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
