Infelicitous Language
Earlier I discussed how the controversy over the failed transvaginal mandate in Virginia inadvertently opened a rupture in reproductive health discourse by shifting our attention from the uterus to the vagina, giving the vagina a prominence—The Vagina Monologues notwithstanding—that she has not previously enjoyed. The ultrasound bill also unintentionally drew attention to sound: the sound of “vagina” and the vagina’s own ultrasounds. While it is true that the vaginal ultrasound was still being used in the case of the Virginia bill to visualize the fetus and thereby to dissuade women from having an abortion out of guilt or inconvenience, there is significant untapped potential in the notion of sound and ultrasound. In this section I address political disturbances caused by uttering the word “vagina.” In the following section I address the vagina as producer of its own (ultra)sounds.
Recent attacks on reproductive health, including contraception, have repeatedly demonstrated exactly how unspeakable the vagina is in American politics. Over the course of a few months in the winter and spring of 2012, a number of women were censored, censured, and subjected to vicious media attacks for daring to say the word vagina or to draw attention to its activities and needs. For example, a few months after the Oklahoma protest, a reproductive rights advocate wearing a T-shirt sporting the slogan from McIntyre’s sign was not allowed to make her connecting flight on American Airlines unless she removed the “offending” shirt.28 What is it about the vagina that gets all these women into trouble? Why is it so disturbing to public discourse, and why does it nonetheless keep coming up in politics and popular culture, even in the guise of the friendly “vajayjay”?29
An event in the Michigan House of Representatives demonstrates the stakes of speaking out. During a debate in June 2012 about HB 5711, a bill that sought to enact so-called TRAP measures, State Representative Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield) said, “Mr. Speaker—I’m flattered that you’re so interested in my vagina, but no means no.”30 Her colleague Barb Byrum (D-Onondaga) attempted to offer an amendment to the bill, but was not allowed to speak. The next day both women were notified that they had been banned from speaking on the House floor on the last day of the legislative session by the Republican Floor Leader, evidently for speaking (or trying to, in the case of Byrum) against the anti-abortion legislation that was passed the previous day. Brown responded to the censure, which made national news, by observing, “If they are going to legislate my anatomy, I see no reason why I cannot mention it.”31 Although neither Brown nor Byrum were ever given an explanation for their silencing, media coverage focused on Brown’s use of “vagina” as the impetus.
At the same time as the Virginia transvaginal ultrasound law was making headlines, a Georgetown University law student, Sandra Fluke, came to national prominence through derogatory remarks made about her by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. In Fluke’s case, however, she did not even need to utter the word “vagina” to cause a stir. It was more the threat of what she might say, or what her words implied, that influenced the discourse. Fluke was originally scheduled to testify to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on so-called “conscience clauses” that would affect the Affordable Care Act’s coverage of contraception. When Republicans refused to allow her to testify (in the end, only men spoke on the panel), she made her comments to House Democrats who held alternative hearings. Even though Fluke’s statement focused on women’s health and the consequences of the lack of contraceptive coverage, Limbaugh lashed out at her on his nationally syndicated radio talk show, calling her a slut, a prostitute, and a woman who has “so much sex” that she wants to be paid by the government. He even requested a sex tape in exchange for her “payment” (i.e., insurance coverage of contraception).32 Limbaugh’s outrageous and disproportionate reaction to a woman advocating for contraceptive coverage begs the question: what is it about talking publicly about contraception that provokes such vitriol? Or, to be more specific, what is it about women talking about these issues in political settings that engenders disproportionate reactions more often than not? To return to the physics of ultrasound, it is almost like the sound of “vagina” or anything that implies the vagina’s involvement (contraception, after all, implicates vaginal sex) cannot pass through the tissue of public discourse, but instead gets reflected back, echoing around media outlets and legislative bodies, with no way to receive or interpret its sound.
- “Woman Kept Off American Airlines.” [↩]
- For a comprehensive discussion of the neologism “vajayjay,” see Stephanie Rosenbloom, “What Did You Call It?” The New York Times, 28 Oct. 2007. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/fashion/28vajayjay.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&. [↩]
- “Michigan Rep. Censored For Use Of ‘V-Word,’” CBS Detroit, 14 June 2012. Available at http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/06/14/michigan-rep-censored-for-use-of-v-word/. [↩]
- “GOP Tactics on House Floor Silence Women Legislators for Fighting Back,” Michigan House Democrats, 14 June 2012. Available at http://039.housedems.com/news/article/gop-tactics-on-house-floor-silence-women-legislators-for-fighting-back. [↩]
- Jonathan Weisman, “Obama Backs Student in Furor With Limbaugh on Birth Control,” The New York Times, 2 Mar. 2012. Available at http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/boehner-condemns-limbaughs-comments/. [↩]
