Vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina.
Vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina vagina.
Am I banned in Morridor yet?
Wow… that’s terrible. Not sure why so many people in the US are so afraid of naked women.
tee hee.
(he said ‘cervix’)
Oh FFS. I really want off the planet.
traversedavies:
Given the level of your density and assholishness in the Adria Richards thread, I’m not at all surprised the point has gone sailing right over your atrophied brain.
That’s Alotta Fagina!
It IS almost Good Friday, and time for the annual ritual…..
CROWD OF WOMEN: yelling
JEWISH OFFICIAL: Matthias, son of Deuteronomy of Gath,…
MATTHIAS: Do I say ‘yes’?
STONE HELPER #1: Yes.
MATTHIAS: Yes.
OFFICIAL: …you have been found guilty by the elders of the town of uttering the name of our Lord, and so, as a blasphemer,…
CROWD: Ooooh!
OFFICIAL: …you are to be stoned to death.
CROWD: Ahh!
MATTHIAS: Look. I– I’d had a lovely supper, and all I said to my wife was, ‘That piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah.’
CROWD: Oooooh!
OFFICIAL: Blasphemy! He’s said it again!
CROWD: Yes! Yes, he did! He did!…
OFFICIAL: Did you hear him?!
CROWD: Yes! Yes, we did! We did!…
WOMAN #1: Really!
silence
OFFICIAL: Are there any women here today?
CROWD: No. No. No. No…
OFFICIAL: Very well. By virtue of the authority vested in me–
CULPRIT WOMAN stones MATTHIAS
MATTHIAS: Oww! Lay off! We haven’t started yet!
OFFICIAL: Come on! Who threw that? Who threw that stone? Come on.
CROWD: She did! She did! He did! He! He. He. Him. Him. Him. Him. He did.
CULPRIT WOMAN: Sorry. I thought we’d started.
OFFICIAL: Go to the back.
CULPRIT WOMAN: Oh, dear.
OFFICIAL: Always one, isn’t there? Now, where were we?
MATTHIAS: Look. I don’t think it ought to be blasphemy, just saying ‘Jehovah’.
CROWD: Oooh! He said it again! Oooh!…
OFFICIAL: You’re only making it worse for yourself!
MATTHIAS: Making it worse?! How could it be worse?! Jehovah! Jehovah! Jehovah!
CROWD: Oooooh!…
OFFICIAL: I’m warning you. If you say Jehovah once more…
MRS. A. stones OFFICIAL
Right. Who threw that?
MATTHIAS: laughing
silence
OFFICIAL: Come on. Who threw that?
CROWD: She did! It was her! He! He. Him. Him. Him. Him. Him. Him.
OFFICIAL: Was it you?
MRS. A.: Yes.
OFFICIAL: Right!
MRS. A.: Well, you did say ‘Jehovah’.
CROWD: Ah! Ooooh!…
CROWD stones MRS. A.
OFFICIAL: Stop! Stop, will you?! Stop that! Stop it! Now, look! No one is to stone anyone until I blow this whistle! Do you understand?! Even, and I want to make this absolutely clear, even if they do say ‘Jehovah’.
CROWD: Ooooooh!…
CROWD stones OFFICIAL
WOMAN #1: Good shot!
clap clap clap
Caine, Fleur du mal @3
For the record, I wasn’t calling PZ awful in this instance, but the incident it was in response to. Sorry if that was unclear. I read about it, was horrified by the fact that a school would be so afraid of women that science education was supposed to suffer.
or alternately so scared of science that reason leaves their brain.
Yep, making women ashamed of their bodies, or not even knowing their bodies. And of course, what would men possibly need to know about a woman’s body, eh?
Just a couple of comments before Lynna wrote about this in tke Lounge, I was complaining about horrible menstrual pains today. I wanted to put a TMI warning in front of that. Then I figured that I wouldn’t put it before complaining about a headache, and the only difference is that menstruation is a “female issue” and therefore not to be discussed in polite company. Body shaming eeeverywhere *scary voice*
Beatrice @8
Good for you. Men who can’t handle the fact that women menstruate really need to deal with some issues. I don’t get it at all, why so many people are so freaked out by this stuff. What exactly are they afraid of.
Beatrice:
Shades of Jonathan Taveras wanting to scream harassment over women talking about icky “bodily fluids”. This all comes back to the same old misogyny: women = evil. Particular parts of women = superduper evil. Must not be knowing about the evil. Nope.
Damn, I should have dedicated that comment to Jonathan Travers.
I guess they are worried that if we teach about the wonders of the vagina by saying vagina, everyone will want one.
I look forward to the day I can describe the cosmic bukkake that is the Big Bang to a class, and then pontificate on the power of black holes.
Or at least tell amusing anecdotes about where the names came from. That won’t be as bad as just mentioning the word vagina, right? I mean, talking about a woman’s reproductive organs in a class in which those organs are directly relevant is the worst.
