The Vaginas Are Here To Stay
Posted by Michelle Moquin on June 19th, 2012
Good morning!
Photo from La Figa
Don’t you just love the title? Thank you Eve Ensler, author of “The Vagina Monologues” for that wonderful quote! Yes, /SB I heard, and I saw, and I thought it was the perfect thing to post this morning.
Lisa Brown Performs ‘Vagina Monologues’ On Michigan Statehouse Steps
LANSING, Mich. — A state lawmaker who says she was barred from speaking in the Michigan House because Republicans objected to her saying “vagina” during debate over anti-abortion legislation performed “The Vagina Monologues” on the Statehouse steps – with a hand from the author.
Eve Ensler, whose groundbreaking play about women’s sexuality still packs theaters 16 years after it debuted, oversaw Monday night’s performance by Democratic state Rep. Lisa Brown, 10 other lawmakers and several actresses.
Capitol facilities director Steve Benkovsky estimated about 2,500 spectators – women and men – watched the play in downtown Lansing from lawn chairs and blankets. Billed on Facebook as the “Vaginas Take Back the Capitol!” event, the combination play and protest included political signs and chants of “Vagina! Vagina!”
Ensler, who flew in from California, where she’s overseeing production of her new play, said she was thrilled to be involved and likened the punishment meted out by the Republican leadership of the state House to “the Dark Ages.”
“If we ever knew deep in our hearts that the issue about abortion … was not really about fetuses and babies, but really men’s terror of women’s sexuality and power, I think it’s fully evidenced here,” Ensler told The Associated Press by phone Monday before arriving in Lansing.
“We’re talking about the silencing of women, we’re talking about censoring people for saying a body part,” she said. “Half of these people who are trying to regulate vaginas, they can’t even say the word.”
Brown made her comments during debate last week on legislation that supporters say would make abortions safer but that opponents say would make it much harder for women to get abortions. While speaking against a bill that would require doctors to ensure abortion-seekers haven’t been coerced into ending their pregnancies, Brown told Republicans, “I’m flattered you’re all so concerned about my vagina. But no means no.”
Brown was barred from speaking in the House during the next day’s session. House Republicans say they didn’t object to her saying “vagina.” They said Brown compared the legislation to rape, violating House decorum. She denies the allegation.
“Her comments compared the support of legislation protecting women and life to rape, and I fully support Majority Floor Leader Jim Stamas’ decision to maintain professionalism and order on the House floor,” GOP Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons, of Alto, said in a statement last week.
Democratic Rep. Barb Byrum, of Onondaga, said she also was barred from speaking last Thursday because she referred to vasectomies during the debate.
“I’m overwhelmed by how much attention we’re getting around the world,” she told Monday’s crowd.
Before the play began, Ensler joined Brown and Byrum on the Capitol steps and called for an apology from the Republicans who barred them from speaking.
“These women stood for our rights,” Ensler said to applause. “The vaginas are out. We are here to stay.”
The speaking ban lasted only through Thursday, when lawmakers left for a five-week break. But the incident has garnered attention internationally and on social media, where the hashtags (hash)vaginagate and (hash)sayvagina are attracting a flurry of posts.
Susie Duncan, 68, watched the play while holding a placard handed out by the American Civil Liberties Union reading, “Vagina. Can’t say it? Don’t legislate it.”
“I hope this will spur people to go vote,” the East Lansing resident said. “We’ve got to change this.”
Brown says it isn’t just women who are upset with the House GOP leaders’ actions.
“I’ve heard from a lot of men. It’s not just women who are speaking out,” she said. Her father and mother attended the play.
The Women Lawyers Association of Michigan – whose 650 members include men – criticized taking away Brown’s and Byrum’s right to speak. The group said it wasn’t taking a position on the bills in question, but on the lawmakers’ free speech rights.
“Representatives Brown and Byrum had a right to have their constituents’ 150,000 voices recognized on June 14, 2012. They were neither vulgar nor disrespectful,” the group wrote in a Monday release. “When the minority is silenced, justice cannot prevail and democracy suffers.”
VAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINAVAGINA
Vagina. Can’t say it? Don’t legislate it.
Readers: My lips feel good flapping that word over and over again. :) Your turn – Blog me.
Peace & Love to your Vagina.
xoxo
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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June 19th, 2012 at 10:01 am
Good morning all. Thanks for following up today, Michelle.
I feel in my heart we need to be talking about this censorship more and the unacceptability of it.
Most of my women friends don’t seem too concerned. Are they so used to living in a male dominated society that they just accept that their vagina deserves to be censored? If one on the outside looking in ever had doubts about this being a male-dominated society, this example is surely it.
Maybe we should feel lucky that society is still willing to advertise tampons to us on TV? If women didn’t need to consume so many of them, $$$ for somebody, there would probably be censorship there too.
The thought of the majority society making the other 1/2 of its populace feel shame about their bodies, shame about the bodies that gave them life(!), gives me the cramps. I think i need to go BLEED!
From my vagina to yours, have a great day everybody.
/SB
June 19th, 2012 at 8:34 pm
Bravo!!!!!!!!
Social Butterfly
June 19th, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Something big happened in Richmond last week — and a couple millionaires and billionaires are hoping you didn’t notice.
The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed last week that groups like the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity and Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS should have to disclose exactly who’s behind the millions of dollars they’re spending to influence this election.
They’re going to try to avoid this for as long as they can. After all, they have a vested interest in being able to spend millions anonymously to influence our elections — many of the corporations and individuals funding their organizations don’t want their agendas to receive scrutiny from the press or the public.
We can make sure they don’t get away with hiding these donors — or their agendas. But it’s going to take a lot of us standing up, putting our foot down, and saying “Hell no.”
We’ve put together a petition demanding that these secret front groups disclose for the country exactly who their donors are. Do what these guys won’t do:
Ask yourself: Don’t we all have a right to know exactly which corporations and individuals are spending millions in attack ads to influence elections — and what their agendas are?
June 19th, 2012 at 9:04 pm
A good Tuesday to you all… Some headlines from around the web:
National Journal: W.Va. Dems to Obama: Enjoy the DNC Without Us
Latino Decisions: New poll: Latino voters in battle ground states enthusiastic about Obama DREAM Announcement
Boston Globe: Scott Brown accepts Kennedy debate with conditions
National Review: Ann Romney’s winding trail
Also, take a look at the latest video from John Gizzi’s Senate update series, and a great piece from my colleague at RedState, Erick Erickson.
That and a lot more below.
Have a great day!
-Adam
June 19th, 2012 at 9:13 pm
/SB, I think you libs just like saying the words for reproductive organs in public, kinda like when you were in elementary school, out on the play ground. The difference is, you’ve now brought your playground potty mouths into our country’s most formal settings.
All because you libs think women are somehow incapable of being personally responsible for their own preventive reproduction methods.
June 19th, 2012 at 9:14 pm
If these men sooo dislike vaginas we ladies should make sure they never get near another one!!!
June 19th, 2012 at 9:16 pm
I’ve got six words for you Social Butterfly and your ilk. Git home and git dinner ready!
June 19th, 2012 at 9:18 pm
A large part of Rep. Lisa Brown’s speech is being lost in all the hype. The first part of her speech had to do with this bill actually suppressing her religious freedom. Rep.
Lisa Brown is Jewish, as is her right in this country to be so. Jewish law states that if there is any danger of a pregnancy doing harm to the mother, they are required to abort. Jewish law holds the mothers life as more important than an unborn child, as it should be.
This is what she was saying before she made the Vagina comment. It also would require inspections of the surgical facilities used to perform abortions, seems reasonable, until you realize that no other surgical facilities are required to be inspected.
This bill and others like it and the way the Democratic Representatives who opposed it were silenced shows the GOP’s true colors. They have no regard for women and wish to push their religious and supposedly moral views on everyone else.
How is it moral to let a woman die in order to maybe bring a baby to term that might survive. How is it moral to make a woman suffer through her full term when she knows the fetus will be stillborn.
