[WCUSP] [womeninblack] Cross River (New York) students suspended for saying 'vagina' at open mic session - Shebar Windstone

Tue Mar 6 16:45:59 CST 2007

--- lieve snellings <lieve.snellings at pandora.be>
wrote:

> From: "lieve snellings" <lieve.snellings at pandora.be>
> To: <womeninblack at listas.nodo50.org>
> Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 18:27:09 +0100
> Subject: [womeninblack] Cross River (New York)
> students suspended for saying
> 	'vagina' at open mic session - Shebar Windstone
> 
> unbelievable what is going on in fundamentalistic
> USA
> the word vagina is censored
> the words: guns, war, weapons, violence, abuse,
> occupation... no hard feelings about
> or would it have something to do with patriarchy as
> basic for oppressing, militarism and violence ?
> 
> so good to hear that also in the USA other voices
> stand up !
> 
> lots of love
> lieve
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Shebar Windstone 
> 
> 
> Thanks to Danny Schechter (NewsDissector.org) for
> the heads-up on this scandal.
> The school district's website is
> http://www.klschools.org/ & includes an embedded map
> from MapQuest showing its location.
> Considering the recent national brouhaha over use of
> the word "scrotum" in a kids' book (if you've missed
> that, try
>
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=%22The+Higher+Power+of+Lucky%22),
> I suppose it's only fair that "vagina" should get
> some attention. What's next -- censorship of the
> word "brain"?
> 
> 
>
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070306/NEWS02/703060363/1018
> 
> 
> 
> Cross River students suspended for saying 'vagina'
> at open mic session
> By DIANA COSTELLO AND SUSAN ELAN
> THE JOURNAL NEWS
> 
> Speak out
> Visit http://hallmonitor.lohudblogs.com to voice
> your opinion about whether the students should have
> been suspended.
> 
> (Original publication: March 6, 2007)
> 
> CROSS RIVER - Saying the word "vagina" during a
> reading at a John Jay High School open mic session
> has resulted in suspension for three female students
> and has sparked a debate about censorship throughout
> the community.
> 
> School administrators had warned the girls it would
> be inappropriate to say the word while reading a
> selection from Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues,"
> but the students were willing to suffer the
> consequences.
> 
> Now Ensler, a playwright and feminist who grew up in
> Scarsdale, has offered to visit the
> Katonah-Lewisboro school district to discuss the
> matter.
> 
> Juniors Megan Reback, Elan Stahl and Hannah Levinson
> will each serve separate one-day, in-school
> suspensions this week, Reback said.
> 
> "When I was able to say the word 'vagina' and be
> proud to say it . and it wasn't crude and it wasn't
> inappropriate and it was very real and very pure, it
> was important to me," Reback said yesterday. "We
> were willing and ready to take whatever came."
> 
> The administrators' decision to suspend the girls
> has caused an uproar within the school, with
> students making T-shirts and posters to protest the
> punishment. A group opposed to the suspension has
> been created on Facebook.com, a popular Internet
> networking site, and had attracted more than 350
> members yesterday.
> 
> The move has prompted parents to write to the Board
> of Education and circulate e-mails calling the
> suspension a "blatant attempt at censorship."
> 
> School board President Peter Breslin said the
> decision to suspend the students was not about
> censorship, but rather about insubordination. He
> said school administrators had been concerned about
> the use of the word because young children would be
> at the open mic session, and the girls had agreed
> not to say it.
> 
> "I think the students need to understand that if you
> make an agreement with the administration to do
> something, and then you don't do it, there's going
> to be consequences for that," he said. "We are very
> committed to free expression and we do not tolerate
> censorship in our district."
> 
> "The Vagina Monologues" is a book based on
> interviews with more than 200 women about their
> experiences of sexuality. Since being written in
> 1996 as a response to the guilt and embarrassment
> many women still connect with their bodies, the book
> has been translated into 45 languages and been
> performed in cities throughout the world.
> 
> The piece has also led to the founding of "V-Day,"
> an international grass-roots movement dedicated to
> stopping violence against women. It is celebrated
> Feb. 14 with people performing "The Vagina
> Monologues" and raising money for the cause.
> 
> Ensler offered yesterday to take part in a public
> meeting to discuss with students, parents and
> educators why it was important for girls of high
> school age to feel comfortable saying the word
> "vagina."
> 
> The author said much of the violence that happens to
> women in the United States occurs because they are
> "disempowered by lack of education."
> 
> "What is wrong about the word 'vagina,' which is the
> correct biological term for a body part?" Ensler
> asked. "It is not slang. It is not dirty or racy.
> The fact that it was censored is an indication of
> exactly what is going on in American schools, where
> girls and boys are not being educated about their
> bodies in a healthy way. We're pushing everything
> into the closet.
> 
> "We need open, healthy sex education where girls
> know and love their bodies," said Ensler, who
> addressed the United Nations yesterday during an
> international conference dedicated to stopping rape
> as a weapon in conflict.
> 
> The controversy in Cross River centers around the
> verse: "My short skirt is a liberation flag in the
> women's army. I declare these streets, any streets,
> my vagina's country."
> 
> The words were part of a longer selection, which the
> three girls had divided among themselves.
> 
> Leading up to the performance, the girls had debated
> whether to say the word that they knew would get
> them into trouble. One idea they discussed was to
> not actually say the word, but rather hold up a sign
> with the word written on it.
> 
> Ultimately, however, they decided to say "vagina"
> because they did not feel they had the liberty to
> change a work of art.
> 
> All three girls read the final line together, as a
> sign of unity.
> 
> "I think almost everyone can agree it's important to
> uphold the integrity of literature and not change or
> alter it," Reback said.
> 
> School administrators did not return requests for
> comment yesterday, but Breslin, the board president,
> pointed to the district's stance against censorship
> during a debate over Nadine Gordimer's "July's
> People." The book is part of the 10th-grade
> curriculum, despite parents' criticism about its
> sexual and racial content.
> 
> As for a student's right to free expression, the
> U.S. Supreme Court has said students "do not shed
> their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and
> expression at the schoolhouse gate."
> 
> Public school officials, however, may regulate
> student expression that substantially disrupts the
> school environment or that infringes on the rights
> of others. Many courts have held that school
> officials can restrict student speech that is lewd,
> The First Amendment Center said.
> 
> Allen Hershkowitz, a 51-year-old environmental
> scientist with two children in the high school, said
> suspending the students was not only a form of
> censorship, but was also bad educating. He would
> like to see the administrators apologize for making
> a mistake.
> 
> "No one should be embarrassed to use the word
> 'vagina,' " said Hershkowitz, a former Lewisboro
> town councilman. "It's exactly the opposite message
> we should be teaching our children. ... That's when
> problems arise, when they're not informed and not
> feeling comfortable referring to their bodies."
> 
> Reach Diana Costello at dcostell at lohud.com
> or 845-228-2278.
> > _______________________________________________
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