Yes you are banned from Morridor!! You will regret the day that you voiced the foul “vagina” word as your soul is laid bare to the Lidless Eye!!!!! You shall feel the wrath of the Dark Lord as he plagues you with his horde of Nazgul priests wearing magic mormon underwear!!!!
To escape your fate you must chant “vagina” repeatedy while tossing the precioussss One Thong into one of the cinder cones of Kolob volcanic field. Only then will the Sauron’s reign end. Good luck on your quest PZ!!
Shorter #5 for the tldr amongst us:
Jehovah! Jehovah! Jehovah!
@beatrice #8
I truly never understood that. In high-school biology I learned about plants, insects, rats, fish etc. Why wouldn’t I need to know about the physiology of the other 50% of the human species? Furthermore why wouldn’t I be interested?
Mike.
Mid 80s, Grade 4, health class, Catholic school, and my teacher still insisted we get over our giggles and learn to use terms like ‘vagina’, ‘penis’, ‘ovaries’, and ‘testicles’ like adults.
(I did get detention for saying ‘shit’ in the computer room in Grade 7, though. But “Secret Agent” for the Apple IIe was tough.)
I don’t even like it that he gave students the option not to attend the class when he talked about reproduction.
Even if they “don’t feel comfortable” hearing about trigonometry, that’s not a valid reason to get permission not to attend. But sex… yeah, it’s not like reproduction is pretty central in a lot of people’s lives and it would be quite convenient to, you know, actually have some knowledge about it.
I realize he was already walking a thin line (as this whole case shows), so letting students skip that class was, at least for a while, probably the only thing keeping him from getting shit from parents. Until now.
I’m so mad at those parents. I don’t give a fuck about their good intentions, they are harming their children.
She’s holding a lung FFS, if she’s calling it a vagina she should be sacked.
WHen I read about this yesterday (or so) I was struck by two things: this is also tied in with teaching about other things like climate change, and these are high school students. Feh, I had anatomy (and brushes with evolution and anthropology) in fifth grade.
Oh! Oh! Oh! To touch and…
Actually, I learned the one about a Finn and German. But that old, sexist mnemonic was what sprang to mind from PZ’s post.
chrishall @18
Shit, that’s what I’ve been getting wrong all these years. No wonder I had so much trouble finding the clitoris (actually, finding the clitoris is another thing that confuses the shit out of me).
Ovary!
noastronomer:
Women = evil (uh oh, sex!) Women and their bits = tree of knowledge, don’t go there! Bad, god will hate you! Procreation only! Must not do thinky, leads to women bits sex evil bad hell oh noes!
chrishall:
Did you read the article? The teacher in question is a man, the image used was from Shutterstock.
Not sure if joking, or didn’t read the article.
chrishall,
You have noticed all that text under the picture? That text is called an article. The picture is irrelevant stock photo, that other thing (article) is the important part.
You’re welcome.
My first thought was that you might have before discussing diarrhea, too. Then again, I’m not sure what it says that my subconscious thinks menstruation is more like diarrhea than headaches (aside from the actual common factor of “involving liquid exiting an orifice generally considered a ‘private part’ often accompanied by cramping,” I guess). :/
Beatrice:
It’s standard, here, when it comes to anything which smacks of sex ed. Thanks to certain presidents, a majority of public schools don’t offer it at all, but abstinence only nonsense. Welcome to ‘merica.
Beatrice @26
I very much read that as a joke. I very, very much doubt that chrishall was serious about that comment. I could of course be wrong…
traversedavies,
I hope you meant to say that what people’s issue with finding the clitoris is is what’s confusing the shit out of you. Otherwise, you’re an idiot.
And we all know how well that works at preventing teen pregnancy, curbing the spread of std’s and preparing teens for having adult relationships by equipping them with knowledge and the confidence to ask the right questions of their partners.
This is not remedial sex ed. This is, however, the internet. There are all manner of wonderful anatomy sites which could help you out. Possibly. Don’t hold your breath.
Glodson:
Yes, works wonderfully. :near fatal eyeroll:
Good grief.
Yes, I read the article yesterday.
Yes, I realised it was a man in the original story.
Yes, I know what shutterstock is.
traversedavies @21 has as sense of humour.
traversedavies:
Possibly because they’re generally found on the bodies of a class of people who I assume avoid you like the plague.
Beatrice @30
Thank you for taking the charitable (and fortunately in this case correct) point of view on my comment. Not saying that I’m not an idiot, but in this case yeah, I have always found that it’s a simple matter of not being afraid to actually look at and touch my partners vagina. Confused by people who have trouble with it.
chrishall:
That’s what you think. We have previous experience.
Chris Clarke @35
Nope, but apparently I am keyboard impaired. Mea Culpa.
traversedavies, I commented too soon and I apologize for my snark.
