Silence and Voice

There, I said it. Vagina. 

Did anybody see the interesting article in today's New York Times about three female high school students who were suspended for saying the word Vagina? I did not know this word was so bad or demeaning or cause of the corruption of youth, nor did I know that the book it was taken from, The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, was so controversial that a single word in it should be censored. As an educator, I bristle when learning is closed in the very place it should be safe to be explored.

No, I never read the book. As a gay male, the topic of a vagina does not ordinarily arise in my conversations, but I hate censorship. I hate being told what I can and cannot say. I hate when my voice is silenced, and whatever the three girls did or did not do, I have great trouble seeing how this will somehow make for a better world. Censorship closes minds because it means that some things cannot be discussed or even considered. I wonder who or what feels so threatened that this was worthy of suspension? At least it reminds us the world is not as open as we may wish or suppose.