Pregnancy is difficult and still dangerous, even now. It irrevocably changes a woman. No one should be forced to go through one unwilling.
June 19th, 2012 at 9:18 pm
You can bet your life if it was those men who got pregnant, we would never be having this discussion!!!
June 19th, 2012 at 9:19 pm
“I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an’ pretend
’cause I’ve heard it all before
And I’ve been down there on the floor
No one’s ever gonna keep me down again
CHORUS
Oh yes I am wise
But it’s wisdom born of pain
Yes, I’ve paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman”
Where is Helen Reddy when we need her?
June 19th, 2012 at 9:20 pm
Republican indignation over the “V” word is certainly selective.
This is the party whose members in the Virginia legislature had no problem talking about trans-vaginal ultrasound when it suited them.
June 19th, 2012 at 9:22 pm
Rupert, You do realize that the term used is the correct anatomical term and appears at least three times in Michigan statues as well as within the text of the proposed legislation put forth by the Michigan house.
There are more than enough “potty mouth” terms for the female anatomy but Ms. Brown was not using them. She was objecting to male representatives passing or proposing legislation that directly affected her anatomy and specifically the area in question.
As for the comment: “All because the libs think women are somehow incapable of being personally responsible for their own preventive reproduction methods.” Do you have any idea what you have written?
June 19th, 2012 at 9:24 pm
I just saw the word on tv about vaginal meshes….if it is on tv???? That is the matter with these narrowminded old men?
Wonder how many of them say “talk dirty to me” during sex. If If they wanted a piece of the action, I am sure they would use words less anatomically correct. Would that be ok? Demeaning to women is ok?
Guess we are going back to the days the men just poo-poo a woman’s comments as hystronics. Back to the 18th centrury!
June 19th, 2012 at 9:25 pm
YKWTI
Baby, you will never lose me. I am yours as long as you will have me. It is my fear that you will be taken away from me. Sometimes, I wish we could both just leave this place and be together.
It feels so strange and lonely when I go through more than a day without talking to you. What am I saying? It feels strange when I don’t talk to you for a few hours. And when I know you will be gone or not available, my heart sinks, my tummy expresses loss, and panic sets in as I wonder, will this be the last I hear from you? It’s a lonely big world when my baby is not around, Only do I feel relief when I hear your voice on the phone again. And then I feel safe and loved.
Lately, time and responsibility has really taken over our private time. I yearn for more play time with you, where we can make love for hours in the afternoon, take a drive to wherever…and not care where we end up and for how long.
I love you,
YKWLY
June 19th, 2012 at 9:26 pm
And perhaps nothing so off-base.
While I agree with her completely on the issue, I could not disagree more with the stupid, vile, vulgar way she chose to express herself. She earned her sanction.
Unfortunately, she accepts absolutely no responsibility or accountability for her context. In fact, she found media help by claiming it was the word vagina.
Either she is completely dense, or thinks she doesn’t have to be responsible for her actions. Her type of representation needs to be met with sanction.
Her unprofessional behavior (not the word vagina) will prevent her from achieving much at a political level. Even with honest talking points, it would be hard to sift through the hyperbole and rhetoric she is going to be known for and that will only hurt those she represents. If she wants to chant phrases and misrepresent her own behavior, then she should join a protest.
If she wants to misrepresent herself, disrespect her colleagues, the system and herself, then she has no business representing anyone else.
Her grandstanding, feigning ignorance of her own behavior is embarrassing for herself.
The context of her statement, saying to the effect her colleagues (men and women alike) had an interest in her specific vagina and they were raping her is disgusting hyperbole. While it is acceptable in a public protest, it is completely unacceptable on the floor in the chamber.
June 19th, 2012 at 9:30 pm
MS-1, did I somehow touch a nerve? My point is, for those who believe that birth control measures are up to the involved individuals to provide for their own personal use, should they so choose, they also believe that those same individuals should be personally responsible to pay for such.
No fuss, no muss. In that regard, more men should step up and take financial responsibility as well. In my opinion, the government shouldn’t take from me to pay for my neighbors’ birth control.