Azkyroth,
No gross details, just saying that I was in pain. But yes, your association is telling, just like my instinct to give a warning about an innocuous statement/complaint.
—
Caine,
I’ve read about it, here and in other places, but I still can’t help mentioning that it’s horrible. I realize that what he was doing was one of the good options American kids have, and that’s really sad.
We weren’t given sex education, but we learned about reproduction and reproductive organs in biology, sexually transmitted diseases were also taught at some point, both accompanied with a mention of contraceptives, but it was all more or less value neutral.
It could be better, but it’s still much better than what you have.
Vagina???
That is no big deal.
A few years ago, a Florida Democratic representative used the word “uterus” right out in public!!!
I don’t even have words to describe how warped these Mormon brains are. Hitchens rule: Religion poisons everything. Mormons have warped minds.
Beatrice:
It’s not only sad, it’s frightening. It’s also very wrong. It’s one of the immediate things one can point to when illustrating The Religious States of America.
@ chrishall
Given the number of people who make such comments without reading the article, it can be hard to tell when someone is joking and when someone says something like that in earnest.
But I am glad it was the joking side of my statement, and not the “didn’t read the article side.”
Raven:
Why, I might pop a monocle! I’ll have to dig up the link to the recent offense taken by legislators over the use of the word vagina, in a legislative session on mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds. Oh, those delicate ears! Can’t be offended by those awful vaginas while they are busy removing womens’ right to bodily autonomy.
Just as a heads up for guys who think jokes about not finding the clitoris are funny: There is a lengthy and ugly history in anatomy wherein the existence of this body part was disputed or held up as something pathological and in need of removal. In fact, many medical professionals still feel it needs to be surgically reduced in size when it’s deemed “too large” on an infant or child.
I believe the joke is usually meant as a self-deprecating “ha, I’m so clueless” comment, but it hearkens back to some very dehumanizing, othering attitudes about female bodies.
chrishall,
I do have a sense of humor, thank you very much. Your comment just seemed like it could go either way, since it’s not uncommon for people to ignore any actual content to blab about some idiocy.
Shit, sorry! The link in #45 does contain non-sexual images of genitalia. The section I linked to does not, but the rest of the page does.
The Mellow Monkey @45
It was meant as a somewhat mean indictment of guys who are afraid of women and of vagina’s, however due to my kind of crappy typing it came across completely wrong.
MM:
Yes, those types of jokes do. They are also stupid, tired and not remotely funny. Didn’t we just have this discussion in another thread recently?
We aren’t all that far from when clitoridectomies were all too common place, usually performed on young girls, in the UK and in the USA. I have a graphic, highly disturbing medical journal description of one at hand.
I saw that story a day or so ago, but the accompanying picture was of a uterus with proportionally ENORMOUS sperm swimming up into it. I can’t remember if it was also rawstory – the woman holding a lung is an improvement over that at least.
The Mellow Monkey @47
And of course if there should be any thread where people take a relaxed attitude to that, this should be the thread. Good to include the warning for those at work who might get in trouble I guess, but really we should all just chill the fuck out about genitalia.
I’m thinking that anyone who would get in trouble for such things at work didn’t make it down into the comment section past the dozens of vaginas.
… Sometimes I hate my brain.
Well, Beatrice, you clearly DON’T have a sense of humor because random dude on the internet whose comment contained absolutely no indication of a joke (which it wasn’t, because he didn’t read it until you pointed out that he didn’t – plausible deniability, you know), says so.
Case closed, you GIRL.
Please e-mail me your bank account number to receive your sniny new internet.
Illuminata, thank you. :D Credit for that wonderful expression and variants thereof goes to The Mellow Monkey.
That’s it! I am now corrupted! I am going to be queer now.
Damned educational system did me in.
To be honest, I find the mismatched margins on the first two lines compared to the rest of the post more offensive than the post itself. :P
It was the running the gantlet of vaginas in the OP, wasn’t it? No way to avoid it, really.
Carlie:
I’ll be in the corner with Chris. :Gives Carlie the hairy eyeball: You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?
Ironically, this post is probably better SEO than anything that troll guy in that other thread ever did.
Caine, what do you expect. Carlie is a biologist.
Janine:
Yes. Naughty peoples, all of ’em.
Now I am, again, glad that I live in backwards unfree EU. Because when I was teaching human anatomy and biology in highschool, the idea I could get into trouble for correctly describing human genitalia, giving info about physiology of orgasm and adding some extra-curricullum (this was biology class, not sex education) information about contraception and responsible sex did not even cross my mind.
I find it mind boggling, that these things happen in first world country in 21st centrury.
Unfortunately we are importing this from US, in last years we had in CZ giant pushback against compulsory sex education via “freedom of religion” etc.. Our christians learn from US how to do this and learn the “tricks of the trade” so to speak.
