"Jane, What Is It You Can't Face?"

I'm sure everyone has already seen this by now, but below is a clip of Jane Fonda on The Today Show telling Meredith Viera her initial impressions of a certain monologue she was asked to perform from Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues.

If you've seen the play, you know the monologue she's talking about. The one whose title is a single word that can only be spoken by a Mother Superior when she's trying to solve a problem like Maria...

"Maria, what is it you cAUHn't face?"

Yeah, that word. But Jane doesn't dance around it like I just did. She lobs it right out into morning air. Like it's not a bad word at all. As if it's simply a word.



I know I sound like Alanis Morrissette, but isn't it ironic that the monologue Ms. Fonda is referring to is about shouting that forbidden word, that hurtful word; shouting it over and over until it's no longer frightening, until women reclaim the word.

Just like I claim the word Fag. I claim it for myself so that it can no longer be used to hurt me.

And while Jane Fonda may be able to shout the "C" word over and over, again and again in a crowded theatre behind a proscenium arch, saying it just once on national television makes that word "bad" again. It's no longer something you have reclaimed. Now, you have to apologize for it.

When are we as a nation going to grow up and realize that words can only harm us if we allow them to harm us?

As of today, three thousand, nine hundred and sixty U.S. soldiers have lost their lives fighting the War in Iraq, but not one single person ever died from hearing someone say, "See You Next Tuesday."