Are the Vagina Monologues Indecent?
Listeners,
I recently wrote a letter to the KZSC Program Review Committee and Station Manager. It was in response to a letter asking for my comments about possible indecency determination concerning our Valentines Day Show. The PRC is the KZSC committee that determines the schedule each quarter, reviews all the shows, and determines any show related sanctions. If they decide that our Valentines Day Show was indecent, it could result in a warning, suspension, or perhaps even more drastic action. More importantly, they will be saying that The Vagina Monologues are indecent — which is so ironic that it deserves significant attention.
I’m posting this letter to ask a favor of you all. If this were any other show, we’d generally deal with it almost entirely internally. But, this is The Vagina Monologues. I believe the V-Day movement is important to all of us and we should defend it, given the chance. Please take a few moments to listen to the show below (if you haven’t already) and read my letter to the PRC. If you feel you have something to say, positive or negative, about this show. Then write a quick email, give the PRC a call, or if you’re feeling really fancy, write them a letter. Tell them what you think. They need to hear from our community.
Thank you,
-Timothy
- PRC Email: prc@kzsc.org
- PRC Voicemail: 831-459-4726
- PRC Address:
- KZSC PRC
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
- KZSC PRC
To: Kristan Sartor, KZSC Station Manager
and The KZSC Program Review Committee,
Thank you for asking to hear from me before making a decision on whether our Valentine’s Day Show should be considered indecent. I hope by the time this letter reaches you, that you all have had an opportunity to listen to the show and therefore have gained an understanding of its content within context and without the bias of the listener complaint which has motivated this process. I encourage all of KZSC’s listeners to complain and applaud as much as possible so we can grow as artists and understand our community; but the matter before us is about indecency, not whether this particular listener appreciated the show. As such, I’ll address that complaint in that context. Also, as a side-note, I’d very much like to receive a copy of the letter. Reading it would likely help me grow as a broadcaster, and would certainly aide in addressing this issue.
The question as to whether our Valentine’s Day Show should be considered indecent must be measured within contemporary community standards. As I believe you will all come to realize, the Vagina Monologues and the associated movement, V-Day, are important steps in curbing violence against women through greater understanding, awareness, and fund raising. Additionally, the movement has grown throughout the world and finds its home in communities too numerous to count, including ours. In fact, the clear and intense irony of considering the Vagina Monologues indecency is two-fold. First, the V-Day movement hopes to combat violence against women through (among other ways) the performance of the Vagina Monologues to raise understanding and awareness. Second, because the Vagina Monologues, once considered indecent (often by those same people completely uninterested in providing support to women’s rights movements), are now performed in 45 different languages in over 119 countries around the world to women, men, and children alike. Even further, this year, over 3,500 V-Day events occurred in over 1,250 locations around the world.
The specific monologue in question, which you refer to as “a 16 year old girl seduced by an adult after being given vodka,” is entitled “The Little Coochie Snorcher that Could.” Your description of it is far from an objective assessment. I’m not sure if this description comes as a statement from the PRC after reviewing the show or as a summary after reading the listener complaint letter. Though, if I were to guess, I would guess the latter. I would also venture to guess that the letter comes from someone who already has a pre-existing prejudice against that sort of subject matter. Although, I am saddened that even one listener was offended by the material that we broadcasted, I will hold fast to the strong belief that without such prejudice, a contemporary audience would find “The Little Coochie Snorcher that Could” to be a young lady’s coming of age story about the discovery of her independent sexuality. Themes of seduction have played into (though, not dominated) the discourse of this highly publicized monologue for valid reasons, but the brief mention of alcohol has little to do with its subject matter. Rather, the popular opinion in our community about this monologue is that it is the recounting of this young lady’s first positive sexual experience. It is told with positive ownership and joy. It’s difficult to imagine such positive material to be considered offensive in this community.
Your letter recounts the KZSC Handbook’s mirroring of the Federal Communications Commission’s definition of indecency as “language or material that depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium sexual activities and organs.” There are two major parts to this definition. First, that the material deals with sexual activities and organs. I believe we can agree that the show does touch upon both. Second, that the material must be patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards. That is, easily recognizable as offensive in this context of Santa Cruz, California. Is this material easily recognizable as offensive in Santa Cruz? Simply put, no. It is not.