@ Beatrice:
He probably should have been clearer, and said “But I give every student and their parents the option not attend or pull their kid out of this class when I teach on the reproductive system, as state law requires, if they don’t feel comfortable with the material.”
I have been to the abyss. These assholes would be all over him if he or the school didn’t give the option:
Apologies if someone linked similar information already. I confess to thread-skimming.
Besides the wars that the US has been fighting, this concept is one of the most vile things that the country that I live in has given to the world.
Charly:
And for that, I sincerely apologize. It’s a terrible thing that the U.S. is leading the way in regression to the puritan mean.
I would say that it is unfortunate that we don’t highlight how much of this backwards bullshit that our christians manage to export in the name of their god. Many churches make mission work of supreme importance.
Sadly, it isn’t just to Europe. Look at the damage done in Uganda thanks to the homophobic stirrings of Scott Lively, and people of his ilk.
There is no sex ed at the high school in the town where I live. There are however, quite a few pregnant teenagers.
Hey now, I’m not the one who wrote vagina a bajillion times! Or would that be bajazzled…
:D
Carlie, guilt by association.
*raspberry*
Carlie:
You’re profane! You godless scientist types, corrupting innocent children with your vaginas and penises and organisms!!!1!!
Caine, I think we are now bullying the biologists.
Us? Bully? Never, Janine.
I guess now’s not the time to admit that I teach an entire course about reproduction. Those parents would have a stroke if their kids came home with that on their transcript.
Given the watery blog background, maybe it’s better described as an ocean of vaginas, bobbing merrily along like so many buoys… wait, I just had the best idea for a carnival game!
The Tunnel Of Love?
*hides head in shame*
Oh. Idaho. Mormons.
*Pieces fall into place*
Sigh.
On the plus side, Skepchick taught me about the cutest little squid, in like, ever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_bobtail_squid
Carlie:
I hope you realize that all your…colourful descriptions are now busy percolating in my brain, which will, at some point, demand expression in an art piece.
Back in the dark ages, I had parental opt out sex ed.
I don’t have a problem with that. It keeps the xian cultists from complaining. Too bad about their kids though, the ones that end up pregnant and are not sure quite how it happened.
Not a single parent opted out though. Most of them were relieved that they didn’t have to do the explaining.
I ♥ you, Janine. :)
I was thinking like the duck races, where there’s a circular flume and you pick up one to see what the number on the bottom is and if you won, only it would be a uterus with fallopian tube handles.
Like Monet’s Vagina Lilies? Van Gogh’s Starry Vagina? Seurat’s A Vagina on La Grande Jatte?
Carlie:
Something like that…
:D
*giggle*
I think the skeletal structure hinted at in the picture is scarier than the “v”. It reminds me about death. I have that kind of mind.
Birger:
Pssssst. You can spell out vagina. Vagina, Vagina, Vagina!
;)
Singalong!
Vagina ina bobina bananafana fofina me my momina, vagina!
Don’t Trust The V In Apartment 23
Chris saw right through me. Yep, google rank for searches for “vagina” just went up a notch.
I’m sorry, but I’m not following the OP. What are we talking about?
;)
Audley:
Skeletons and search engine optimization. I’m sure of that. Nothing to do with vagina! at all.
I now have this song stuck in my head.
I am okay with that.
Caine, shhh!!! Audley has a baby in the house! It will turn into a wanton ruin if *that* word is allowed anywhere near!
Nothing could be finer than a gantlet of [redacted] in the mo-oh-ohr-ning.
In further news, the word ‘butter’ is to be banned from bakery classes, despite being a somewhat essential ingredient in nearly all recipes. Otherwise, angry parents will storm the school, proclaiming “I can’t believe he said Butter!”. Amongst all the perils and traumas a student can face, none can match sitting in a classroom while the teacher utters ‘butter’. Therefore, it shall be referred to as “yellow spready stuff”. Any confusion caused by not using the culinarily correct term will be more than made up for by the magic of simple decency at work.
Carlie:
Oh, um, oh dear. *Hastily corrects* We are NOT talking about butterflies or precious flowers in the garden or the dreaded gate or any of that nonsense. No velvet, either!
Talking about skeletons, the bones in the picture provided seem a little bit offset to me.
That’s a lotta pussy, that is.
Josh:
:Looks around: I don’t see any cats.
So, we’re all reduced to being 12-year-olds at the mention of unmentionables?
Why am I not surprised?
I don’t see any dead white blood cells either.
Nigel:
No, no. Unmentionables are what you wear over your…um, ladybits.
Good photo of the teacher in question accompanies this article:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/27/1197450/-Idaho-Teacher-Under-Investigation-For-Saying-Vagina-During-Biology-Lesson#
Scroll down to see the photo, with caption “The Evil teacher.”
