy to look at these stories and think, "Gee, what a bunch of idiots and cowards. Stupid ol' hicks." We focus on the "villains" of the tale and pretty soon we're generalizing to the properties of whole communities of backwater Minnesotans.
But hey, wait a minute, I am a rural Minnesotan! Ray Schultz, the director of Cootie Shots, also represents rural Minnesota, as do the dozens of students who are working on the play. Carrie Rethlefsen and Emily Nixon are rural Minnesotans. So are the swarm of their high-school peers who are buying those t-shirts. This isn't about wicked arch-conservative oppressors poisoning communities with their hatred, it's about smart people being bold and open and progressive. I don't even think the people opposing the play and the buttons are doing so with malicious intent—they're wrong, but they're talking about protecting their kids. It's hard to fault them for that. The objects of their fears are nonexistent, and they are being embarrassingly foolish, but their motives are pure, and they are actually incidental to the real story…which is that the next generation is showing themselves to be more open, more self-confident, and less constricted by the uninformed insecurities of the last.
It's good news, gang. Let's praise the forward-thinking communities of rural Minnesota and the heroes therein, who are working so hard for tolerance and pride. And let's not worry about a few entrenched folk who are defending, with well-meaning intent, old follies.
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Ah, that was a nice post. Warms the cockles of my moderate heart
#: Posted by on 04/22 at 07:45 AM -
Now you know how I feel being a proud Georgian.
#: Posted by Reed A. Cartwright on 04/22 at 08:13 AM
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Let's praise the forward-thinking communities of rural Minnesota and the heroes therein, who are working so hard for tolerance and pride.
Hell yeah!
It's great to hear that people are attempting to spread the good word (of tolerance), especially in the more conservative communities.
So, when is Morris putting on the play that says it's okay for atheists - er, the "spiritually challenged" - to come out of the closet?
Not that it would ever be allowed to run...#: Posted by on 04/22 at 08:20 AM -
PZ, keep in mind that there is a difference between protecting your kids and trying to control them via censoring what they may see or do.
#: Posted by on 04/22 at 08:25 AM
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One funny comment I heard: the play apparently has a strong pro-religion message, too, and maybe one way we could get the community behind it is if a bunch of us atheists started picketing it in protest.
David, I agree: that's why I'm saying their intent is good, but their methods are wrong. -
I agree, and I'm glad to hear you say that. Respect for one's enemies is, I think, critical to a functioning democracy, and rather lacking today. Yes, I know, some don't deserve it.
And yes, I know this kind of well-meaning "for the children!" wrongness can lead to some VERY BAD wrongness.#: Posted by on 04/22 at 08:36 AM -
...They are being embarrassingly foolish, but their motives are pure.
I'm not so sure how good their intent was.
Yes, they want to protect their children. But, sometimes I get the feeling that the parents are merely trying to protect themselves (i.e. from the "embarrassment" of having fostered - gasp! - a queer).
A situation where one's child ends up being a homosexual is often a "worst nightmare" scenario for these people, and I doubt it has much to do with how (un)happy their children would be (i.e. due to living the "lifestyle").
But, you're right. The most important point is that the parents' methodology is flawed. I mean, if you don't want your kid to be gay, don't censor them... be old fashioned about it! From birth, uncompromisingly pound into him/her that homosexuality is the tool of the devil!#: Posted by on 04/22 at 08:55 AM -
David, I agree: that's why I'm saying their intent is good, but their methods are wrong.
Well, the intent of those who wish to prevent their kids from being exposed to anything positive about homosexuals may or may not be good. My grandfather may have intended to protect me from n*ggers by not allowing me to associate with them, but that doesn't make it a good thing. Rather, it makes it a lesson in perpetuating prejudice. We shouldn't excuse such acts by saying those who commit them may mean well.#: Posted by on 04/22 at 09:03 AM -
I ♥ My Nematode's Vulva
#: Posted by apostropher on 04/22 at 09:11 AM
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i'm a bit confused. elementary school field trips were cancelled because of a play? and queers make loud noises in private?
