Vagina, Vagina, Vagina

Jessica Valenti
June 15, 2012
http://www.thenation.com/blog/168429/vagina-vagina-vagina

Yesterday, Michigan Representative Lisa Brown was banned
from speaking after having the audacity to use the word
`vagina' in a debate over an anti-abortion bill.
Apparently, it's not enough that Republicans have made
it a political priority to roll back women's
reproductive rights-they also want to ensure that we
remain silent as they do it.

Rep. Mike Callton, for example, was absolutely
scandalized by Brown's comments: "What she said was
offensive.It was so offensive, I don't even want to say
it in front of women. I would not say that in mixed
company." (He does realize that this mixed company
likely has vaginas, yes?)

I wished this latest GOP gaffe surprised me, but
Republicans feeling squirmy about women's "down-theres"
while desperately trying to keep said "hoo hoos" in
check is pretty standard these days. We live in a
country where it's fine to legislate vaginas but saying
the actual word is forbidden.

Is it run of the mill misogynist disgust of female
bodies? Puritanical pearl-clutching? Or simply sexist
legislators who would rather not be reminded that the
vaginas they're attempting to control have pesky women
with opinions attached to them?

No matter the reason, it speaks volumes about the way in
which Republicans would like women to participate in
policy conversations that effect their health and lives:
they wish we would just shut up already. It would be so
much easier if we just left the important decisions
about women's bodies up to men!

But yesterday's "controversy" sparked more laughter than
outrage. Soon the hashtag #VaginaMovieLines was trending
on Twitter. (I couldn't help but add a few to the mix:
"It rubs the vagina on its skin or else it gets the hose
again." "Life is like a box of vaginas, you never know
what you're gonna get.")

It's understandable-after all, it's difficult not to get
carried away in the absurdity of grown men having
fainting spells over the v-word. But as eye-roll
inducing as this incident may be, it's also deadly
serious. The legislation at the center of this debate-
which has passed in the Michigan House-is being called
the most restrictive anti-choice bill in the country. It
bans all abortions after 20 weeks-even in cases of rape,
incest, and threats to women's health. Women who have
fetuses that will not survive birth would be required to
carry them to term anyway. The bill also mandates
regulations designed to make it near impossible for
rural women to obtain abortions or for clinics to
operate.

Despite the way in which this bill will run amok in
women's lives, homes and health, we're expected to stay
quiet. And it wasn't just Brown who was silenced-women
who had to terminate wanted pregnancies after 20 weeks
because of severe fetal abnormalities were blocked from
testifying in Michigan. It's not just happening in one
state, either. After all, who could forget the all-male
panel on birth control?

Republicans are systematically and deliberately trying
to silence women's voices and experiences. Not because
they find `vagina' offensive--because they find the idea
of women controlling their own bodies and lives
offensive. Because they find us offensive. Republicans
can shroud their misogyny in huffy rhetoric about
"decorum," but women know the truth. We just have to
keep saying it.

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