wickedflea | (no subject)

from http://aa.mlive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/stories/20011101ab1cost01.frm

Community High senior's vagina costume earns suspension
But his classmates gave him first prize in costume contest.

Thursday, November 1, 2001

By PERI STONE-PALMQUIST
NEWS STAFF REPORTER

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Community High School senior's Halloween costume - a pink cape fashioned into a larger-than-life vagina -earned him wild applause at the school costume contest Wednesday and a two-and-a-half-day suspension.

Christian Silbereis, 17, said his mother, midwife Rosalyn Tulip, created the costume last year and wore it to a party.

When Silbereis asked if he could borrow the costume, Tulip said she cautioned him that wearing it to school might make some people uncomfortable, but she would support his decision because it is a positive way for people to talk about their bodies.

"It's not about me being a pervert" or trying to make people angry, Silbereis said, adding that he has the highest respect for women and their bodies.

But assistant dean Maggie Jewett said staff felt demeaned and outraged by the costume. From the back, Silbereis' costume resembled a space creature more than a female reproductive organ - even with the tufts of wig hair lining the cape. But in the front, folds of satin and lace running from his chest to his knees graphically depicted a woman's external sexual organs.

"It's anatomically correct," Silbereis said, lifting up the cape to reveal a T-shirt bearing a rendering of a fetus. Silbereis said he feels bad if he offended anyone but wonders why his costume did so. "It's just another body part," he said. "They teach us about it in school."

Silbereis said he removed the costume in fourth hour when Jewett came into his class and asked him to lose it or go home. But he pulled it back on for the contest and won first place.

"If I won, that means most of the school was down with it," he said.

Silbereis said after the contest Jewett told him he was suspended for the rest of the week. Jewett said she couldn't comment on the incident because student disciplinary action is confidential.

Tulip said she is proud of her son, but felt he shouldn't have put the costume back on after he agreed to remove it. She also said she doesn't question the school's decision to suspend her son and has no plans to fight it.

Although staff members were angered by the costume, groups of students rallied in support, signing their names to a petition objecting to Silbereis' suspension. In less than an hour, they collected 85 names. Junior Miriam Shabazz, 16, called the suspension ridiculous. "There's nothing inappropriate about what's given all of us life," she said.

At least one student's jaw dropped when he realized just what Silbereis' costume actually depicted. "That's crazy," he said, agreeing to sign the petition anyway.

Silbereis said he's not sure if the petition will do any good, but after being suspended in September for smoking marijuana on a school trip, he said he can't afford to miss more school.

"I just don't see what the big deal is," he said. "I mean, what if I was wearing an elbow costume? That's part of the body. Would they suspend me then?"