We’ve been doing a Vagina Monologues show on or around Valentines day for some four or five years now. This is the first listener complaint I’ve heard about. And yet, I’ve received dozens of compliments on the shows every year. Whether email, letters, or in-person, those I run into seem to love the Vagina Monologues and feel inspired when we put the artists involved on the radio. Even further, this is Santa Cruz! This is non-commercial college radio! Even if it was edgy to put the Vagina Monologues on the air, don’t we have a responsibility to do so?
If healthy, positive expressions of women’s sexuality are considered indecent on KZSC Santa Cruz, we have a problem. I understand that listeners complaint’s are to be taken seriously, and I encourage you to continue to do so. I also encourage you to forward these complaints on to the programmers, so they can further understand all of their audience. But when such a complaint as this, rises to a level of review that requires a programmer to write a letter such as this, it must mean that you’re seriously considering the material aired as patently offensive. When the material is referred to in the manner of your letter, it must mean that you’ve made certain judgements about the nature of the material. I encourage you to review the material within the context of our community and to review our community within the context of others. I urge you realize what this event has meant for countless people within Santa Cruz. I call your attention to the college students, community members, their families, and their children who’ve packed theaters year after year to see these monologues performed. Some years there were performances on campus and in town and all the shows at both locations were still sold out, often with spectators standing in the back. I call your attention to other communities around the world that have defended the monologues against attack. Notre Dame, staged the monologues two nights in a row to a 450 seat auditorium packed with supporters. The president of that university approved the students to move forward with the performances in spite of protest from local religious groups and a Bishop. How can we allow KZSC to shy away from such material when it is being performed at a private Catholic university regardless of religious protest?
I suppose this letter is a bit long for a response to inquiry about indecency. It is long because I’m concerned about KZSC. I’m concerned about the Vagina Monologues and KZSC. After some four of five years of running this Valentines Day show, a complaint is lodged and now maybe the show is indecent? How does that make sense? Has anything changed at KZSC? Are we becoming more conservative? Less willing to take risks for the good of our community? Are we out of touch with our community? I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s just procedure as usual…
I’d like our community and audience to have a chance to respond to this issue as well. I strongly believe the more transparent KZSC is, the more our audience can be involved and the better we can respond to them. As such, I’ll be posting this as an open letter on timothyjordanshow.com and discussing the issue on our next airing. I hope that you will receive more letters, emails, and voicemails on this issue that will likely broaden the base of opinions of your discourse.
With this letter and hopefully quite a few audience comments, I hope that you will clearly see that The Valentines Day Show is not indecent whatsoever. Rather, it was and is an important, even vital part of our community’s culture and dialogue.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
-Timothy Jordan
The Timothy Jordan Show
KZSC Santa Cruz, 88.1FM
This letter was in response to the following:
Timothy,
At the Program Review Committee meeting last night, the PRC discussed your 2/15 broadcast segment featuring the cast of the Vagina Monologues. This was prompted by a complaint letter received by KZSC from a listener. The complaint specifically revolved around the segment read by “Stormy,” about a 16 year old girl seduced by an adult after being given vodka. The PRC discussed this segment as well as “Monica’s” segment featuring simulated orgasms and “Sarah’s” description of finding her clitoris in the vagina workshop.
The PRC has requested to hear your response regarding the airing of this material prior to making a decision about a possible station violation regarding indecency. The KZSC handbook definition of indecency is described as “language or material that depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium sexual activities and organs.”
Please send me your response by email no later than 3/17. If you have any questions, please let me know.
–
Kristan Sartor
Station Manager, KZSC Santa Cruz
March 14th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Hey, look! You can leave comments right here! Please do!
March 14th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I would like to extend a thank you on behalf of Vagina Org to Timothy and everyone else over at the Timothy Jordan show for such a strong show of support for the Vagina Monologues. While The Vagina Monologues, and our appearance on the Timothy Jordan show, have happy and even hilarious moments, this is something not to be taken lightly. The show is an important part of a MOVEMENT to end violence against women.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions of what is presented in the Monologues, and can choose to support the SHOW as an art form, or not. However, a label of “indecency” is not a blow to The Vagina Monologues as a piece of art, it is an attack on women’s freedom of sexuality and their right to be safe from the violence against them that is a reality of epidemic proportions. To put it in perspective (but not to limit it to one type of violence against women): 1 in 3 women will be raped in their life time. Please think of all the women you know, and put names, faces, families, and lives to that 1 and 3. The Vagina Monologues does important work in beginning a conversation, and beginning change. And it is most certainly not indecent.
As Timothy said, we cannot allow this to happen in Santa Cruz! What kind of example does that set to the rest of the world, when Santa Cruz, CA is notably one of the most liberal areas in the country?
