The V Word

By Devonne

Feminists love the word “vagina”. Seriously, feminists say “vagina” about as often as junior high girls say “like”.  So here’s my omg-I’m-such-a-bad-feminist-confession:  I don’t think I’ve ever said the word vagina out loud. However, the absence of the word vagina from my vocabulary is really not that shocking given that I refer to my bras as “undergarments” and have only recently begun saying the word “tampon”. Before you assume that I had some sort of prudish upbringing you should know that my own mother had a laughing fit when I made her order my drink for me because I was too shy to say “Sex on the Beach”. I’d like to be clear – I do not think female anatomy, menstruation, or sex is shameful. Talking like I’m from the Victorian era is just who I am. I have no idea why I talk the way I do. Maybe I read too much historical fiction when I was younger, maybe I spent too much time with my grandmother as a child. My strange word choices extend beyond the realm of womanhood – ex.  I’m more likely to say “This is greatly distressing me” than “This is pissing me off”. Sometimes my terminology is rather comical – I was having a discussion with my friends about STIs and referred to one’s “potential lover” instead of “sexual partner” because I thought it sounded better (my friends actually found the word “lover” more embarrassing than “sexual partner).  I’m trying to become less easily shocked (note I say “shocked” not “offended” because I’ve never found these words offensive as long as they’re being used in the right context) seeing as feminist articles tend to use blunter language than I’m used to.

 However, when I read that Lisa Brown, a state representative in Michigan recently got banned from the House for saying “vagina” during a debate on abortion , I was shocked. And I wasn’t shocked by her word choice, I was shocked because the banning was completely and utterly ridiculous. Basically Michigan is in the process of passing a new anti-abortion bill that bans all abortions after 20 weeks and allows no exceptions for women’s health. Naturally some of the female representatives do not support this bill and are speaking up. Rep. Lisa Brown’s speech was really great, she argues that the new anti-choice legislation actually infringes on her religious freedom as she’s Jewish and Jewish law requires abortion if the pregnant woman is at risk. This is interesting considering a lot of anti-abortionists use their religious beliefs as their argument for why women shouldn’t have a choice (because giving someone else choices would obviously infringe on one’s religious freedoms. Not.) Then Rep. Brown cleverly wrapped up her speech by telling the house "I'm flattered that you're all so interested in my vagina, but no means no." How dare she mention a part of the female body while having a debate about what females can and cannot do with their bodies! As someone who is usually uncomfortable with the word “vagina” let me get a few things straight:

1.       Vagina is not a crude or vulgar word. It’s a medically accurate word used to describe a part of the female body. And yes, if you’re using it in a certain context (like making a vulgar joke) then that might make some people uncomfortable (including myself) and probably wouldn’t be appropriate in a government setting. However, if you’re using it to refer to female anatomy during a debate on the female body then that’s totally appropriate and professional. It would not be offensive if a doctor used said vagina, nor should it be offensive in a debate on women’s bodies.

2.       It’s actually rather immature to not say vagina if that is what you’re discussing. When discussing trans-vaginal ultrasounds (you know that totally medically unnecessary thing where they probe women’s vaginas before they get an abortion just to violate them) , Virginia politician David Albo referred to it as Trans-V. So he’s totally uncomfortable saying vagina but is completely okay with legislating on them.

I think Rep. Lisa Brown put it best herself when she said “What word should I have said?". I mean honestly, there are lots of other words for vagina but they’re either slang words that would have sounded vulgar or they’re silly terms that would have made her sound like a little girl.

I’m really sick of politicians who want to legislate on women’s bodies but are completely terrified of the female body. I’m also sick of women being left out or silenced out of these debates. They didn’t want to hear from Rep. Lisa Brown because she was pro-choice so they simply banned her from the debate. They also banned Rep. Barb Byrum for speaking out of turn (which is technically a reason to get banned, but reps speak out of turn all the time from what I hear and they don’t usually get the book thrown at them). Regardless of your views on abortion, silencing voices is not the way to have a discussion. Even if the citizens of Michigan disagree with Brown and Byrum’s views they should be upset that they have legislators who are being unfairly treated. I know if I was one of their constituents I would be angry that my representative was unable to weigh in. This is reminiscent of how earlier this year Republicans had a discussion on birth control, with no women at it. And when Sandra Fluke (a college student) tried to express her opinions on why women should have access to birth control, she got called a slut.

Personally I think the debates on abortion and birth control were dealt with decades ago and to reopen them is extremely regressive. However, if you want to have a debate, have a real debate with fair representation. And that means pro-choice female politicians have a right to speak and to talk about the female body without being told to sit down and shut up and it means that educated young women like Sandra Fluke have the right to express their opinions without being ridiculed or slut-shamed.

I just went from never using the word vagina to using it over a dozen times in this post. I guess that’s what happens when my inner feminist becomes “greatly distressed”.