Vagina Monologue buttons forbidden at Minnesota school
2 Winona High students put free speech to the test
Emily Nixon (17) and Carrie Rethlefsen (18), students at Winona Senior High School in the Winona Area Public Schools, have found themselves in trouble for wearing buttons. The buttons say “I [heart] My Vagina” (inspired by the play “The Vagina Monologues”) and are “meant to spark discussion about violence against women, about women’s rights.” School officials determined that the buttons are offensive and have forbidden the girls from wearing them.
School leaders said that the pin is inappropriate and that the discomfort it causes trumps the girls’ right to free speech. The girls disagree. And despite repeated threats of suspension and expulsion, Rethlefsen has continued to wear her button.
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“We can’t really find out what is inappropriate about it,” Rethlefsen, 18, said of the button she wears to raise awareness about women’s issues. “I don’t think banning things like that is appropriate.”Their case could become another test of whether high school students have the right to express their views in school. Charles Samuelson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, has offered to help the girls.
“It’s political speech,” he said.
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“Free speech is a messy thing,” Samuelson said. “People need to understand that opinions that they are not comfortable with, or even opinions they disagree with, need to be allowed.”
Principal Nancy Wondrasch disagrees. She claimed the buttons infringe on the rights of others and told Rethlefsen that wearing the button was an open invitation to boys. Wondrasch tried to work out a compromise by allowing the girls to set up a table to hand out information. That was a no-go for Rethlefsen as school officials insisted on reviewing and approving any information before it was distributed. The girls are turning instead to a T-shirt initiative.
More than 100 students have ordered T-shirts bearing “I [heart] My Vagina” for girls and “I Support Your Vagina” for boys.
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“[School officials] told us that if a single person showed up wearing them, we’re going to get expelled,” [Nixon] said. “People are going to wear them anyway.”Wondrasch wouldn’t comment on what sort of discipline the students might face.
These are students in a senior high school. They are old enough to deal with the adult issues that they will be facing in the very near future. They have also known what a vagina is since fifth grade health class. I don’t see a problem with the buttons. However, as pointed out at Rhymes With Right, this situation could easily spiral out of control:
And these shirts are where I could see a problem arising — actually the same problem that might have been feared by those who objected to the buttons. What happens when the first satirist shows up wearing a shirt that says “I [heart] My Penis”? What about “My Penis [hearts] Your Vagina”? The whole thing has the potential to spiral out of control. Do we want various and sundry vaginas and penises, each with a different message, wandering the hallways of the high school? Is the decision of the school administration really all that unreasonable?
I believe that the school is being unreasonable. More to the point, I believe that the escalation of this vagina controversy is completely the fault of the school. If they had not tried to suppress the buttons the t-shirts would never have come into being.
(Tip credit to Sharon and Rhymes With Right)
As I’ve said before, it does no good to try and ban things on a case-by-case basis. If you’re going to restrict clothing at all, you have to do it in the same way my junior high did� they restricted all text on clothing. No logos, no slogans, no nothing.
Obviously, the free speech issue is something else entirely, but if they’re going to try and restrict some, they are going to end up in this situation where people try to find the line.
(Personally, I think the school overreacted and blew a minor controversy out of control. Allow all or allow none.)
Schools shouldn’t be able to restrict expression at all. They certainly have no right to prohibit all text. They have no right to prohibit anything at all. Once these kids get out in the real world, they won’t be arrested for wearing things like this (at least I hope not) and at the same time, they’ll have to learn to express opposing viewpoints they may see.
Banning stuff just teaches people to be crybabies because if they see something they don’t like, they can bitch about it and get it banned. That’s not preparing them for real life.
I would say in a workplace, these buttons might constitute illegal sexual harassment. Since there is no context to go with the button (or shirt etc), one can reasonably assume a sexual connotation, rather than a ‘empowerment of women’ connotation.
I am for students being able to discuss serious issues and be treated more like adults, however, things like these buttons are ”meant to spark discussion” and, in fact, ignite people’s interest by titillation and innuendo.
I think the school acted correctly in prohibiting the buttons, perhaps their logic was expressed incorrectly, but the actions were correct.
Also, in a final thought, the whole ”we MUST allow all or allow none” is a form of zero tolerance in itself. It ignores the ability of people to come to reasonable judgements and encourages people to think inside a box of only a limited number of options.