Nigel
Nah, I’m eternally seven. That’s the age I was when I walked into my mother’s dinner party and announced to her guests, “I have a vagina and I am not putting penises in it.”
pudendum (n.) late 14c., from Latin pudendum (plural pudenda), literally “thing to be ashamed of,” neuter gerundive of pudere “make ashamed,” from PIE root *(s)peud- “to punish, repulse.”
This fear of female parts goes way back.
Gad, I haven’t heard pudendum used for ages on end.
By the fourth repetition it quit looking like an actual word. Vulva vulva vulva vulva vulva vulva vulva vulva vulva vulva has the same problem.
This is the pattern I am using for my new dice bag for DnD
Oh no, the Meatus That Must Not Be Named was named in public in an American state where there are religious people!
I wonder if the impact this subject has would be lessened were the teachers to discuss the issue in the context of mammals other than humans? Actually I don’t wonder at all, because if you’re so delicate and precious that to merely hear of the human vagina causes paroxysms of disgust I can only imagine the kind of infarction-inducing apoplexy that might result from learning that dogs have vaginas too.
“Sprinkles has a WHAT?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
WithinThisMind:
Nice! Although this bit:
Is on the not so great side of things.
Actually, the pattern itself isn’t that great either. I’ve had to modify it several times. I think I’ll just frog it and start over. Might post the pattern when I’m done.
Fear of a female planet.
(Is Chuck D the only person to have collaborated with both Anthrax and Sonic Youth?)
How about Vinnie’s Tampon Case?
I saw a vagina once.
Now I’m a daddy. FEAR THE VAGINA FOR IT IS EVIL AND MAKES BABIES!!!!
Louis
P.S. I’m not serious, I’ve never seen a vagina! ;-)
Janine:
Er…
WithinThisMind, there’s a nice vulva pattern on Ravelry, it might adapt well to a dice bag. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/knitted-vulva
Oh fuck me sideways. The church is the absolute LAST place anyone should go for sex education.
Yeah, that’s muh home state.
So… we aren’t talking about Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings?
… and yet religions and religious people are the demographic afforded the most attention by legislators when it comes to legislating about issues relating to sex education. Funny, that.
Alternative explanation – democracy is fucking shite, and some level of totalitarianism seems unavoidable until we reach a point where people can stop being fucking stupid self-interested poo-balls for five sodding minutes.
Rey Fox @113:
I believe that is Reason #113,235 under “Religion poisons everything”.
Your comment here reminds me of a a deeply religious* acquaintance I know that is also gay and hhas virtually no experience outside the church and very few people he knows that are gay. In a recent email to me, he mentioned that the first time he ad sex with a guy, he used a condom, but after they finished and he got home, he was so ashamed of what he did, and so worried that he caught HIV, that he sprayed his penis with Lysol. Years ago, I would have laughed at that. Today, it makes me angry. I am so pissed off that this guy, who is struggling with his sexuality, turns to the church and hearsay about matters of health.
FFS, Lysol didn’t work on vaginas back in the day!
Instead of turning to any of the *easy to access* health related sites online-that take virtually no time and precious little money to utilize-this guy, so steeped in religious thought, has not been equipped with the tools necessary to navigate reality. It pisses me off beyond measure.
I’m still in the process of coming up with an appropriately compassionate, yet reality based response to his lengthy email to me, but that is one *major* point I want to discuss.
Far too many people are raised to think all of life’s answers can be found if you go to church and consult god.
With what they are “teaching” in church, I think I could learn more on Fox News.
At least with the latter, there is a greater chance of the stories having a basis in reality. However distant that might be.
Audley:
Absolutely not. Nope. Not in any way.
Tony:
Well, not according to the makers of lysol, which started out life as a douching agent.
Speaking of Lysol and those horrible, filthy vaginas: http://www.mum.org/Lysol48.htm
Careful if you say vagina three times in the dark Bloody Vaggy will appar and scratch your eyes out
This is what I posted to Facebook when I shared the Alternet article on this senselessness:
“Did anyone ever think to tell the complainants to STFU? Is a school board job so valuable in power and pay that you can’t say I heard your complaint, its invalid, STFU? Put me on your school board and see how fast I can say it.”
Four complaints against a classroom full of support, and evidently the rest of the parents weren’t so upset and the school board is pretty happy with the curriculum and they way it was taught. And it’s not like the kids don’t know all the nice words as well as the dirty words. If you don’t want your kids to learn, keep them home.
“Just how difficult to find, just how elusive IS front and centre?”
–
Cicely:
Well, it’s not the bit a penis goes into, so why on earth would it matter?
Cicely wins the internet.
I’ve never understood the “hurp durp clit be hard to find” thing. It’s, like, RIGHT THERE.
Louis
Caine,
I have been lead to believe by my good lady wife that it is of some importance.
