Presbyterian Center blocks access to Web site after stories about Vagina Monologues, Halloween The Layman Online Thursday, November 21, 2002 Two days after The Layman Online reported that the Presbyterian Church (USA) was promoting on its Web site a controversial stage show titled The Vagina Monologues, the Presbyterian Center blocked outside access to the site. Anyone seeking outside access to the Web site now is automatically redirected to the home page of the denomination's main site. The story about The Vagina Monologues, which Les Gutman of Curtain Up described as "a huge 'Girls' Night Out' with catcalls to rival any stag night," and a previous story about the Presbyterian Center using its Web site to advertise a Halloween observance, including a "haunted hall" in the denomination's headquarters, sparked a torrent of angry letters from readers. Regarding the Halloween activities, readers wrote: "The Louisville command center of the PCUSA has not brought honor to God in most things in recent years, so why would the staff even consider this act as dishonoring to a distant God whose rules they believe they can change to suit their new (dark-)light?" Promoting pornography About the controversial stage show, readers wrote: "The description of this performance seems to fully meet the definition (American Heritage dictionary) of pornography." And "Maybe the title of your Nov. 18 article, 'PCUSA promotes controversial show, The Vagina Monologues,' could have been 'PCUSA promotes temple prostitution.' How long, O Lord, will your patience last?" The Presbyterian Center promoted the show as a good cause because a portion of ticket sales would benefit the Center for Women and Families. Besides promoting the show on its Web site, the PCUSA provided a direct link to a ticket sales site. Monologues is a conversation about genitalia from a feminist perspective. The themes are victimization and power. But Wendy McElroy, editor of Ifeminists.com, says the Monologues movement has a double standard. McElroy wrote: The play is meant to decry rape and other violence against women. Yet, the original performances of the play and the published book eulogize the lesbian "rape" of a 13-year-old girl by a 24-year-old woman who plies her with alcohol. The pedophile section is entitled "The Little Coochi Snorcher That Could" – Coochi Snorcher being the nickname of the little girl's genitalia. Her vagina's tale of seduction begins, "She gently and slowly lays me out on the bed ..." After becoming more graphic, the little girl gratefully concludes, "I'll never need to rely on a man." Both by statute and by feminist definition, the "seduction" scene is rape. Nevertheless, the Coochi Snorcher declares, "...if it was rape, it was a good rape." This is not the first occasion in which the Presbyterian Center has snuffed out one of its Web site selections after it was discovered by The Layman. In 1998, the National Network of Presbyterian College Women (NNPCW), a ministry of the denomination's National Ministries Division, included in its "recommended resources" section links to a lesbian dating service and hard-core pornography sites. After The Layman launched an investigation into the group's recommended resources, the site suddenly disappeared. Layman editors recorded their discovery and gave the evidence to General Assembly Moderator Douglas W. Oldenburg. During the investigation that followed, staff members said they could not remember who was responsible for the pornographic links. The investigating committee concluded its work with a commendation for NNPCW and a recommendation that they be given more money from the denomination's mission budget.

Respond to this article

Home · News · PLC Publications · The Presbyterian Layman Online Reviews · Archives · History of the Lay Committee · Feedback · Links