who says we've come a long way, baby?

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

why you can't use the word "vagina" on the morning news in San Fransisco.

"When you know there are children watching, you treat the news differently. It's not about censorship. I've talked to my staff about not showing any explicit violence in the morning show, blood stains, things like that. So it's not just about the use of certain words." -- Andrew Finlayson, news director KTVU.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/02/19/ED62608.DTL

what really offended me was the fact that the WORD is synonymous in this man's eyes with explicit violence and blood stains to this guy. the people who have made a link between vaginas and violence are men... the word is only objectionable or uncomfortable because people like that moron make it that way. goddess forbid that children hear the proper word for a woman's inner genitalia. i'm sure this guy's kids already know the word cunt.

thanks to mactavish for the link.

Comments

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

The article doesn't mention whether the word "Penis" is considered acceptable. I'm curious about that. Is it all sexual anatomy that is inappropriate, or just female?

Re:

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

i don't know but the guy's a total moron for saying what he did. do you think they tiptoed around the Bobbit case? :p i know our news stations used the words penis.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

Finlayson explained. "As a parent, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable hearing that word in front of my kids. I think a lot of people would find it objectionable. Children might ask what it means."

Well, Shock Horror-- heaven forbid children might find out about human biology.

(How do people get to be this clueless?)

[isolt.livejournal.com]

what really offended me was the fact that the WORD is synonymous in this man's eyes with explicit violence and blood stains to this guy.

You're right. Totally offensive -- and I don't think I would have made that connexion. Thanks for pointing that out.

Lots of men seem to be scared of cunts, though. I don't know why.

the proper word for a woman's inner genitalia

I would argue that "vagina" is *not* the proper word for that region. "Vagina" is medical jargon. Certainly the oldest English word is "cunt" -- it's not vulgar, it's a fine word with a long and reputable history.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

It is indeed a fine and beautiful word-- and if you could get them to use it on the news (with its proper meaning, of course, not as a curse word) the world would be a fine and beautiful place. But far from that, it seems they're even scared of using Latinised medical jargon: the world is an odd place.