[Winona Online Democracy]
The day before this story came out I happened to be teaching my 8th graders about the 1st Amendment and of course they had lots of questions about dress codes. They love to complain about the t-shirts they aren't allowed to wear because of the references to drugs or sexual innuendos. The standard there seems to be different if the t-shirt (or button) is attempting to promote a political stance or opinion or just trying to be funny or lewd.
The balance everyone seems to be trying to find is the different standards in school, the workplace, and on the street. While the Supreme Court did clarify in the Tinker case (black armbands to protest the Vietnam War) that students do have Constitutional rights in school, there is a different standard upheld that they have attempted to address in the following years. According to the case Bethel vs. Fraser, 1986, the Supreme Court said that "the freedom to advocate unpopular and controversial views in schools and classrooms must be balanced against society's conutervailing interest in teaching students the boundaries of socially appropriate behavior...Surely, it is a highly appropriate function of public school education to prohibit the use of vulgar and offensive terms in public discourse."
When I apply this ruling to the current situation I think the question is whether "vagina" is a vulgar or offensive word. I don't think it is and I think that for those that grew up where those words were "naughty" than this discussion is a great opportunity to get more comfortable with the proper terms. If the button in question had any number of slang words than I my opinion would be much different.
Sarah Dixen
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