#: Posted by dread pirate roberts on 04/22 at 09:28 AM
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"It's not Cooties they're talking about, it's AIDS," she said. "Our job is to protect all our children."
#: Posted by charlie wagner on 04/22 at 09:46 AM
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And telling our children that it's okay to not hate homosexuals is increasing their chances of getting AIDS?
Ignorance may be bliss, but it's a terrible contraceptive.#: Posted by on 04/22 at 09:53 AM -
I have a front row seat to "The Vagina Story"; in fact Carrie's mom (a WSU Education prof) is standing at my office door at this moment (we're going to lunch).
Anyway, Carrie is an articulate and highly intelligent young woman (4 time ISEF participant, top %5 of class, etc.) The story broke after the WSU paper covered a talk by Susan Fahludi (sp?) here a few weeks ago. Carrie told the story during Q&A time and the WSU newspaper ran it when they covered the talk. Next thing we know the Star Tribune wants to talk and then the morning radio show plus the ABC affiliate in The Cities. Yesterday the O'Reilly Show called. She may pass on doing that one (I advised her to). Today, after everything else, our local rag finally discovered the story.
Greater Minnesota can indeed be great.#: Posted by on 04/22 at 09:56 AM -
laura Carrington wrote:
"It's not Cooties they're talking about, it's AIDS," she said. "Our job is to protect all our children."
Silly me. I pressed "submit" instead of "preview"...
Here's my comment:
Maybe it is AIDS. So what? All the more reason. If Ms Carrington is so intent on protecting *all* the children, she should be equally concerned with protecting the gay children as well, who make up about 10% of the population.
I taught High School in a liberal community in New York for 33 years and I witnessed many, many ugly and hurtful situations where students who were gay, or believed to be gay, were subjected to reprehensible harrassment, mental cruelty and even physical violence. We dealt with these as they occurred in a forceful manner, but we could never repair the psychological damage that these innocent kids suffered. It is a moral imperative that schools take steps to educate students in tolerance and try to prevent these kinds of attacks from occurring.
I wonder if Ms Carrington would have the same opinion if one of her children was on the receiving end of this brutality.#: Posted by charlie wagner on 04/22 at 09:57 AM - So, have you told Carrie's mom that she ought to suggest applying to that wonderful liberal arts university on the western side of the state, UMM? We like students like that (I know, everyone likes students like that).
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Sorry to jump on you, Charlie... Your first (attempted) post did seem a bit cryptic, to say the least.
#: Posted by on 04/22 at 10:14 AM -
PZ, great read on the situation. Nice to find something hopeful in what we'd normally consider alarming.
Generally speaking, I find some of my most interesting thoughts happen when I turn around and look in the opposite direction from where everybody else is looking.
I think it is well worth actively opposing the luddites and falwellians and coulters and bushistas, but I continue to believe I see signs that they are, in fact, slowly and steadily losing ground.
Doesn't mean they won't cause a lot of pain and devastation and even death along the way, of course. But in the long term, a lot of the battles on which they're expending great energy and money are already lost.
Heh. Just today I read a quote to the effect that to oppose abortion and to not care for planet Earth is insanity. This was from an evangelical.
As another f'rinstance, I've also been thinking, for about a year now, that the debate over gay marriage (or civil unions, or whatever it gets called in the end) is already lost. Take your pick: It's going to happen, it is happening, it has already happened. The present-day wingers will entertain us all with their foaming and shrieking, but 20 years down the road, people will ask "What was THAT all about?"
When you get right down to it, the entire thrust of the right wing is reactionary. They have no plan, no vision, other than to turn back the clock, to stop what's already happening. The whole energy of their movement comes from Fear and Hate, the two ugly stepsisters of social progress.
There are moments when a slightly larger me steps up from the back of my mind and says "Oh, those poor frightened people. All this must be terrible for them. I wish there was some way to tell them that a lot of this small stuff is gonna work out just fine ... and that there are bigger things we need to concern ourselves with." -
Sorry PZ, Carrie's been accepted to that large school in Madison plus Mt. Holyoke and Smith.
