In Honor of Coming Out Day!

National Coming Out Day logo, designed by artist Keith Haring. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 I am....

attracted to other intelligent sexual beings. I may have experimented with unintelligent people in college, but it wasn't for me. Science has more than proven that most sexual activity takes place in the mind so I want my special someone to have a large brain.

Do I have physical preferences? I'm from another planet, not an alternate dimension. Every sexually capable being has preferences, and some preferences seem to be more acceptable than others, which is silly if you really think about it. Everyone has their preferences. They are innate parts of our being. Sexual orientation is just part of who a person is. It is one element of our life experience. For some people it runs quietly in the background, and others have their whole lives defined by living their truth. 

I'm definitely not into assumptions. We are all wonderful, amazing individuals regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression, but it is still painful to hide. If today is the day that you tell someone about your sexual orientation, that's great! Now is the perfect time to free yourself from assumptions, especially about sexuality.

The "V" word

"VDAY in New Orleans 2008" event. Smiling woman with "I (Heart symbol) My Vagina" shirt. Photo by Jes Richardson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So is it free speech or vulgarity for a high school student to wear the word proudly?

Brianna Demato, Bisexual Queens High School Student, Sent Home For Wearing 'I Enjoy Vagina' T-Shirt

To be fair, it's more appropriate for an adult woman to proudly proclaim "I love my vagina" on her shirt than for a teenage girl to wear a shirt saying "I enjoy vagina," but either way, a word is a word.

Are you in need of a no-no word for every letter of the alphabet? I've always been one to make friends with words so I find it curious when news reports multiple issues with the same word (please see this previous post). So the word again today is "vagina." Let's everybody say it together "va-gin-a." Whether or not you happen to have one, get comfortable with the word. This is supposed to be the less connotatively-charged word, but still people get offended.

The interesting part of the article is, of course, the comments. So this is an issue of adolescent sexuality and sexual orientation and, apparently, just the fact that this girl owns such a shirt makes her mother bad??? Hmm... Is that true? Does the shirt say "I enjoy having indiscriminate sex with girls and my mother encourages me to do so?" Because that is how people are reading "I enjoy vagina," it is, without question, too distracting a shirt for the school environment.

Having gone through adolescence, I can say without hesitation that sex is not for adolescents, and that the hallmark of adolescence is ignoring the most sage advice. But, that is not really the issue here.

What is the problem with the word "vagina?" The word represents a part of a whole being. A whole being sometimes enjoys expressing what it means to be a sexual being. That may include sexual activity, but it might be just wearing a shirt that makes people laugh. To be more realistic, if I owned a sexually expressive t-shirt it would say "I enjoy minds." Would you be offended by that?

Related articles

• Queens Girl One-Ups 'I Enjoy Vagina' T-Shirt With Mom's Blessing
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