I’ll gladly shovel their driveways, cut their grass, help with small rebuilding projects, drive their kids to school, etc. but then, that’s not the point, is it?
June 19th, 2012 at 9:31 pm
Really, AW? Your narrow mindedness is even more unacceptable. I guess you only believe in free speech when the speaker is saying something you either agree with or is using terms only ladies would use in mix company.
What she said was perfectly acceptable. Her opinion, her voice. Neither should be silenced.
June 19th, 2012 at 9:42 pm
Bigger, Better Contact Lens
If you suffer from extremely dry eyes, you may want to talk to your eye doctor about scleral contact lenses.
Older versions of these lenses were more difficult to fit and uncomfortable to wear for any length of time (they didn’t allow enough oxygen to pass through to the eye).
But thanks to new materials and manufacturing techniques over the past few years, newer versions are safe, fit well, and can offer blessed relief from chronic dry eyes.
You might be thinking, don’t contact lenses tend to make eyes drier? Most do—but not these.
And if you need your vision corrected, they can do that, too. Here’s how they work…
WHY BIGGER IS BETTER
The edge of a typical soft contact lens rests just a smidge outside the colored part of the eye, on the beginning of the sclera, the white part of the eye.
A soft lens hugs the cornea (the eye surface that covers the colored part of the eye)—so there’s only a very thin layer of tears between the lens and the surface.
A scleral lens is much larger—up to 24 millimeters (mm) in diameter in comparison to the 14.5 mm of a typical soft lens—so its edge sits much further into the sclera, the white part of the eye.
The main advantage of a scleral lens is that it doesn’t touch the cornea—it arcs over it, leaving a space between the scleral lens and the eye surface.
Now, what could you do with that space if you had dry eyes? You could fill it with sterile saline solution that bathes the surface of the eyes all day long—and that’s exactly what dry-eye patients are doing.
You put the scleral lenses in each morning and take them out each night, as you would with most regular contact lenses.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
When I spoke with Peter A. Russo, OD, an optometrist who specializes in scleral lens fittings at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois, he was careful to point out that scleral lenses can be tricky to use—it’s hard to get the lens into your eye without spilling the saline.
But after some instruction from your doctor and some practice, you get the hang of it.
The biggest downside is cost, which varies widely and is usually many times the cost of typical contact lenses, said Dr. Russo. In fact, the price can be roughly $1,200 to $2,500 or even higher for both the pair and the fitting, according to Glenda Secor, OD, FAAO, an optometrist and communications chair for the American Academy of Optometry. Replacement lenses are usually needed anywhere from one to 10 years later—
whenever the pair is scratched or warps or if your medical condition changes—and the cost of the replacement lenses isn’t as steep (typically hundreds, not thousands), according to Deborah S. Jacobs, MD, an ophthalmologist with the Boston Foundation for Sight and a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. (The lenses may be covered by insurance if they are considered a medical necessity by the insurer).
Why such a huge expense? It’s because each pair of scleral lenses is customized to each patient’s particular set of eyes, so it may take multiple office visits with a specially trained eye practitioner to get an exact fit.
“The design of these scleral lenses is complicated—for example, there are five distinct curvatures on the back of each scleral lens that need to be specified by the doctor,” said Dr. Russo. In addition, the doctor must spend extra time training the patient in how to use the lens.
Chronic dry eyes can literally be debilitating—Dr. Russo often sees patients who are using prescription eye drops every 30 minutes and still can’t get relief. If you’ve tried other treatments and are still suffering, scleral lenses are worth considering. Talk to your eye doctor, and ask for a referral to an eye doctor who specializes in fitting scleral lenses.
Sources: Peter Russo, OD, associate professor of ophthalmology, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University, Chicago, and program director, Contact Lens Program, Loyola Center for Health, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.
Deborah S. Jacobs, MD, medical director, Boston Foundation for Sight, Needham, Massachusetts, assistant clinical professor, Harvard Medical School, Boston. Glenda Secor, OD, FAAO, an optometrist and communications chair for the American Academy of Optometry.
