Vagina! Vagina! Vagina!

There. I said it. VAGINA! I said it again, and I am wearing my red-and-black "My vagina says slow down" shirt from the Vagina Monologues as well.

Slow down. That's one thing my vagina, and the rest of me, would love right now. Regarding those restrictions on women's reproductive rights, I would only love it if certain lawmakers slowed down in their frenzy to take away all women's reproductive rights and actually considered just how scary and dangerous their bills would make life for women. I would be more than thrilled if they slowed down just enough to think from the perspective of a woman who did need birth control or an abortion. Just for a moment. So yeah, my vagina is telling all of them to slow down.

Then I'd like them to slow down and think about just what went down in Michigan recently. A female representative gets censured for saying the word "vagina" in Congress? Really? That's what that part is called! It's a medically accurate, clinical term. And that's considered "inappropriate" or a "lack of decorum"? Really? What would they have rather had Representative Brown say? Vajayjay? (I hate that term. It sounds like a bird at best.) Hoohoo? (Sounds like something a three-year-old might say.) Pussy? (That's a slang term.) What would they rather hear her say? I don't hear anyone complaining about people who call breast cancer by its proper name, or describing what erectile dysfunction. But apparently a vagina is too shameful to discuss in public. When over half the population has one, no less!

Really, that's just ridiculous. Who do these men think they are, that they can put all these restrictions on women's healthcare and expect us not to fight back about it? Do they really think that we're OK with having our privacy invaded and our rights taken away? Do they think we appreciate being shamed and insulted if we aren't confined by pregnancy we can't even control?

Well, let me tell you something. My vagina is a part of me, and like me, it's pissed off about all the shame and restrictions. My vagina, along with the rest of me, has been to a Planned Parenthood clinic, and it thinks Planned Parenthood is all right. (Unlike those anti-choice congress members.) And my vagina is not the type to go gently into that dark night. I'm taking my vagina to the ballot box in November and helping to vote out anyone who wants to limit its (and my) freedom. While I don't live in MI and couldn't help out at the giant performance of The Vagina Monologues at the capital, that doesn't mean I can't take action in my own way! And that's a promise we can keep.

Now, this is for all you men who think it's too shameful to discuss: My vagina says SLOW DOWN and start thinking about what your laws really mean for women.