NEWS: Standing in Solidarity with Your Vagina

CULTURE: Standing in Solidarity with Your Vagina

I’ve seen a wondrous explosion of t-shirts that say “I (heart) My Cunt” or “I (heart) My Vagina in reference to The Vagina Monologues. Carrie Rethlefsen, a senior at Winona High School in Minnesota, was requested to remove her pin after the principal found it to be offensive.

It’s only appropriate at college campuses because harassment, rape, sexism, oppression, and patriarchy only occur on college campuses and in no way is the word “vagina” ever to be used outside of a health class and/or when an asshole football player calls a woman that doesn’t want to be used as a doormat “a cunt.”

We're back with the N-word here, aren't we. Personally, I think you can call your body (and its parts) what you want. But I also think that there are far too many people who wear this sort of stuff in order to be offensive. I have no patience with those people. (I particularly hate the British 'FCUK ' stuff perpetrated by the French Collection chain. I can't find it in me to believe there's any reason to wear that except a desire to offend.)

Disclaimer: This is strictly a British perspective.

[Edited on Apr 27, 2005 by waldo]

Are guys in high school really mature enough to deal with that? The principal probably saved a lot of teachers a lot of grief, and it sounds as though she was cool about it.

Was hers a cunt or vagina pin?

I can see a high school not wanting people to wear stuff that says "cunt".

Vagina though... who cares.

Agreed. Cunt is generally considered a curse while vagina is not.

In a perfect world, she would be able to wear this. However, it was probably the right move to have her remove it. There is no doubt it would have caused a disruption, and that costs class time. If this had been the school I work at, someone in the class would have noticed it and then class would devolve from there. We'd end up losing precious instruction time.

Yeah, but to a high school kid it's going to be the most interesting thing they've ever heard. Or at least they'll act like it. Today one of the kids in my class went on a six or seven minute laugh/babble fest because some girl innocuously referenced today as "hump day."


[Edited on Apr 27, 2005 by mamet]

I think this issue is vulgarity, not women's rights or sexuality. You would get ripped on by the school if you said "cunt" in a speech, along with a lot of other words, so why would it be okay on a pin just because you saw the Vagina Monologues? I saw Pulp Fiction in high school, but I didn't wear a shirt that said "DEAD NIGGER STORAGE" on it. However if the pin said "vagina" then I don't see the problem. Sex Ed is in middle school so why would "vagina" be too grown up for high school?

I'd also like to ask what reaction would be appropriate if a male student wore a pin like that.

I mean, one reading "I love my cunt."

[Edited on Apr 27, 2005 by waldo]

Her pin said "I love my vagina," so you can't really compare them.^^^

I think any student, regardless of sex, would be asked to remove something that said "I love my C U Next Tuesday." They probably also would be issued a referral.

[Edited on Apr 27, 2005 by mamet]

I don't care if you heart your vagina.
Dumb slogan.

I agree that this comes off as sounding bad, but then again, it is high school.

It probably would create a distraction in highschool (remember, the age gamut runs from 14-18). Here's my point of view on the thing (speaking in high school terms):

I <3 My Cunt : Entirely Unacceptable
I <3 My Vagina : Shaky, very shaky. Most would not immediately think of it as a slogan of female empowerment
End The Violence: Much Better Choice
Equality Now: Again....better

Anyways, I dont think this is discriminatory. If I wore a "I <3 My Penis" pin in HS, I think it would be taken about the same way.

Or a pin that said "I love my penis" or "I love my cock." It's absurd to expect anything other than a request to remove it.

Strangely, at my former high school just recently, a pair of Jewish (or thinking about converting to Judaism) students were suspended after refusing to remove their yamulkes.

-Billy Billy

Yes. I'm trying to illustrate why I think this is analogous to the use of the word "nigger". It's something you can get away with, if you're entitled to use it. If not, it's taboo. Which seems only proper, to me.

Certainly. It was the question of possession implied in the pin which I was commenting on.

[Edited on Apr 27, 2005 by waldo]

Right, in the "real world" this is true. But in high school, no one should be allowed to wear things with those words on them (the "c" word and the "n" word). They'd be a distraction.

We're not disagreeing here

I used to have an "I love my penis" pin in high school.

Or wait...

Maybe I just pulled out my penis walking around saying "I love my penis."

I don't quite remember those days clearly...

I used to do that too....until charges were pressed

that shirt was made to ruffle feathers. the girl knows it. she did it so now she can take the button off.

The schoolyard chant-

"What do we want?"
"CUNT TOLERANCE!"
"When do we want it?"
"NOW!"

"could be construed as offensive or harassment."

who is she harassing? herself?

"[the pin] could be interpreted differently."

this just made me laugh.

I think it depends on the rules they had for other students - It's hard for me to see where she could go wrong with having the word Vagina in something. Back at my highschool, the boys used to wear college hats from SC - that said COCKS right across the top - if boys can wear stuff like that, she should be able to wear vagina wherever she wants.

But that was just the rule at my high school - if they have no tolerance for all of it - then I suppose I get the point, especially if it would cause a disruption.