Never disagree with the Mrs. Terrible right hook on her.
Louis
Louis, I agree with lady wife. Mine is important too. However, to some men…
Yup, that’s the subtext spelled out. Considering that the clitoris changes size and angle in reaction to arousal, it’s not exactly a subtle bit of anatomy if you care about your partner’s body as anything other than a receptacle.
Sometimes you just can’t help but be amazed about how much the stupid is and how much it burns!
Some people should definetly get a life and start worrying about real problems.
MM:
No, no it isn’t. Some people can’t see past their erections and never seem to notice they might be getting an equal response.
re the Knitted Vulva, it says “gauge is unimportant.”. So size doesn’t matter. (Yeah, right).
;-)
moarscienceplz:
If I’m going to have sex with a man, size most certainly does matter. My ex had one of those, well, let’s just call it a ‘perfect porn penis’, which I found to be uncomfortable and very painful. My vagina is on the small side, and feeling like my uterus is being rootered out is not at all pleasurable.
Fred Salvador:
“Self-interested” would be a step in the right direction. If people were truly self-interested (instead of gullible assholes), they would realize that sex education (and all the terminology that comes with) benefits them directly, regardless if they are students or have kids in school.
cicely:
*snicker*
Okay, I’m sure there is some clueless straight dude out there that doesn’t know where the clit is. Why the hell can’t he just ask his special ladyfriend? I love how everyone and their second cousin is down with fucking, but when it comes to talking about it with our partner(s), it’s too disgusting to mention.
I didn’t realize it had a gaze attack! D:
I don’t post comments very often, but this teacher’s situation is so very familiar to me. I think the community needs to be made aware of this awful trend.
I have taught in public schools for fourteen years. This is my last year as a teacher. I got a BS in general physics, along with a state teaching certificate. Then I got a MA in secondary science education. I earned National Board Certification for Physics in 2006. I spend my summers training other physics teachers. I have a proven track record, and hard data that support my assertion that I am a master teacher. I have tried very hard to be the kind of teacher I want my children to have. And now…I’m getting out, for reasons not unlike the one facing this teacher.
Over the years I have been the subject of parent complaints for daring to teach such onerous material as global climate change, the age of Earth, Big Bang cosmology, etc. Most recently, I have been the subject of a dedicated effort by a small minority of fundagelical parents who simply can’t bear the thought of a godless liberal instructing their children in physics.
Last week was the final straw. I was called into a meeting with two principals and an assistant superintendent to answer the charge of, I kid you not, ‘the use of sarcasm in the classroom.’ Rather than waste any more of my life dealing with such nonsense, I resigned.
It seems to me that this is the newest tactic by the fundagelicals; harass the teachers they don’t approve of, until they move on. I have great fear for public education, and nobody seems to notice this trend. Public school administrators don’t seem to have the sense, or the will, to tell these parents to stop harassing their educators. For them, it’s simply a matter of making the issue go away as fast as possible. If that means the teacher leaves the district, or education alltogether, that’s fine.
Maybe we should all move to the Netherlands…
Audley:
This is what I don’t get, either. If you have an intimate woman partner, ask – she’ll point right to it! If you don’t, well, lots of anatomy sites out there, all waiting to be helpful. Anatomy books, even! Failing that, you don’t know a single other (more experienced) man you can ask? Not one?
archimedes:
Oh, people notice. Unfortunately, that’s not stopping school boards and admins from caving under pressure. I’m so sorry you’ve been forced to give up a career you obviously loved.
Word. Even if you think you know all there is about a particular body in general, you still don’t know about that person’s body in specific.
I was plenty familiar with my own body by the time I first had a female bodied lover. I still asked about what felt good, where to touch, how to touch, etc. It’s not expressing shameful ignorance. It’s sharing interest in your lover and wanting to have mutual pleasure.
Louis, I’m afraid I can’t claim that internet; it’s a quote from an episode of Coupling.
–
archimedes, I am sorry (but not surprised) about your plight.
I think that cynical church leaders realise that since the future of Religion As They Know It (i.e., a steady paycheck, with no heavy lifting required, and all the unearned respect you can eat!) relies on ignorance, they are now going out of their way to cultivate it. And after them, the Deluge.
–
Many, many, many years ago, when I first had a lady friend who was willing to have teh sechs with me, we spent several hours exploring and examining each other’s bodies. She was as inexperienced as I, so we used Alex Comfort’s The Joy of Sex as a guide. I’ve known for years where the clitoris is and various ways to stimulate it.
archimedes109:
First, I am so sorry to hear about the shit you’ve been through as a teacher.
I’m sure you’re aware, but the big problem in many places (don’t know about you’re particular situation) is that the school boards are stacked with evangelicals. So the parents that are attacking you for doing your job are the same people that are creating budgets and fucking around with school curricula.
