Allison Wint, a public school teacher, was substituting in an art class at Harper Creek Middle School in Battle Creek, Michigan when she gave a presentation on Georgia O’Keeffe’s famous flower paintings.
The presentation was meant to show the importance of O’Keeffe’s work in a segment on art history. At one point, Wint explained that many art critics have noticed the appearance of a very vagina-like quality in some of the paintings.
Wint explained this to a group of eighth-grade students, students old enough to understand the metaphorical meaning of such art critiques.
When asked if she used the word Wint responded, “Yes, I did say that word. However, I was saying it in the context of art history.”
This Middle School Teacher Was Fired for the Most Outrageous Reason Ever https://t.co/qTXEAolD3Y
— peppo (@ingenuo2002) April 28, 2016
The context surrounding the utterance of the simple word that got Wint fired was the explanation to the students that art is objective.
“Imagine walking into a gallery,” when Georgia O’Keeffe “was first showing her pieces, and thinking, ‘Am I actually seeing vaginas here? Am I a pervert? I’m either a pervert or this woman was a pervert.”
“I thought if I used a euphemism, that would make it into a joke,” Wint explained to reporters. “And I don’t think that’s a word you should be afraid of.”