This particular situation is one where I have to come down on the side of the school, which is very unusual for me considering most of what I read on this site. The difference is that these buttons (and more so, the play inspiring the buttons) are of a sexual nature and designed to illicit a certain amount of discomfort in those around the wearer. This kind of “free speech” is the kind that could easily have a person lose their job if conducted in the workplace.
It’s also important to remember that there’s a big difference between a right to free speech and a right to free speech without consequence. This is an area that’s often confused and the girls in this case are amongst those confused.
Consider the relatively recent flap over the Dixie Chicks expression of their opinions of George Bush. They had every right to say what they said, but it’s not censorship when others who don’t like what they said choose to no longer buy their music.
I support a person’s right to say whatever asinine, offensive nonsense they want to say, but they have to be prepared to live with the consequences, which can include being shunned by the rest of society.
And “shadowhawk”, I have to disagree - out in the real world, they may not get arrested, but they very well may find themselves not welcome in places or groups because of their behavior or expressions, so learning in school that there’s a time and place for everything, but that anything, anywhere, any time is not acceptable is a much more realistic lesson.
I teach college where we welcome things that make us uncomfortable. We believe that encourages discourse.
But, even in general society, remember that words and images are not inherently offensive. We must choose to be offended.
It’s a good think the buttons didn’t say “I (heart) my guns”.
They’d be in jail by now.
Arrrgh. It’s a good thing. Ya know, like Martha Stewart.
I have to agree with Scott and Aaron on this one, especially as far as having to live with the consequences of our actions. I’m no good at logical debating, but I will say that I believe that there is a time and a place for everything. Wearing those buttons at a public high school was not appropriate, given the fact that we’re still dealing with not completely mature kids. A private class discussion on the subject, though, probably would have been a better idea.
I, too, have to come down on the side of the school. Allowing the girls (women) to wear these buttons would open up a can of worms that would lead to some wiseacre with a “My Pen!s Hearts to Heart Your Vag!na” shirts. The whole thing would definitely deteriorate into an education-disrupting fiasco.
And as for “Beads”, who posted above and claimed that, “We must choose to be offended”, I’d have to say that’s a pretty bone-headed lefty argument. There are plenty of things that are offensive on their face. You don’t have to choose to be offended by these things, it is a natural response that you’d actually have to work to overcome. For example, someone using profanity to describe your lineage in a heated manner. You’d have to choose *not* to be offended.
There is a difference between wearing this button in a workplace and wearing it in a school. The workplace is a private sector voluntary place to be. The school is a government institution. The first amendment doesn’t apply to owners of private property like it does for the government.
I hate to say But the buttons are not apropriate, neither are the shirts. While I do not think they that they are offensive, myself, they could in the real world be considred a form of sexual harasment and they could suffer leagle consequences. (Personally i think the sexual harrasment laws are far to liberal to begin with But this really isnt the place for that so consider that statement a qualifier, In somuch as it is inapropriate for school because it is inapropriate for a work place.) Okay I think I am confusing myself so i am done
Offense is in the eye of the beholder. The “educators” that see nothing wrong with prejudice against guns, Republicans, Christians, males, ad nauseum, now have a conumdrum. The actions they have supported, particularly the one about “being comfortable,” have come back to bite the hand that feeds them.
Let the girls, they are not women in our society until they reach the age of legal majority, wear the shirts. All of the fears and suppostitions posted here serve to point up the problem: you have to worry about every situation. Let societal norms, such as they are in this particular school, dictate what happens. If the students, in general, are supportive of the message, the wearers will feel accepted. If the other side of the coin is true, the girls will become outcasts of a sort, and their commitment to the “message” of the Vagina Monologues will be tested, as it should. Don’t talk the talk, if you can’t walk the walk.
“meant to spark discussion about violence against women, about women’s rights.”
School officials determined that the buttons are offensive and have forbidden the girls from wearing them.
I could create the as-shole b-itch s-uck my p-enis monologues, and then make buttons, shirts, stripper costumes etc. CLEARLY, there is a limit to good taste and propriety. Hopefully, we are not trying to teach kids to be offensive, but to be thoughtful and reasonable.
These people may be ‘young adults’ or ‘older kids’, but ultimately, they are in the stewardship of the school system on behalf of their parents’ interests.
aron — the problem with your argument is that the government is not, generally speaking, allowed to impose those consequences.
Your Dixie Chicks example is perfect in that regard, as the response was private action, not a government ban. I shut their music off, I didn’t buy their new CD, and I didn’t shell out $100 to see them in concert that summer. On the other hand, I would have been in the streets protesting on their behalf if some government official had ordered their CDs out of stores, their music banned from the public airwaves, and their concert tour cancelled as subversive activity.
