Teacher Claims She Was Fired for Saying 'Vagina' in Art History Lesson

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Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown, who was banned as a legislator four years ago from using the word vagina during floor debate on an abortion bill, may have experienced some déjà vu when she learned a substitute teacher in Battle Creek had reportedly been fired for using the same word in an art history lesson to describe historical interpretations of some of artist Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings.

“Sound familiar?” Brown wrote, tweeting a link to the WWMT-TV story about Allison Wint, who claims using the clinical name for female genitalia cost her a long-time substitute teaching job with the Battle Creek school district.

Wint, a longtime substitute for Harper Creek Middle School through a private employment agency, admits using the word, but emphasized it was in the context of an art history lesson about O'Keefe paintings some critics have said are erotic.

“I wasn't being vulgar,” she told the TV station.

The school district says Wint violated the school handbook, which requires teachers to get administrative approval before discussing reproductive health. Wint doesn’t dispute that, either, but said she was unaware of the policy and would have adjusted her lesson plan to avoid the word if she had known about it.

Wint says the statement that got her in hot water was: ““Imagine walking into a gallery when [O’Keefe] was first showing her pieces, and thinking, ‘Am I actually seeing vaginas here, am I a pervert? I’m either a pervert or this woman was a pervert.’ ”

Harper Creek Superintendent Rob Ridgeway said in a statement to the Battle Creek Enquirer that Wint wasn’t fired for saying vagina, but for “other failures.”

"We do not shy away from controversial issues," the statement said. "The District did have concerns that the substitute teacher did not follow district art curriculum. These concerns, in addition to other failures, were the basis for the determination. We work very diligently to ensure that all students, staff and contracted personnel are treated fairly with respect and privacy."

Brown’s tweet about the teacher’s termination stems from a bizarre action taken by the Michigan House of Representatives in June 2012 following her use of the word in the context of some of the most restrictive anti-choice legislation in the country.

"Finally Mr. Speaker,” Brown said at the time, “I'm flattered that you're all so interested in my vagina, but 'no' means 'no.' "

House leaders banned Brown and a colleague from speaking from the floor on any issue on the final day before recess.

In an essay published by CNN.com, Brown wrote that Rep. Mike Callton explained at the time that “what I said was so vile, so disgusting, that he could never bear to mention it in front of women or ‘mixed company.’ ”

“ … Even though Callton has a bachelor's degree in biology and worked as a chiropractor, it was the word ‘vagina’ that did him in," Brown wrote at the time.

Image: Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown