In Grey’s Anatomy, Actors Were Allowed To Say Penis But Not Vagina. What Is The Problem With The Word Vagina?
‘Lady bits’, ‘vajayjay’, ‘cooch’, are just a few names that are often used interchangeably with the perfectly fine word for the same – vagina. Somehow though, saying that word gets society’s panties in a twist. So everyone, including actors and writers of TV shows have to find other ways to address the vagina. A problem that the people faced on the show which is about anatomy and therefore would be in context. Ellen Pompeo from the hit show Grey’s Anatomy spoke about how they couldn’t say vagina but were allowed to say penis repeatedly.
Playing Meredith Grey on the TV Drama Grey’s Anatomy, Ellen Pompeo recently shared in an interview, how the term used to refer to female genitalia became a point of conflict for the people on the show, when the makers said that ‘vagina’ cannot be said out loud, where as there was no objection in using the word ‘penis’ as many as 97 times.
While on Jimmy Kimmel Live! , she said, “There was a big fight—I may be butchering this story but—there was a big fight because with standards and practices you can say penis, but you couldn’t say vagina, at the time.”
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She further continued saying, “That’s where the term vajayjay came from,” she continued. “[Shonda Rhimes] made up vajayjay because standards and practices would not let us say vagina. And Shonda’s argument was like, ‘We said penis in that episode 97 times. You can say penis 97 times but you can’t say vagina?’ They were like, ‘Yep, yep, you can’t say vagina.’ So she came up with vajayjay, and that’s how that problem was solved.” Except, we think with a new problem was created.
It’s absurd how people even in the television and entertainment industry have no problem objectifying women, but when it comes to using terms like vagina, they shy away as though it is something forbidden. This kind of prejudice to address women and their parts with shame is what the problem is.