And those of you who want the speech banned on the basis that it would be “harassment” in a workplace — that just proves the absurdity of the legislation, executive orders, and judicial decisions relating to “creation of a hostile workplace”, not the legitimacy of the speech itself. Rather than banning a non-obscene button or shirt that might make some people think and others uncomfortable, we should be pushing for a greater respect for individual liberty.
Oh. by the way — does it make any difference to you that one of these girls is, in fact, 18 years old and legally an adult?
Yes, it matters, but with the small exception that she must go to school with minors, and her actions should be in line with the environment of education, not testing the boundaries of political expression.
If the buttons said, ”Love Yourself, Take Action Against Violence”, no one would say a thing. But they say ”I love my vagina”. It is clearly an arresting choice of words.
If this were anywhere else, I would probably support these girls 100%. (e.g. in college, at the store, etc.) I would even support a teacher using this in an on-topic classroom discussion.
But, just knowing the attitudes of your general teen, the speech on this button would not elicit a learn-ed discourse on the politics of gender and violence against women.
The lesson is that speech might be free, but it has consequences. If you Dont believe that, tell your boss your “heart” her vagina or his penis on Monday and see what the reaction is. We have abandoned the generally understood norms of what is decent and polite in society. As pointed out by one poster above, if it had mentioned guns they would have been escorted out in handcuffs.
I don’t think they were offered a suitable compromise. I suspect the administration did the same amount of reasoning with the girls she is doing with the 100 kids who claim they will protest by wearing the pin (expell them?). Setting such high stakes for authority doesn’t teach them to respect the reasoning behind the decision. In fact they are now unified in disapproval. They have learned to disrepect authority and probably some students who would be embarassed by the buttons. It seem like some attempt to compromise, have open discussions and pursue a boader answer in the community would have been better.
“Consider the relatively recent flap over the Dixie Chicks expression of their opinions of George Bush. They had every right to say what they said, but it’s not censorship when others who don’t like what they said choose to no longer buy their music.” - Aaron
It is when my mom’s friends try to throw my CDs out! Not gov’t censorship, but still an attempt at censorship.
I’m actually a bone-headed righty. Never voted for a Democrat. It’s just that I’m for individual rights.
A word to the wise: Pick your battles carefully.
Zero tolerance is a real problem. Stopping kids from using freedom of speech as an excuse to be irreverant, obscene and offensive is another matter.
This isn’t even a close call. A “political statement” that is intentionally uncivil, sexually provocative and arguably vulgar can be banned and should be banned for reasons of taste, decorum, and out of respect for the educational process. I can just see the next wave: boys wearing “I love your vagina too!” or “I’d LIKE to love your vagina!” or “If you love your vagina, wait until you meet my penis!” or “I love my erection, and so will your vagina!”…offended yet? Oh please! Common sense, logic and basic ethics dictates that these buttons and their inevitable progeny should be banned by any responsible school, and if the ACLU really gets on its high horse over this one, it has lost its collective mind.
Just because school adminstrators frequently over-react doesn’t mean they’re ALWAYS wrong. They are absolutely right this time.
Gotta side with the school on this one. The girls were wearing the buttons to “spark discussion about violence against women, about women’s rights.” The buttons were intended to attract attention, which from a teacher’s point of view meant they were meant to distract students from the task at hand.
But the issue isn’t siding with the school, it’s whether you need to expell 100 kids to make a point. Send them home, suspend them for a couple days or better yet, get them to write an essay on female violence against men as they sit at home.
If you would kindly refer yourselves to this article, in Winona’s newspaper:
http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2005/04/22/news/00vagina.txt
…you might have a slightly different opinion. Wondrasch says that the students will NOT be expelled (or suspended). (Additionally, Emily seems to have dropped out of the controversy, and it’s all Carrie now.)
Secondly, Wondrasch has suggested two *very* effective methods of raising awareness about violence against women (and other issues pertaining to women): The first is for Carrie (or someone who isn’t graduating in a month) to start a women’s issues group at the school. The second is to set up an information table where students could have access to actual facts and information that could possibly spark debate.
Personally, I think both of those suggestions would be much more effective at getting the message across than the buttons or t-shirts.
Anne -
Those are both good ideas to responsibly spark debate in the school setting instead of trying to steal attention with tasteless buttons.
Other students said their peers often wear shirts that say “Pet my pussy,” “I got lucky in Kentucky” or attire bearing Hooters or Playboy bunny logo without consequence.
