A substitute teacher in Michigan was fired for using the word “vagina” in an art history class and this isn’t the first time this has happened in Michigan. Why are people so afraid of the word “vagina”?
Vagina is part of a woman's anatomy. It isn't a dirty word. We all come from one. But that didn't stop a substitute teacher from being fired when using the "v-word" to describe a Georgia O'Keeffe painting — or from the Michigan legislature from banning Rep. Lisa Barthe from the floor for using the word during a debate about abortion. We have no problem with saying elbow, or clavicle — so what's going on with this strange, possibly sexist, aversion to saying the word vagina?