I will be writing an e-mail to the PRC to ensure that it is received before the March 17th deadline presented, and I would urge everyone to do the same. Our voice must be heard.
Thank you for all of those who supported the show this year. We are donating $6000 to charity, and greater yet, we were able to give voice to people who are so often silenced, and ultimately begin change.
Alex Mufson, Producer/Organizer, UCSC V-Day 2008/UCSC Vagina Org
March 14th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Don’t silence the vagina! Violence against female bodied peoples of all sorts is already rampant on our airwaves, and thus is seems odd to complain about an act and/or movement’s reaction to that violence. Instead of silencing the vagina, I think there needs to be weekly interventions on behalf of the vagina and the epistemic abuse it encounters. Let the vagina sing loud and proud over our airwaves! Let it cry, let it moan, let it start a discussion. Long live the vagina!
March 17th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
**Copy of an email I sent to the PRC today**
To the KZSC Program Review Committee:
Recently, Timothy Jordan featured guest speakers on his Valentine’s Day show who were promoting a performance of “The Vagina Monologues” by Eve Ensler, and in doing so, recited excerpts of their monologues on air. Furthermore, it has come to my attention that the PRC labeled the content of this specific show potentially “indecent”, “offensive”, and in “violation of contemporary community standards for broadcasting”, in response to a complaint by a listener.
As a graduate of UC Santa Cruz, a State-Certified Domestic Violence Victim’s Advocate and Youth Advocate through the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center, and a community member of the city of Santa Cruz, I am shocked, appalled, and disturbed by the condemnation of Timothy Jordan’s Valentine’s Day show as “indecent”. I find it greatly ironic and hypocritical that a radio station which prides itself on its dedication to airing “alternative viewpoints” and “creative and educational endeavors” has chosen to target a show which featured readings from “The Vagina Monologues”. Additionally, as affirmed in the KZSC Mission Statement, your station is “committed to soliciting and providing access in a non- discriminatory, progressive fashion to those traditionally underrepresented in the media. This includes, but is not limited to, women, cultural, ethnic and racial minorities, people of various sexual orientations, seniors, youth, children and the disabled”. I strongly support Timothy Jordan’s choice to welcome his guests from The Vagina Monologues production, and by doing so, upholding the mission statement of KZSC through the representation and awareness-raising of women’s issues and empowerment (which are typically highly underrepresented by the media, as you may very well know).
Finally, I would like to acknowledge an inconsistency on the part of the KZSC PRC which I find troubling: upon casual investigation of and research into the history of individual shows which you promote on your station, I was able to find and note several songs in playlist histories which have been aired on past shows, and can be easily categorized as “indecent” and “offensive”, the lyrics of which include (and are not limited to) violent, obscene, discriminatory, and offensive themes. The following are just a few of a number of examples I would like to cite, taken directly from the KZSC website. In reading them, I would challenge the KZSC Program Review Committee to reflect upon the choice to silence, condemn, and make an example of Timothy Jordan’s Valentine’s Day show and The Vagina Monologues in light of the fact that the following song lyrics have never been called into question, yet can be interpreted as “indecent”, equally to, if not more so than, the excerpts from Eve Enslers’ works:
AIR DATE: March 13, 2008
Kreator, “Pleasure to Kill”
SHOW: Hell Bent for Heavy Metal; AIRED BY: DJ Kelly
“Stalking the city to seek out your blood
I love when it showers from my blade
Your body is so pretty but how will it look
When my perverted lust is stilled
No one to save you no parents or friends
Because they’ve already got killed
My only aim is to take many lives
The more the better I feel
My only pleasure is to hear many cries
from those tortured by my steel
The color of your blood from your open body
Is all I wanted to see
Tasting the blood from your lips as you die
means satisfaction to me.”
AIR DATE: February 28, 2008
Bloodhound Gang, “I Hope You Die”
SHOW: Altered States; AIRED BY: DJ Kady Lyons
“I hope your cellmate thinks he’s god
But c.n.n. refer to him as bowling ball bag bob
Serving time again for abuse of a corpse
Only this time the victims a Clydesdale horse
While he masturbates to photos of livestock
He does the silence of the lambs dance to Christian rock
Eats feces and quotes from deliverance
And fights with his imaginary playmate Vince
Die die die die die die die
Die die die die die die die
I hope he grins like Jack Nicholson
And forces you to play a game called balls on chin
And whatever happens next is all a blur
But you remember fist can be a verb
And when you finally regain consciousness
You’re bound and gagged in a wedding dress
And the prison guard looks the other way
cause he’s the guy you flipped the bird the other day.”
