MB Civic

Re the controversy over three high school girls who used the word “vagina” in a reading of The Vagina Monologues:

To the Editor:

A few weeks ago it was “scrotum” that was causing an uproar in the world of children’s librarians. Now, in Westchester County, 16-year-old girls face punishment for uttering the word “vagina” when told not to.

Perhaps this culture’s sad hang-ups over sex can be traced to its refusal to call a penis a penis, a scrotum a scrotum, a vagina a vagina.

And perhaps other problems can similarly be linked to its fear of plain speaking, whereby failure is “success that hasn’t occurred yet,” catastrophe is “a heckuva job” and a lie is a “plan for victory.”

Too many adults are in deep denial. Maybe listening to our children isn’t such a bad idea.

Mark Hussey
Upper Nyack, N.Y., March 8, 2007