Sparking debate is good, offensive reaction is bad.
BTW, female violence is a growing problem, and female violence against men is a sensistive issue because men are very reluctant to report they have been abused by a woman. When victims of violence become an exclusive commodity the problem is not addressed. While objective statistic will tell the story of vunerablility, social solutions are found by addressing the causes of violence. Fanning political fires isn’t making anyone think about social issues. Social debate does.
I took a writing class with 2 feminists and 9 young men, almost all under 20. The youngest woman obcessed every single week about being raped and the need to teach young girls to masturbate in public school. The teacher, who was also a feminist did speak to her finally. The boys never said a word. It was not a debate; it was demeaning and abusive. It also was not writing.
‘I love my stomach’ does not give rise to gourmet cuisine. Likewise, human sexuality is expressed in art, music, song and motivates the most passionate human emotions. Self obcession with a body part is simply immature awareness. It looses the intended depth of meaning on inexperienced pubescent teens.
Does the school want to give the ‘OK’ to The Vagina Monologues?
One of the scenes in the play called ‘The Coochie Snorcher’ involves a lesbian babysitter taking advantage of her charge.
Does the school want to endorse or be seen as endorsing something like that? If my information is incorrect, is the school aware of what might be in play that it is endorsing?
While it is true that high school kids know what a vagina is, the mention of one will make a classroom fall apart. Kids are still kids for a while yet.
While extremism is a bad for youth who are already struggling with hormonal maturity, failing to discuss the issues the kids claim to be raising is also bad. This isn’t a gray line, a discussion and one-sided assaults are different. The administration has failed to promote a socially acceptable solution and only spouts extreme discipline.
I think you missed a few things swp.
The school has offered to set up an information booth or table to get facts out to students and recomended a womans issues student oganization. Either of with is a fine Example of a socially acceptable solution.
“Rethlefsen said school officials first told her the button was inappropriate in mid-March when a school secretary spotted it. That started a string of visits — and debates — with teachers, counselors, an assistant principal and the principal. A teacher barred Rethlefsen from her classroom as long as she wore her button.”
Shes had fair warning and has continued her disreguard. So at this point if she chooses to continue on with her button, shes had several warinings let her finish off her year in alternitve school.
Travos, I agree somewhat. But what’s actually occurred is campaigning, and possibly the situation actually escalated because it became socially acceptable to define the solution as a women’s issue (a political hot-button in an industry that is 75% female). For example a fairly represented discussion on violence, which includes all members of society, becomes a one sided lecture. IMO this is a trend in at least some of the situations that escalate into big bold zero tolerance lines drawn in the sand (a far cry from guns and drugs). Discussions and polical campaigns are different.
Misspelled my own name how sad am I.
Okay so if they had called domestic , or social Instead of womens it would have been different? Or did I missunderstand.
Now Dont get me wrong folks, I would rathr it be okay for people to wear such things, I hate all the PC hurt feelings he looked at me funny krap that is going around this place. I think that Sexual harrasment laws are way out of line, but at the moment this is the society we live in. and if students can be accused of Sexual haarasment for a dirty joke then they could be for that button. If one is not tollerated then the other cannot be either. Now I dont think that expulsion is warented right away. but if the warnings and detetions and suspenions dont work let her go where she will be more comfortable, an alternitive school.
Okay so if they had called domestic , or social Instead of womens it would have been different?
Either way she has to take the button off to go to school. I probably wouldn’t expell her, just send her home everyday until she fails. The situation may not have escalated to 100 kids fighting for a button if it hadnt’ become a campaign.
The play “the Vagina Monologues” is already mainstream and is commonly considered artwork. Why should you not be allowed, to quote from a work of art?
Since hardly anyone has seen the play and therefore almost no one recognizes quotes from inside it (and furthermore the statement out of context doesn�t make any sense at all) it may not be a very smart thing, but why does it have to be?
I don�t see, why this should cause any disruption in the classroom? Even if they find it funny it surely won�t be the funniest thing of the whole hour.