Hell, we saw it in my town in upstate New York a few years back. The big thing the school board fundies did was get rid of comprehensive sex ed and replace it with abstinence only.
Oh shit, archimedes109. I hope you find a job where you will not be harassed like that.
archimedes109, I don’t know where you are, but if that happens to be California and you’d like some media exposure on your harassment via my day job, send me a note. Tho I can understand wanting to be shut of it all. certainly
I was educated by Piarists and Jesuits. I’m trying to recall a class at any time in my schooling career that didn’t involve teacher sarcasm.
archimedes109:
Fuck the Netherlands; come to the UK. We can’t pay you commensurate with your abilities, the weather is awful, the food is shit, and our political right wing is a teeming morass of every possible iteration of social conservatism you could think of, but we’ve managed to keep fundagelicals from pissing about with the science curriculum thus far and we do love a bit of sarcasm.
I sense a theme here
sarcasm, well.
Clearly beyond the pale.
Also saying “v*gin*”.
Or typing it. So what if it’s Latin??? it means the same as ‘cunt’ which, as Michael Nugent has recently learned, is a necessary and therefore well-defended lynchpin of any Man’s vocabulary.
I wish to not be offended; this use of the “V-WORD” is, frankly, and surely, offensive.
plus: NO SRCASM thank you.
sarcasm, well.
Clearly beyond the pale.
Also saying “v*gin*”.
Or typing it. So what if it’s Latin??? it means the same as ‘cunt’ which, as Michael Nugent has recently learned, is a necessary and therefore well-defended lynchpin of any Man’s vocabulary.
I wish to not be offended; this use of the “V-WORD” is, frankly, and surely, offensive.
plus: NO SRCASM thank you.
And also too I’m sure my girlfriend would agree with me if I had one.
I asked my neighbors, though. They agreed.
Frank and Shirley.
British artist Jamie McCartney has recently unveiled his sculpture The Great Wall of Vagina.
A more cynical bod than I may think that it’s where PZed got his idea for the block wall of vagina’s that constitutes his OP.
Take a look at http://www.greatwallofvagina.co.uk/home
When I lost my virginity in college that I learned that sex is something that apparently has to be done in the dark*. I think this might partly explain the lost clitoris.
* I wasn’t about to argue anything at that point
Acolyte of Sagan, PZ did a post on that when it was in progress. It was pointed out it’s more a wall of vulva, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Chas:
Ohhhhh, that’s why an infuriated guy will spit “you vagina!” as an insult. Clears it all right up. Of course, I wouldn’t dream of being sarcastic. Don’t even know what that means.
Acolyte of Sagan, PZ did a post on that when it was in progress. It was pointed out it was actually a wall of vulva, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Chas:
Ohhh, that explains why a man will spit “you vagina!” as an insult. Clears that right up. Not that I would use sarcasm. Don’t even know what that means.
Not a bad place at all, and fuck the UK. But would really want to go to Finland. More seriously, though, your situation is horrible, and I share your fear. This kind of bullshit takes it toll on teachers and every day we lose more of the good ones. I’m sorry that after all that work you did to become a great teacher, some small minded bigots took it away from you.
Archimedes, so sorry to hear what happened to you.
Have you considered moving somewhere else?
I don’t think it is like that in a lot of the USA. I’m guessing here, of course but I haven’t seen much of this on the west coast.
Nothing like that where I live.
Where I used to live, the fundies tried to hijack the school system a few decades ago. They got nowhere fast. So they set up their own xian school. It was a win-win situation. They get to brainwash their kids and the school system hasn’t had any problems since then.
I have seen it in Texas. A teacher in Lakeland or some such was fired for “suspected atheism”. Which is meaningless. Anyone can be a suspected atheist. Even the Pope. Or especially the Pope.
archimedes109.
I am so sorry that happened to you! Shit, I’ve never been so glad to be a college teacher in my life. Never had a parent email me, never been taken to task about my “tone” or any other damn thing I said in the classroom. Now if I could only get paid an actual living wage, I’d be happy…
Since I didn’t see it anywhere in my reading of the other comments, would this OP qualify as a
vagina monologe?
archimedes109
Tough choice to be sure. I hope you can find either an alternative venue to exercise your teaching skills or go into a new field.
Some people apparently think their children should be exactly like themselves. In my view that disqualifies them from being entitled to even have children.
KCACO –
Maybe this will sound naive…but…
Wouldn’t it interest a man to know his girlfriend’s anatomy is related to his, that she and he are from the same rootstock and that he is her, just modified? You’d think that would lead to better communication and openness and all that good Hallmark stuff…
As a school board member in a small town in Wisconsin, I want to join in supporting you, archimedes109. If a board is packed with fundies, that’s awful; but if it isn’t, and they simply cave to pressure, that’s terrible in a different way. As board members, our job is to support teachers’ efforts to educate kids. Parents who try to get in the way of that are a problem. They should not only not get what they want, they should be told clearly to back off.