June 19th, 2012 at 10:18 pm
YY
Too sweet to touch with comment.
Love you too babe.
Sorry, If I sadden you in any way. You are my everything. Still.
YI
June 20th, 2012 at 5:12 am
Sheldon Adelson recently donated $10 million of his personal fortune to a super PAC supporting Mitt Romney’s campaign, making him the biggest single donor to a candidate-specific super PAC and biggest donor to outside spending groups in the history of the United States.
Three upsetting things I want to say about this before I tell you that we shouldn’t get upset:
– He’s said that he’s willing to go as high as $100 million to defeat Barack Obama.
– This kind of money could change the outcome of an election.
– For Sheldon Adelson, who’s worth more than $20 billion, this donation is about the equivalent of $40 to a middle-class family.
This isn’t the way our country should work. Electing someone president of the United States should be a decision that we make as a nation. The outcome shouldn’t be affected by one, or even several, extraordinarily wealthy men.
Sheldon Adelson knows this is wrong, too:
“I’m against very wealthy people attempting to or influencing elections,” he said. “But as long as it’s doable I’m going to do it.”
Unless we stop him. Because we absolutely can stop him.
We have more supporters on the ground, more energy and more voices. We just need to make sure that everyone gets involved, no one’s left behind, and we don’t let this election — or any election across the country — come down to just a few wealthy guys.
For us, it’s not about the amount of your donation. Because when you donate, you’ll be joined by thousands of other Democrats, pitching in what they can when they can.
And that’s how we’ll win.
And Sheldon Adelson will still be able to buy us all a drink.
Thanks,
Hildy
Hildy Kuryk
Finance Director
Democratic National Committee
Hildy
June 20th, 2012 at 5:47 am
Men fuss all the time about what women should or should not say in public. It is interesting that they never bring that conversation to the table when they are discussing anything involving the health or satisfying use of their penis.
It is all over the television screen, at all hours of the day. Get this to improve your limp dick problems, prostate problems, inadequate length problems, etc.
What astonishes me most is the apathy expressed by women to the attitude of men when a woman dares mention our sexual problems.
Kudos to you Social Butterfly for your comments. Now were are the women who can get behind you and help support and make our case.
Alycedale
June 20th, 2012 at 8:09 am
Thursday, June 07, 2012, Bloomington, MN– Before the plates were cleared from the luncheon, Freddie Mac trainers and dozens of conference attendees were startled by a group of Occupy Homes protesters who taped off the entrance and plywooded the doors to their scheduled “Default Servicing Workshop.”
A dozen protesters chanted in call-and-response: “This is a crime scene, and Freddie Mac is the criminal. They have been conspiring with PNC Bank and countless others to profit off of families getting thrown out of their homes.”
Yellow caution tape reading “occupy” was unrolled, emulating the pitched confrontations Minneapolis police have had at the Cruz family home on Cedar Ave in recent weeks.
“We demand that you work with PNC Bank to get the Cruz family in their home,” protesters cheered. As Marriott hotel security escorted the protesters out, they chanted “Eviction stops here!”
The Cruz family fell behind on payments during tough economic times. According to Occupy activist Nick Espinosa, the bank failed to withdraw an online payment due to a glitch in its own system.
Instead it demanded a multiple-month payment, and when the Cruz family was unable to oblige, the home went into foreclosure.
Recently, the family and protesters have grabbed headlines by repeatedly blocking the sheriff’s eviction, resulting in 23 arrests and massive MPD force to secure the modest home.
Freddie Mac, which owns the title to scores of foreclosed homes like the Cruz home, visited the Twin Cities region to host a week-long training for its servicers to help them manage through the housing recession and, according to the event’s web site, “avoid preventable foreclosure.”
“If Freddie Mac is committed to avoiding preventable foreclosure, they need to work with families like the Cruzes who can afford to pay their mortgage,” said Cat Salonek, an organizer with Occupy Homes MN. “Freddie Mac and PNC have the power to return the Cruz family home today.”