I actually personally know those two girls and was a student in that school with them until this year. I graduated last year from WSHS and I can’t believe they started to “attack” them for wearing buttons like that. I’ve actually seen the Vagina Monologues too and feel that, regardless of whether it makes everyone comfortable or not, it’s their right to wear them and that the school principal should not be intervening in this issue. I do know this: the current principal was, back when I was in elementary school, my principal for a few of the years I was there. I’m not sure as to whether or not she was a principal anywhere else prior to that job or even since then, but if not I think she might be bringing some of her elementary school “ethics” to the high school and imposing improper rules. People need to be able to speak about women’s rights and abuse, but that won’t ever happen if people keep gasping everytime they hear anything about it. The “I (heart) My Vagina” buttons are meant to help get it out into the open because it’s always shut away and hidden from the world. Words like “Vagina” are always concealed because people are too tightly wound to want to hear anything like that at all. No one wants to talk about women’s rights or violence either, and because of that people think it goes away but it doesn’t, it just gets worse. I support Emily and Carrie 100% and if I could I’d get myself an “I Support Your Vagina” shirt to support them, women’s rights, and to encourage the public to become better aware of abuse and violence against women to try to get more people to help fight against it.
It seems to me that the messege the girls are sending to their classmates about stepping outside their comfort zone for change in women’s rights is being helped quite a lot by the contriversy. From what I hear about high school (I’m a homeschooler) they are really brave to do this. The teachers and schools should allow is as it is not an inuendo, but an clever way to change points of view. They probably have support because they are rebelious and tough. If they bowed down to the school and handed out buttons saying “Student Coallition for the Politically Correct Approach for Change In Attitudes Toward Women” or something like that then the schools would let them have their buttons they would let them have their shirts, but the kids wouldn’t care.
the school made the wrong move by trying to stop these girls from wearing the buttons. don’t they realize when you tell a teen no, that only makes them rebel more? not to mention if they want to wear a pin like that it is free speech. they are in a public school. and if boys want to wear ‘i love my penis’ shirts, why not?
this is just another example of how twisted our society is, when anything related to sexuality is not accepted, but showing violent acts on the news is.
the school overstepped its authority by banning these buttons and the t-shirts. they do not involve obscenity, only biological terms. they do include fighting words or any other language that is generally regulable without offending the constitution. the school is restricting the girls’ liberty to express a social view, and its decision appears arbitrary. the school, as a public entity, is not permitted to target the expression of certain ideas or language without overcoming a very high burden. what compelling governmental interest is advanced by this policy? at least if the school regulated all speech, the policy would be content-neutral as required by constitutional law. but our constitution does NOT permit regulations over the content of speech unless it advances a compelling governmental interest. and the school, as a public body, does not have a compelling interest in preventing other students from reading the word vagina. i concede that the issue would be different if the girls wanted to use obscene language instead of vagina because it would fall into the category of unprotected speech.
that’s the legal perspective. from a social perspective, i feel that many are spot-on for noting that we need to grow up and learn to deal with seeing ideas and language that run counter to our beliefs or values. these confrontations foster personal growth and enable a person to examine their own values. and people can choose not to look at these buttons or to disregard them. i find it a sad statement of society when we deal with opposing viewpoints or “offensive” ideas by attempting to ban their expression rather than constructively engage the issue. and, yes, they may have to suffer the consequences of their expressed values, but those consequences should not include adverse action by a public body that could potentially affect their academic futures.
one last point, i am disturbed that a reference to vagina is automatically converted into something sexual and dirty. the reaction of the school demonstrates the very problem about which the girls are trying to create awareness. nothing about vaginas, periods, breasts or any other aspect of female biology should create this discomfort. these young women are taking on an important social issue and, rather than be punished, should be encouraged to continue to be involved in social and political discourse. i, for one, am grateful to them for having such courage.
How dare anyone say “vagina” How rude, how gross how socially unacceptable, how crude, such bad taste and so on.
I thing these women students are realizing that this is what our society thinks of women and their vaginas.
Are these the same body parts that are up daily on the auction block by pornographers, are exibited for a few bucks in your local store? Not much to be said about that.
Yet when young women speak with pride about their vaginas, it’s a matter of decency?
This is a real good start for young women to take back their bodies from those who continue to abuse and discredit females.
Resistance is fertile.
Women Helping Women Coalition
>What happens when the first satirist shows up wearing a shirt that says “I [heart] My Penis�
How did this become an example of a slippery slope? What’s wrong with having love for one’s body, regardless of sex?
I can understand a school having a valid objection to a “My penis hearts your vagina” shirt. That is no longer a statement about individual pride, but supposes a sexual interaction and carries a reasonable arguement for harrasment. If the school were truly worried that this was a potential problem, it would have been able to guard against it by explaining the difference.
I have a lot of difficulty believing that if scientific words about our genitalia make some people uncomfortable we should institute a policy of silence, any more than other people’s intolerance to race means we should bring back segregation.