I have so much respect for teachers, not just for the skills and patience it takes to do the job they are there to do, but for doing it while putting up with all the pressures from so many directions.
I will never manage to wrap my head around this idea that women are some kind of inscrutable alien being.
from the past
vaginavaginavagina
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dinner_Party
images
It was with great trepidation that I opened these comments, what with the recent influx of doooodbro idiots, and the fact that 100+ comment threads almost always contain more that my RDA of teh stoopids. And what did I find? The funnies, and the sillies, and a bare minimum of the idiocies.
Hooray for the power of the all-mighty vagina! Long may its terrible might cause fear and trembling in its enemies and courage and strength in its friends!
Yabut what about penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis penis?????
Nice, rr!
The first thought in my head this morning:
Vagina-gina-gina-gina-gina-gina-gina-gina-gina-gina-gina-gina-MUSHROOM MUSHROOM!
I managed to do that with “G-spot” once. Very impressive numbers, must be all those people without sex ed trying to get a clue.
I was discussing with a colleague the fact that we stigmatize sex so much, and it’s that what makes people so afraid of it. She was talking about how, if she had kids, they’d not have sex in her house. My response being “they’re going to do it anyway.” If I ever have children, and one of them brings his or her partner into the house for hanky-panky, I wouldn’t care – I’d just make sure they do it safely.
Sex positivity is not a bad thing, fer crissakes.
Kitty
Now that’s thinking ahead!
Does your colleague have their names chosen as well?
The problem, as you mentioned, is that you can get rid of the teachers, but you can’t really get rid of the parents.
va-gin-a
va-gin-a
vagina, she take me money and run Venezuela.
(chicky chicky chicky)
Katherine,
That’s what my mum told me when I was younger. :/
@121
In a community that is 60% mormon, it is highly likely that the school board is 80% to 90% mormon. For example, the Salt Lake City area is now less mormon, about 60%, than is Provo. However, the city, county, and state officials are almost all mormon. The stats vary a bit from year to year, but generally you will find that 86% to 90% of all education system and other head honcho jobs are filled by mormons. See http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53811534-78/religious-percent-utah-state.html.csp
Even in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which is too close to the morridor to escape mormon influence, the school board is controlled by mormons.
Harry Belafonte is still cool.
Vaaaa-giiin-aaa
whoa-oh!
no wonder my happy heart sings…
My mom sometimes says, “My sons had sex in MY bed. My daughters didn’t. Why is that?”
I can’t speak for my sister but I certainly never did. And how does Mom know that about her sons?
What I want to post is this:
When I was 9 and finally on the Big Kids’ playground (K – 3rd grade had to use one half of the playground, once you hit 9 you were allowed the obstacle course and soccer and softball fields), I was in a heated kickball match. Being the tallest girl in school, I was naturally* one of the captains. I was beyond frustrated with my rival so I coached the girl with sandals (the weakest girl) to call him a “vagina”. It was the worst thing I could think of and I’m a woman. And I wouldn’t do it, I made “my lesser” do it. This still haunts me, forty years later. I felt something break when I did it and I still can’t fix it. It will always dangle there. Why did I think vagina was the worst word in the world when I was 9 and a girl?
*In my school, tall people ruled. If they were white, of course.
snake.
… holy crap, that IS what that Weeble tune is about… sex!
hello Krasnaya Koshka
I hope you and yours are well.
Try not to beat-up your now-self for something that happened 40 years ago.
We were all assholes 40 years ago.
Archimedes109 – I’m sorry to hear of your experience. The hardest thing about teaching anywhere is dealing with parents and administration who won’t stand up against them.
I’m loathe to think what people in the US would make of my classroom. I teacher religious education and the very first unit they take in year 7 discusses circumcision (Jewish religious practices) and I definitely say penis. I also ran an ‘ask me anything’ session a few times a year last year with our Year 8 girls and, as you might imagine, the word ‘vagina’ was the most tame thing to come up. I think I’d last about 2 days before I got sacked from a US school.
This is somewhat off topic, although definitely vaginal. I checked the Google if PZ had succeeded in his “search engine bombing” and found this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo_RTeBRwZI
Apparently the Russian lady has some sort of a pelvic floor muscle training business (videos and classes). As far as I understand stengthening pelvic floor muscles is beneficial, but a) is it really possible to lift 6 kg weights with them and b) is there a component of quackery in her teachings?
Krasnaya Koshka:
Because you had already internalized the sexism we get to encounter, see, hear and swallow from day one of our lives. Because the subtext of that sexism is “privileged, powerful, able, confident, cool and every other good thing = being one of those people with a penis.”
The wife wants to know if PZ is being treated for his Vagina Tourettes Syndrom?