#: Posted by on 04/22 at 10:58 AM
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Nooooo! I'm too late!
I suppose those other schools are marginally acceptable. -
I honestly don't understand what's wrong with schools censoring "I [heart] my vagina". This is considered impolite in the U.S., and since kids are forced to be at school I don't think it's bad to enforce some level of politeness. I would also understand if the school administration banned pins about diarrhea, hemorrhoids, urinary tract infections, etc. It's one thing to prevent them from wearing the pins in public, but school is different. There are all sorts of rules at high schools that don't apply to everyday life, and I don't have a problem with that.
#: Posted by on 04/22 at 12:17 PM
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I sometimes find myself hoping that all of the insane uproar coming from the extreme right lately is a sign that they are losing in the long run... death throes or what have you. The problem is that if that IS the case, it will be years before we find out for sure... and when you're living through the middle of it it can feel pretty bleak.
Born in 1965, sometimes it feels like I just happened to be alive in time to witness the end of a short-lived bubble of mild enlightenment before society headed back into its norm, barbarism. -
I honestly don't understand what's wrong with schools censoring "I [heart] my vagina".
Vagina=diarrhea?
Thanks for making the point, mike.#: Posted by Sculptorsam on 04/22 at 12:59 PM -
Explain how you can work diarrhea, hemorrhoids, or urinary tract infections into political speech, and I will be greatly impressed.
Not to mention, what's the matter if it's polite or not? Here's what's rude. If you're walking down the street and see "I love my vagina," are you going to go up to that person and ask them to take it off? Even if you're offended by it? No, because you're a nice person, not anal-retentive, and making a scene serves no purpose. It's about respect, and I honestly think a lot of today's problems with youth could be solved just by showing them a little respect. -
I don't think you can completely dismiss the school's concerns. They are probably envisioning things like seeing the boys come in next with "I love my penis" shirts...
Then "I love your vagina too!" and then "My penis loves your vagina" and the next thing you know you'll have t-shirts copulating on the classroom floor. -
Then "I love your vagina too!" and then "My penis loves your vagina..."
And don't forget their biggest fear:
"My penis loves your penis."
#: Posted by on 04/22 at 04:15 PM -
Schools spend a great deal of time worrying about control. Anything that will distract becomes and excuse for regulation. This is not necessarily good.
If the students are trapped with each other and therefore should be pasteurized for their protection, maybe trapping them together isnt the best way to educate them.#: Posted by on 04/22 at 04:20 PM -
I would think the thing is that the school *doesn't* see it as political speech, as a feminist statement, but as high school girls working around school with buttons about their vaginas - as a source of disruption, innapropriateness, and general fuss . . .
"Explain how you can work diarrhea, hemorrhoids, or urinary tract infections into political speech.
Political speech, I dunno. Speech from politicians - especially lately - I'm not sure I see a difference to begin with . . .
Careful about assuming that things are inevitable. That may be true, but generally only if we continue to fight for them as much as we have been doing. -
The parents are right to worry about AIDS and their children. AIDS is a killer. But it isn't contagious except through unprotected sex, or other such close contact. If they are really worried about their children contracting AIDS, then they need to talk to them about the dangers of unprotected sex, and to realize that sex occurs, everywhere, whether they like it or not. Poor or no sex education, and prevention of access to condoms, is what spreads AIDS in the US, not the Vagina Monologues. Heterosexual intercourse is just as dangerous as homosexual intercourse, but they don't want to believe it.
If they're truly worried about AIDS, they should be making condoms available and providing real sex education. But they're truly ignorant, believe that their kids won't have sex, and that everything will be fine if they just keep their eyes and ears closed.#: Posted by on 04/22 at 05:19 PM -
And I would add Stan that a fairly significant number of those Morris parents have first hand knowledge of unprotected teenage sex. That is how they got some of their children.