AIR DATE: March 4, 2008
Six Feet Under, “Impulse to Disembowel”
SHOW: Satan’s Palace; AIRED BY: DJ Dementia
“Back again to kill and gut
I crave intestine
Fist-fucked reduced to a stump
Kill - all
Skinless body
Naked hanging
Blood as draining
Carving, killing
Swollen beauty
Holes appearing
Brutalizing, convulsing
Skinned and greasy
Still breathing
Anal carving
Holes are oozing
Slit your throat - deep
Off cane your head
Pulled out the guts
Right through your fucking neck!
Don’t think I give a fuck about your life or religion
I don’t fucking care about the world you fucking live in
Injecting bleach into your eyes - body starts to quiver
Spilled your guts onto the floor - consume the fecal drainage.”
AIR DATE: February 26, 2008
The Rolling Stones, “Under My Thumb”
SHOW: Let There Be Rock; AIRED BY: DJ Craig
“Under my thumb
The squirming dog who’s just had her day
Under my thumb
A girl who has just changed her ways
Its down to me, yes it is
The way she does just what she’s told
Down to me, the change has come
She’s under my thumb
Ah, ah, say its alright
Under my thumb
A Siamese cat of a girl
Under my thumb
She’s the sweetest, hmmm, pet in the world
Its down to me
The way she talks when she’s spoken to
Down to me, the change has come,
She’s under my thumb
Ah, take it easy babe.”
Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter. I hope that your committee will be able to make the most informed and “progressive” decision as possible with regard to Timothy Jordan, his radio show, and the KZSC Mission Statement.
Gianna Matthews
Student Services
866-346-9292 x685
“Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.” ~Brendan Francis
March 17th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Letter written to the PRC in response to the complaint of “indecency”:
To whom it may concern,
I was frankly shocked to find out that a listener complained about the Valentines Timothy Jordan Show, and even further flabbergasted by the suggestion that it was “indecent.” The problem, as I have seen, was with the piece “The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could,” more specifically, the alcohol’s involvement and the following “seduction” of the young girl by an older woman. As a director of the Vagina Monologues this year, I am upset at how out of context this has been taken. The piece travels through one woman’s life and her recounting all the horrible things that have happened to her and her “coochie snorcher” up until she meets this woman. This memory was her account of the first positive experience she had with her vagina; up until then she had only bad memories of rape and pain surrounding her vagina. This piece is incredibly powerful and uplifting, a favorite of many who come to see the show, and I am incredibly upset at one persons twisted perversion of the tale which completely invalidates this woman’s experience. I am also surprised that this is an issue here in Santa Cruz where we pride ourselves in being open minded and progressive. I wonder if this listener actually heard the entire account or just heard what they wanted to hear because the monologue does point out that this woman was her “politically incorrect salvation.” The alcohol had nothing to do with the “seduction” due to the fact that the girl had been kissing this woman days prior to the event and had entered into her house of her own free will. The woman even makes a point saying that her mother would probably not want her to drink alcohol, but the girl insists, in a comedic way. She was not given alcohol and then drawn into an evil seductress’ lair and taken advantage of. Aside from the fact that the monologue has been completely taken out of context, this is NOT indecency. As I understand it, indecency is measured by the “contemporary community standards” and I can confidently say that Santa Cruz would not uphold this piece as indecent, mirrored by the fact that only ONE person complained. I feel that if this is seen as indecent then Santa Cruz, more specifically this radio station, is not as progressive as they often think. I plead with you not to take one cranky listeners complaint to heart, but rather look at all the wonderful positives brought about by this production; the $6,000+ raised for local charities for instance. Please think carefully about the ramifications that come with nailing a sign of “indecency” upon the Vagina Monologues and a show that supports them.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Sarah Swilley
March 18th, 2008 at 10:43 am
To Whom It May Concern,
I am an undergraduate student at UCSC writing in response to your recent investigation of the Valentine’s Day Timothy Jordan Show featuring members of the Vagina Monologues. Having spent the past few weeks researching and writing a paper focused heavily on censorship and obscenity, I was shocked to learn that KZSC is presently invoking “indecency” in its argument that the show may have violated station policy.
