Lisa Brown silenced

[IAmSherlocked]

I heard a discussion on this on the radio as I drove into work this morning: Michigan State Representative Lisa Brown was barred from speaking on the floor of the Michigan State Legislature after using the word 'vagina' in a debate.

It is so disturbing in so many ways, and this is before we even begin to look at the content of the debate - on the abortion laws.

How are you supposed to discuss abortion if you aren't allowed to talk about vaginas?

Why is transvaginal ultrasound OK but not vagina?

And most of all the woman who said vagina said this
"In her remarks Wednesday, Brown argued that the abortion regulation bill would violate her Jewish faith, which permits therapeutic abortions when the mother?s life is at risk."

Does this new law restricting abortion after 20 weeks apply in all circs then even if the woman's life is at risk?

Well you're not supposed to discuss abortion. You're just supposed to let the men tell us what we may or may not do with our bodies.

Fuckers.

Dear God.

PMSL at Voldemort vaginas holyShmoley.

Two women were barred - one for saying vagina and another for suggesting vasectomies should also be regulated.

Interesting that.

Unreal
Unfucking real

Favourite quote ever 'If I can't say the word vagina, why are we legislating vaginas'

Its getting scarey out there.

I love the idea that my vagina holds the power of a dark wizard. This kind of shit always smacks of fear to me. Don't be scared, chaps, it's only half the population wanting control of their own bodies. Like they're people or something.

I wonder if she had said womb/uterus instead they would have banned her. I suspect not, so it illustrates that what these men are worried about really is not reproduction/abortion but female sexuality.

'Cos us women is really scary innit?

pubes are you determined to misinterpret what i say?

i diddnt 'tell' you how it is, i told you what i thought about it.

there are two separate things here , firstly , what she was talking about, which is clearly a feminist issue.

the fact she got into trouble for saying vagina would only, i think, be a feminist issue if a man in the same position wouldnt get into trouble for saying penis.
these are religeous right rebulicans, they may well be sexist, but in this case there just being immature.

but like i said in my earlier post, i think they will be more shocked by woman useing that languege than a man, and i do think thats sexist.

how does me voicing my opinion turn in to me telling the feminists how to do it?

Duly noted that you don't think that this is a feminist issue miaow. The rest of us feel that what a part of a woman's genitalia is called; how it and its name is perceived by those men in power; who can call it by its correct medical term and the fact that a woman was banned from calling a vagina, a vagina is a feminist issue.

"the fact she got into trouble for saying vagina would only, i think, be a feminist issue if a man in the same position wouldnt get into trouble for saying penis."

I think your analogy is incorrect. It should be if a man in the same position would get into trouble for saying vagina. This issue is all about vaginas not penises. Well one man did say trans-vaginal and he wasn't banned.

well actually i considerd saying vagina but figured to make the analogy complete i would change the genital too.

i diddnt know that a man had said vagina ( whats trans-vagina?)

so ok, clearly when a woman says that it isnt ok and whan a man does it is.

i retract my former posts.

Trans-vaginal as in across the vagina. Reference ultrasounds.

However the fact a man said vagina is a bit of a side issue as this is clearly a silencing tactic. Lisa Brown was saying things that they didn't want to hear (other than the word vagina). I don't think that it is any coincidence that it was a woman that was silenced on a controversial woman's issue.

It is a sign of how bad things are getting here that when I heard about this last week I didn't even get that worked up about it. Thanks everyone for reminding me that this really isn't normal.

If you're not old enough to hear a woman say 'vagina' without blushing then I suggest that you are not old enough to hold elected office (yes, I know it's all about the silencing really).

The trans-vaginal ultrasound bill was passed in a different state legislature though (Virginia). So while it's clearly not beyond the decorum of the Great State of Virginia to say 'vagina', clearly they are more delicate in Michigan. How touching.

ok, i've actually read the article now, maybe should have done that before.

and yes, they just wanted her to shut up and the vagina thing was just an excuse. how much they were genuinly upset by that word is anyones guess.

To be honest, anyone who gets upset by the word 'vagina' has imbibed so much patriarchal thinking that they are in urgent need of de-programming.

I loved the reaction of twitter to this.

Basically they were just getting her to shut up although more because of democrat/republican issues than anything. However they have used a feminist issue to achieve this

Did you hear that she helped with reading the vagina monologues on MI senate steps a few days ago?