NewsFlash: "VAGINA"

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NewsFlash: John Jay High School Vagina Monologues Crisis

In the early 1990’s Eve Ensler collected and wrote a series of short episodic monologues which were all, in some way, related to the vagina. These soliloquies vary in their context. While some are humorous, others focus on harder subjects including rape and mutilation. But no matter when the monologue is about, a reoccurring theme is the importance of a woman’s individuality and the feminist that is within. The play, originally performed by Eve Ensler herself, has spread far and wide, even crossing national boundaries. Today, there have been thousands of performances, many of which feature celebrity readers, or groups of women speaking together. This week at Colgate, for example, many women joined together to raise awareness and gain empowerment through their performance of the Vagina Monologues. As one can imagine, performances of these often graphic, and often uncomfortable passages has raised controversy. One such example took place in March of 2007 at John Jay High School in Cross River, New York. As this paper will highlight, the rights of women to discuss their bodies and experiences openly is consistently denied, a problem which is a sign of continued female subjugation.

John Jay High School, my alma mater, is located in the small town of Cross River, which is a part of Westchester County. In March of 2007, the school was planning to host its third-annual “Open Mic Night.” Students in all four years of high school were invited to be a part of the performances. There were multiple bands, skits, poetry readings which were going to be performed. In order for the acts to be approved, each group or individual performer had to send in their poem, lyrics, etc. which were to be approved by the powers that be. Three girls in my grade, Megan, Elan, and Hannah, were planning on performing a skit from the aforementioned Vagina Monologues. Their performance was going to be a reading of the “My Short Skirt” monologue. The monologue, which is a particularly powerful section in which Ensler asserts lines such as my short skirt “is not an invitation/ a provocation/ an indication/ that I want it/ or give it/ or that I hook.” She also says “my short skirt/ is not a legal reason/ for raping me/ although it has been before/ it will not hold up/ in the new court.” The monologue is about female empowerment and liberation from abusive and unwanted advances. Unfortunately the three high school girls were called into the office of the administrative dean and told they would be unable to perform later than night.

The Dean told the girls that the Open Mic Night was open to everyone in the community and that younger children would be in attendance of the show. One of the monologues stanzas is as follows: “My short skirt is a liberation/ flag in the women’s army/ I declare these streets, any streets/ my vagina’s country.” Due to the use of the “graphic” word vagina, the girls were told they could not perform their piece as written. They were then given three options: they could forfeit performing in the show, they could choose another selection which didn’t contain the word vagina, or they could read their piece while not saying the “expletive.” The girls said they understood, and that they would figure out a way so they could still perform.

Amongst themselves, they decided that the word vagina was nothing vulgar nor expletive. They took the stage and performed “My Short Skirt” as they originally intended, Vagina and all. They immediately faced the consequences of their decisions. They were suspended (for insubordination). They were able to make their story heard: they were featured on all the news channels (nbc, abc, Fox, cw, etc.) later in the week, they were featured in a popular magazine, and Eve Ensler herself spoke for the girls, in fact, Ensler and the three girls were soon featured on the Today Show with Meredith Vieira. Luckily, the girls were able to spread their message that vaginas are nothing to be uncomforted by, they are nothing vulgar, and they wanted to spread the movement of women’s empowerment across the nation.

This incident threw my high school on to the map almost instantaneously. The entire student body, the parents and the community at large were all quick to make judgments and take sides. To me, it was surprising to see how many people were in favor of the school’s decision and were angered at the three girls in question. Most people seemed to be in agreement that the word “vagina” was something which the school had the right to ban from its performances. They cited the presence of younger children in the audience and asserted it would be uncomfortable and inappropriate for such innocent years to hear. However, the three girls (and Eve Ensler) strongly opposed this idea. They posed the question, what makes vaginas so inappropriate for audiences? Shouldn’t young girls feel comfortable discussing their body in its entirety?

I think the lack of open and blunt discussions about people’s bodies, and their specific body parts, is a serious issue. If people were able to be secure with their bodies, and more importantly, if members of the other sex were secure with discussing issues pertaining to women’s bodies, then perhaps there would be a lot less violence and disgust attributed to sexually related organs.

This performance could have been a very empowering experience not only for the three girls who were willing to stand up for their bodies in front of a large crowd, but also for those in the audience who could have been positively effected by their words. Instead, the bitter battle about which party was right, the girls or the administration, detracted from the beauty of the words spoken. Luckily, the girls were unable to sit back and passively accept their punishment of suspension. They instead reached out to spread their mission as far as they could. With the help of news agencies, and Ensler, the girls were able to spread their message that the vagina, like any other part of the body, should be talked about openly. Their assertion that there is nothing crude or vulgar about a vagina was heard by thousands.

While I would like to say that there was a happy ending and all was solved, I cannot. Eventually, the superintendent of the school district overturned the suspension of the girls, but the student body still was not entirely on board with the girls and their message. They were mocked for causing so much drama and many of their peers focused on the fact that they defied a rule, and thus they deserved to be punished (rather than looking at why they broke that rule in the first place). Luckily, I do think things have gotten better! What is important is that the girls were able to spread their world and publicly condemned all those who claimed there was something bad about discussing vaginas and women’s rights. At least I can say with total confidence that John Jay High School with think long and hard about ever trying to minimize the importance of talking about women, their bodies, and their rights.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/17535427/ns/today-today_people/