Students suspended over VAGINA Monologues

[KiwiCoromandel]

Three US students are in hot water for disobeying teachers and uttering the word "vagina" during a reading from the well-known feminist play The Vagina Monologues at a US high school forum.

The three 16-year-old girls received a one-day suspension from John Jay High School, in New York, after refusing to agree to drop the word from their presentation last Friday.

The school, however, announced this week that it was postponing the suspension following outrage by some of the girl's peers as well as parents.

Eve Ensler, the author of The Vagina Monologues, has meanwhile called the girls to express support and is planning to speak at the school about the controversy, she said.

"This (episode) is utterly bizarre and strange and I can't believe it's 2007 and this is a controversy," Ensler said. "It's insane.

"There is the issue of censorship ..., the issue of having an open mic evening and telling people what they can and cannot say and there is the issue of vagina and why that's a scary word."

School principal Rich Leprine said in a statement that the punishment meted out to the students was not for using the word vagina but rather for insubordination.

"When a student is told by faculty members not to present specified material because of the composition of the audience and they agree to do so, it is expected that the commitment will be honoured and the directive will be followed," Leprine said. "When a student chooses not to follow the directive, consequences follow."

Elan Stahl, one of the three students, said the girls were not looking to challenge the school during their performance but felt frustrated that officials would ask them to censor the play.

"Our aim was not to get in trouble," Stahl told AFP. "We want to put the word (vagina) out there and make people comfortable with using it.

"If they can just admit that the word vagina shouldn't have been censored because it's not lewd or obscene ... then that apology would be gladly accepted," she said.

The Vagina Monologues is based on several hundred interviews with women around the world and celebrates female sexuality and focuses on the abuses women suffer.

The passage that landed Stahl and her schoolmates in trouble reads: "My short skirt is a liberation flag in the women's army. I declare these streets, any streets, my vagina's country."

source:AFP

image:AP Photo/The Journal News:L to R..... Hannah Levinson, Megan Reback and Elan Stahl, who were suspended for flouting a ban on reading from The VAGINA Monologues during an open mic night at their New York school.

[slum_goddess]

maybe if they used the vernacular 'cunt', they would've been more successful.

[Shawn]

Well vagina is a pretty filthy word. I think Slum is on the right track, but I lean towards thinking they should have stuck to the highly technical term twat.

[CTC Command]

Fix the whole title--change the name to "Pussy Bullshit." Then no one can be offended.

[DudeAsInCool]

They are welcome to read them to me :)