[Winona Online Democracy] Below is the staff editorial from last Saturday's Star Tribune regarding the "Hot Button" issue at WSHS.
Dwayne Voegeli April 27, 2005 ----- Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) April 23, 2005, Saturday, Metro Edition HEADLINE: Bodies and speech; A teachable moment is lost Young people probably won't have seen him, but there once was a funny guy named Allen Funt who had a TV show called "Candid Camera." The gimmick was to put people in awkward or embarrassing spots, film their reactions with a hidden camera and then at the end say, "Smile, you're on Candid Camera!" In 1970, Funt released a hilarious film called "What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?" Naked women would show up in unlikely places, such as a crowded elevator or at a secretary's desk in an office, and the camera would film reactions. In the film's most poignant sketch, Funt had a naked woman teach a sex-ed class to a group of teenagers. The students were quite interested in what the teacher had to say. No one cut up. Then Funt had the teacher give the same class to a bunch of the students' mothers. The mothers were tittering and guffawing and totally beyond learning anything. The question was obvious: Who were the mature people here and who were the adolescents? We thought of Funt and his naked-lady project when we read of the dustup at Winona High School over two very bright young women who wore buttons to school that said, "I (heart) My Vagina." They were ordered to remove the buttons, Star Tribune reporter James Walsh wrote, because "the discomfort it causes trumps the girls' right to free speech. The girls disagree. And despite repeated threats of suspension and expulsion, [Carrie] Rethlefsen has continued to wear her button." Who's being mature here? Our vote would go to Rethlefsen and her friend Emily Nixon. In the context of their age, they are showing quite a lot more maturity than school officials. The whole thing started when Rethlefsen saw a performance of "The Vagina Monologues," a play by Eve Ensler. The point of the play is to get people to thinking about vaginas and their place in women's (and men's) lives, to remove the taboo from the word and the complex organ it names. It is an intensely political play, designed to empower women and get the sympathetic, supportive attention of men. For a young woman, a button saying she loves her vagina is about as perfect an expression of the play's intent as you could find. This confrontation should never have been allowed to develop. It did because the adults in this drama, trained educators, seem to have missed two important lessons: Beware of getting involved in a head-to-head power struggle with kids, because one way or another you will lose, and when unexpected "teachable moments " come along, grab them. The first lesson is now coming home in spades as fellow students by the score line up to support Rethlefsen and Nixon. They are planning, under threat of expulsion, to wear T-shirts carrying the "I (heart) my vagina" legend or, for boys, "I support your vagina." Will someone please call a truce before anyone gets hurt here? As for the "teachable moment" idea, this presented a terrific opportunity to explore with students the ideas undergirding "The Vagina Monologues" and the larger questions surrounding social embarrassment over naming body parts that everyone has. Every boy has a penis and every girl has a vagina, and every teenager can give you at least six names for each. What teenagers are less well equipped to understand are the awesome responsibilities that go with an ownership certificate for either one; that was part of the lesson to be taken from this. Teenage rebellion is a necessity in the transition to adulthood. The form of rebellion that Rethlefsen, Nixon and their supporters have chosen strikes us as among the healthiest. We wish them, and their educators, well as they work to sort this out. Caring for one another will take everyone a far piece beyond what they can achieve through confrontation. ------------ Dwayne Voegeli Winona County Commissioner (507) 453-9012 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 359 Pleasant Hill Dr. Winona, MN 55987 ------------ _______________________________________________ This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona Any problems or suggestions can be directed to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org