The apples fall not far from the tree.#: Posted by on 04/22 at 05:25 PM - I heart my aorta.
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Of course they have first-hand knowledge. This isn't new in America. Remember Hester Prynne? But AIDS is a new factor in the equation, and a far more deadly one than has ever before been known. The fundamentalist belief in abstention is extremely dangerous, and will eventually kill tens of thousands of their children, if not more.
Fundamentalists, of any religion, are dangerous to society.#: Posted by on 04/22 at 06:15 PM - Are these the same people that were opposed to Earth Day about 10 yrs ago because it was a heathen holiday? Of course now it's sponsored by ExxonMobil, so it's no longer heathen.
- I think the other interesting example of a rural community being challenged on this type of issue, is the Brainerd area being challenged by Senator Paul Koering coming out as gay. To the senator's credit, he's staying in the area, and he's not getting intimidated by the bleatings of a bigoted GOP party chair who is threatening to run someone else against him in the Republican primary.
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Are these the same people that were opposed to Earth Day about 10 yrs ago because it was a heathen holiday?
Quite sad, indeed...
...especially in light of the fact that almost every Christian holiday is in some way rooted within paganistic history.#: Posted by on 04/22 at 10:20 PM -
“Vagina=diarrhea?
Thanks for making the point, mike.”
Gee, thanks for twisting my words. I would also understand if a school banned pins that said, “I [heart] my penis”. Obviously, then, I think that penis=vagina. Just because you’re ok with the pins doesn’t mean that other people are, and I think that in high school, where people are forced to go, it’s reasonable to limit this sort of speech.
I still haven't heard a good argument for allowing these pins in school. Just for arguments sake, how is this different from allowing women to go to school naked to make the same political point? Would it be OK for a student to wear a "fuck bush" t-shirt to school? While I support the sentiment, I think that would be inappropriate to wear at school. If either of those examples are inappropriate, then the argument is not about "free speech" as much as deciding which speech is acceptable on campus.
I don't think the school thinks of the pins as political speech, anyway. As a previous comment stated, they just don't want the slogans to create a stir or to escalate.
On a related note, I consider myself a pretty liberal guy. I give money to liberal causes, including the ACLU. I gave money to the Gore and Kerry campaigns when I didn’t have much to spare. One of the main reasons I liked Kerry was because his wife rocked! I’m in favor of complete separation of church and state, in favor of gay marriage, in favor of abortion, and in favor of anti-discrimination laws of all sorts. And yet because I believe that speech can be limited in high schools in ways that it can’t in other places, now I think that “Vagina=diarrhea”? Get a grip.#: Posted by on 04/23 at 02:52 AM -
Rhea County HS put a dress code in place about a decade ago. Shirts and blouses of a single color with collars and sleeves, closed (buttoned) to no less than so many inches from the top. No "messages" (writing) of any kind on clothing or jewelry.
Lately they've allowed striped (polo style) shirts. Well, that's progress for you!
On the positive side, if you allow no messages, then you avoid the constant conflict regarding which are OK and which are not.
Craig, Your comment #25 beat me to the punch line and gives the term "slippery slope" a whole new meaning.
BTW, the Scopes "monkey" trial reenactment will be July 15-17 at the Rhea County Courthouse. Get your tickets early as seating is limited!
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I don't see why copulating T-shirts are that bad. They're bad for high school control of students, but that's not a good reason to ban them. I think that in a society where high school students have sex freely it's downright stupid not to let high schoolers do it in writing on their T-shirts.
Now, Mike, your two examples, "Fuck Bush" and showing up naked, aren't particularly good. I personally don't have any problem with "Fuck Bush," though you could argue that because it's political, it deserves more protection than "I [heart] my vagina." As for coming to school naked, there is a difference between coming to school naked and wearing a T-shirt with "I [heart] my vagina," mostly because the T-shirt is more of an expression of sexual liberation than an innuendo; "Come fuck me" messages are typically expressed by Britney Spears-style clothes rather than by T-shirt slogans.