Letters

[Read Enough With the Vaginas!]

Thank you, thank you, Rebecca Traister, for so eloquently putting into words what I believe many of us feel this election year. While of course we have to feel pride that someone, anyone, is making the effort to reach and motivate women voters, wouldn't it be nice to have as much effort put into engaging our brains as our sexual organs? And thank you as well to Ms. Steinem for continuing to present such a wonderful, intelligent and classy example of feminism to the public.

-- Rebecca Murphy

Thanks, Rebecca, for an intelligent piece devoid of bullshit. I'm glad someone is finally able to critique stupidity and call it what it is. I'm proud to call myself a feminist, but like you, I'm not afraid or ashamed of using my intellect over my hormones in the voting booth. Apparently some women are afraid -- very afraid -- of using their lovely noggins in this third wave, do-me-fem phase we seem to be perpetually mired in. Simone de Beauvoir and the first wavers would appreciate you, though, I'm sure. Keep the intellectual fires burning, sister!

-- Patricia Gott

I would like to thank Rebecca Traister for her witty article on the "Vagina Vote," Eve Ensler, and Ensler's tireless efforts to reduce women to nothing more than their mysterious sex organs. Besides being a complete media whore, Ensler has managed to return feminism to the days when women like Steinem were brushed aside with an eye roll just when women's empowerment seemed to be garnering a little respect.

The reason women don't vote is because we feel alienated, helpless and overwhelmed. Simply telling women this, or making them feel good about themselves, will not get women to the polls. How about fighting to keep the polls open later in places that close at 5:00, or organizing day care and carpooling for single moms who choose to take their kid to karate instead?

-- Beth LaMontagne

Even as a major fan of both women's rights and anatomy, I'm so sick of this gynomite activism. Please, no more monologues; just shut the fuck up about your vaginas. Just because it's a newer trend doesn't mean it's any less vulgar, crass and boring than the "habeo phallum ergo sum" philosophy espoused by so many terrible writers, singers and idiots. Thank you, Rebecca Traister.

-- Mike Baugh

Thank you, Salon and Ms. Traister, for finally saying this. I'm not pandered to (I don't currently have a vagina), but regardless, I just can't stand seeing it. It's just insulting. I think the "William Hung" comment pretty much nailed it. Women -- and all human beings -- consist of more than one organ. That's what makes them great.

-- William Workman

I agree with the author 100 percent. How can we expect politicians to take us seriously when we cannot even treat ourselves with respect? Genital hype is not going to breed self-respect. What kind of feminist is Eve Ensler? How can she call herself that when she considers women's greatest asset to be her genitals? Isn't that why we became feminists in the first place: so that we could debunk the myth that we are only worth the value of our body parts? What if men acted the same way? It would be universally condemned if men had a penis rally and said they were voting with their dicks. I am appalled that vagina worship is being touted as true feminism. I am not my vagina. I am an educated, single, liberal woman, and my voter registration card has my name on it.

-- Erin Wiedemer

Rebecca Traister's article, "Enough With the Vaginas!" was on the spot (and I don't mean that spot). Like Traister, I am entrusting my vote to my brain and hands and feet. My silly vagina is just boy-crazy.

-- Amy Eagle