SEXUALLY HUNG-UP



By Estelle Nora Harwit Amrani
April 25, 2005
No part of this article may be copied or reproduced
without my written permission.






Just how sexually and biologically hung-up are Americans? The off-Broadway hit "The Vagina Monologues" has landed two high school students in trouble for wearing buttons that say "I (heart) my vagina." Well, brava! It's about time. (Love and respect your vagina.) Some find the words "I (heart) my vagina" offensive, said their school principal, Nancy Wondrasch. "We support free speech," she said. "But when it does infringe on other people's rights and our school policies, then we need to take a look at that." The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota has offered to help the students fight any consequences from their actions.

What the girls and I would like to know is why is it offensive to wear such a button? How does it infringe on people's rights and school policies? Don't they teach biology in school? How do they support the first amendment if they can't deal with these buttons? What if the button said "I love my pancreas," or "I love my spine?" How about, "I love my wee wee?" I'm sure there are a lot of guys who would not find it offensive to say they love their penis. Would these be considered offensive, too? By whom? The religious right, AGAIN?

It is this kind of sexually hung-up thinking that makes a society dysfunctional. Not being able to talk about the body as it is teaches people to be ashamed of themselves and to be in denial. It hinders maturity and responsibility, and fosters lies. It also causes that area of the body to have energetic blocks that might lead to disease. I have a feeling the people who say they are offended by such buttons had their fear and sexually dysfunctional buttons pushed. They can't say the word for their own body part - as if it's a dirty, shameful object, to be kept behind closet doors, never uttered aloud. I bet they don't teach their children the proper names for their reproductive organs, either. Should that be the fault of people who are not hung-up, but are in fact proud of their body? Should they be punished for being realists and honest? These buttons don't harm anyone, they don't preach hatred, they don't suggest anyone try something. They don't advocate sexual promiscuity - they aren't necessarily about sex at all. Hey, Mrs. Wondrasch, you do have a vagina, don't you? Can you say the word "vagina" out loud? Do you want to drag people back to times pre-1960s? Without a vagina, no one would be alive today. Get over it. Grow up.


© Copyright 2005, Estelle Nora Harwit Amrani


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