By Maureen Dempsey, RNC-OB
This past Friday morning, on the Huffington Post, the first story to catch my eye was this: “David Albo, Virginia Lawmaker, Says Wife Wouldn’t Have Sex Because Of Transvaginal Ultrasound Bill.” As I clicked on the headline, I thought, this is going to be good. And the gentleman from Fairfax didn’t disappoint me. I watched a three-minute video of Mr. Albo describing to his fellow delegates how he tried to seduce his wife with a combination of red wine and the Redskins on big screen television. They were on the sofa, he was snuggling up to her while changing the channel, things were heating up…when he inadvertently stopped on MSNBC and saw his name plastered across the 46-inch screen and heard his colleague, David Englin, repeatedly using the term “trans-vaginal.” After a few minutes of this, his wife excused herself and went to bed alone.
Mr. Albo obviously went to some effort to plan the description of this failed seduction. He set the stage visually. At an appropriate time in the story, he played some sexy music. However, when the moment came for him to describe what he and his wife saw and heard on the TV, his story telling technique fell apart. He couldn’t bring himself to say the word, “trans-vaginal.” He got part of the word out and then the rest of the sentence dissolved into incoherent gibberish. “Trans-V this and Trans-V that,” he said next, using a guttural tone of voice – the kind of voice people use when they think they’re saying something dirty.
Now I was confused. What had turned off Mr. Albo’s wife? Originally, I had thought it was her solidarity with other women – her disgust at the thought that the state might require this unnecessary, uncomfortable, and invasive procedure. But now I wondered if she wasn’t just disgusted at the blatant use of the word, “vagina.” I decided to see if I could find any other information about this story online. The first retelling of the story I found, at www.dailycaller.com, referred to “the unfortunately named, ‘trans-vaginal ultrasound.’” Apparently the Albos aren’t the only people uncomfortable with the word vagina.
Why is vagina so hard to say? Why is it “unfortunate” to use the term vaginal to describe a medical procedure that occurs in the vagina? Why does the gentleman from Fairfax use a special, bawdy tone of voice when he refers to “trans-V this and trans-V that?” Why is this story even funny? I have a theory. I do not know Mr. Albo personally. But he and I attended high school in Virginia at roughly the same time. I think I knew guys like him. A smart guy, a funny guy, a mostly proper guy. He couldn’t say vagina because what he was really talking about was pussy. He was telling a story – an ironic story, a bawdy story – about how he didn’t get any pussy because of his involvement in some notorious pussy-related legislation.
This is important because when men who can’t say the word, “vagina,” get together with other likeminded men to discuss contraception, the discussion ends up being about sex, about pussy, rather than about women’s health. I encourage all men, but particularly those involved in the legislative process, to practice saying the word, “vagina,” every day.
Read more from this author at Religionnerd.com
“THE WORD IS VAGINA” Woman’s Healthcare Becomes A Joke In Virginia!
Trans-Vaginal Politics,
ocjim0
28 Feb 2012Interesting, Maureen. Your last paragraph got me to thinking about some males and their proclivities. I wonder if its some kind of male code thing. Vagina is too clinical and thoughtful, but male bravado requires the term pussy and shows dominance or mental penetration. What do men and women think?
Carrie
28 Feb 2012I use the term vagina… I have called them girly parts to a dr, but he was rather young and when I started to say the real word, he blushed. Lol. So I saved him the humiliation. Lol.
Debbie
28 Feb 2012Mostly, I think it’s awkward because it’s made that way by residual Victorian prudishness. My 3 year old daughter calls her vagina a vagina. So does her 5 year old brother. I challenge anyone to have a go at me for it too.
Lexan
28 Feb 2012vagina. a body part like a leg, arm, nose or penis. never understood what the big deal is. you don’t have a pet name for your elbow, do you? (and if you do, i really don’t want to know….)
Angela
28 Feb 2012Shared with my comments, which I’ll try to paraphrase here. Why this huge fuss over the word “vagina”? It’s a BODY PART! People toss around the word “penis” as if it meant nothing, but we all know damn well that it does! So why is the word “vagina” so much more powerful, when women are so much LESS powerful (as far as the administration is concerned)?
Lexan
28 Feb 2012i hear new ones (slang, substitute words for vagina) all the time, and they all make me uncomfortable. i agree with angela, the word vagina seems to have so much power, yet makes the woman less powerful. so does using cutesy names like va-jj, pussy, the kitty… ew, it pains me to continue
Christine
28 Feb 2012There are WAY too many slang terms, I work with mostly men and I have heard a lot of them….but say ‘vagina’ and it’s like you just said the worst swear word on the planet….:)
Kerri
28 Feb 2012Maybe they’re afraid of being PENALIZED.
Monica
28 Feb 2012I read an article that said in the TV show “Greys Anatomy” they used about 12 different slang words vagina but only ever used “penis” to refer to a penis..
Glenda
28 Feb 2012I just don’t like the way it sounds.
KP
28 Feb 2012VAGINA!! …that was preeeeaty easy! ;D
Letitia
28 Feb 2012I thought vagina was the word of the day. I hear it EVERYWHERE. And oddly enough it is used to describe anywhere front side of the arsehole that is [or would naturally be] surrounded by pubic hair. If they are struggling with vagina, still, how will they go with vulva, or clitoris, or labia. Don’t mention those mysterious bits, let them get over their fear of vaginas, first. LOL
Tan
28 Feb 2012vagina vagina vagina. Vigina ham. Vaginamite and penisbutter! Hahahaha