The KZSC handbook defines indecency as, “language or material that depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium sexual activities and organs,” deriving its definition from that of the FCC. As have many of the other individuals who have contacted you regarding this issue, I argue that the community has made it more than clear that the content of the Vagina Monologues is NOT “offensive as measured by contemporary community standards” by supporting the UCSC Vagina Monologues itself during its run each year. I attended the opening night of the show this year and last year and was touched each time by the size of the audiences literally packing the room. Members of both the UCSC and the greater Santa Cruz community attend the show, many of whom, I’m sure, haunt KZSC’s frequency.
The obscenity law requires that a three-pronged test be applied to material in question, the first “prong” of which reads, “An average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest,” which is addressed by the above paragraph.
The second “prong” reads, “The material must depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law.” The monologue from the Vagina Monologues that has been described as, “about a 16 year old girl seduced by an adult after being given vodka” provides a good example for this portion of the obscenity test. Though the monologue does include a form of “sexual conduct specifically denied to applicable law” - statutory rape - it does not “depict or describe, in a patently offensive way,” that sexual conduct. The monologue, as you have hopefully heard, does not provide a particularly graphic or even detailed description of the 16 year old girl’s sexual experience and does not expressly condone the incidence of statutory rape; the monologue is intended to illustrate the one positive sexual experience a middle-aged woman remembers upon reflecting on her early life. This context is vital to the understanding of this “16 year old girl [being] seduced by an adult after being given vodka.” This description of the events within the monologue is a vast reduction of the issues the monologue addresses, including parent-child relationships, rape, and a young girl’s struggle to love and embrace her own body and sexuality.
The third “prong” of the obscenity test reads, “The material, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.” It is because of this part of the test that I am most shocked at KZSC’s attack on the Timothy Jordan Show and its content provided by the Vagina Monologues. The Vagina Monologues INCLUDES serious literary, artistic, political, and scientific value; it is a literary work beautifully and artfully crafted by its creator, Eve Ensler, who chalks it full of political and psychological issues by presenting each monologue as an embodiment of the personal being political. The Vagina Monologues, arguably more effectively and accessibly than any other mainstream literary or art work, addresses issues focused on women and the female experiences from around the world. If that content is not violently political in Santa Cruz, then what are we all doing here?
I am stunned and disturbed by KZSC’s attempt to silence Timothy Jordan and the amazing women from the UCSC production of Vagina Monologues who bravely put their names and faces on painful and difficult yet vital women’s issues. Please reconsider the political implications of penalizing Timothy Jordan and silencing voices from the Vagina Monologues. Love, cherish, and support women.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing the Timothy Jordan Show and his, other KZSC show hosts’, and their guests’ discussions of women’s issues and events in the future.
Sincerely,
Zoe Jacobson
March 18th, 2008 at 10:47 am
I was in Vagina Monologues one year ago and it changed my life. Realizing there is so much more than a baby maker between my legs really opened my eyes to the beauty of being a woman. If anyone feels that the Vagina Monologues are indecent, they need to see the show in its entirety. I received so many comments from both men and women after the show saying how they were not expecting anything to that degree of dept and they were surprised by all the emotions they felt during the show. This show brings out all sorts of feeling that we didn’t even know we had inside of us which is one of the most important aspects of this performance and why it needs to continue to be seen and heard. The performance was not indecent but it didn’t hold anything back. The point of this show is to stun and amaze people with the facts and stories about being a woman. Please do not penalize the people who work so hard to get the voices of women heard.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
To whom it may concern (which is everyone),
The Vagina Monologues is so much more than theatrical entertainment.
It is not frivolous. It is necessary to the survival of women, the
empowerment of girls, and the education of people of all ages and
genders. You see, The Vagina Monologues is not just theater. The
Vagina Monologues is the centerpiece of an ever-important movement
that aims to bring a voice to those who could not previously speak
their own truth. This movement aims to bring these “taboo” issues out
in the open in an attempt to remove that label. There is nothing
wrong with the discussion of female anatomy, sexuality, and/or
experience. In fact, it is essential to talk about these issues, both
the comical and the painful, in order to create understanding and to
prevent further violence to women and girls.
There is room for The Vagina Monologues in the main stream.
As for the claim that the material is too “indecent” to be
performed on the radio, I ask you to examine the sexuality and
violence in popular music. Though censorship will bleep out some
pejorative language, it does not make violent content go away.
However, if I am listening to the radio and something offends me for
whatever reason, I have the option to turn the dial or switch it off.
I am not a slave to the programming set before me. Therefore I must
applaud Timothy Jordan for giving the listeners of KZSC the option to
experience The Vagina Monologues for themselves.
Sincerely,
Dana Trocker
(UCSC Alum ‘07 and Former Director of The Vagina Monologues)