“Vagina” is not a dirty word.

Neither is “feminism.”

However, put them together and it seems that you’ve got yourself one heck of a problem at Loyola.

Recently, a group of women were “strongly discouraged” from putting on a V-Day performance of “The Vagina Monologues” to raise money for a battered women’s shelter.

If “strongly discouraged” equates to getting program funding yanked away from you and as a result not being allowed to perform the show anywhere on campus, then we’re on the same page here.

However, that doesn’t sound like discouragement. In fact, that sounds like a full-blown “no.”

Never mind that Loyola’s campus is two-thirds female.

Never mind that Jesuit universities across the country have successfully performed the show.

Never mind that violence against women is a social justice issue around the globe.

The administration, particularly the Rev. William Bryon, S.J., said “no,” and in doing so, perpetuated the sexism, racism, and homophobia that Loyola as a university works so hard to overcome.

“The Vagina Monologues” is a production that is designed to teach women of all ages, races, and sexual orientations to reclaim the right to their bodies. It was written to educate men and women about the perils of not being in touch with all sides of oneself and of not accepting others as they are.

Over the years, Loyola has been struck with more than a few sex and race-oriented acts of hate. The most recent, the vandalism of the BSU bulletin board, shook the campus.

As the caretakers of a college campus, Loyola administrators must also be on guard against sexual violence. Some statistics show that as many as one out of every four college women will be raped before they graduate.

Given these facts, can Loyola administrators really afford to deny their students a little education?

The Rev. William Byron, S.J. claimed that the language that the play uses is inappropriate for the Loyola community, which may still be hurting from those terrible words hurled at BSU in November

However, he failed to make the distinction between hurtful words and strong words.

Hurtful words are used in attempt to beat people down, and to make them afraid and ashamed of who they are.

But strong words are a constant source of power and encouragement.

The “V” in “V-Day” stands for Victory, Valentine, and Vagina.

The program helps all people to find a victorious end to sexual violence.

It teaches women and men to love and respect themselves and each other.

It allows women all over the world to reclaim a part of their body that, for too long, has been a source of shame rather than pride.