Social Justice Event – The Vagina Monologues

On February 12th I went to see the Vagina Monologues for my Social Justice Event here at RIC. It is a play that was written by Eve Ensler and originally starred her alone running in an off-Broadway production in 1996. Three celebrities replaced Eve when she left the play and since that time it has been on HBO, there has been a book written and there is now a “V-Day”. V-Day is a non-profit stop the violence against women global group that has risen over $50 million for women’s anti-violence groups through benefits raised from The Vagina Monologues and other benefits that take place around the world to increase awareness and raise money to help end violence against women. The performance of The Vagina Monologues is performed on many stages throughout the world in February and March to now celebrate V-Day, which is also Valentines Day, as it was here on the RIC campus by talented, fun, inspiring, and brave young women.

The play
The Vagina Monologues is just that – monologues…but they are not ordinary! I come in and pick my seat; I choose to come alone to pay attention to my assignment and not be distracted by friends or family and later realized they could have come. The audience is mainly women but there are quite a few men, probably 1:20 and still today I’m surprised. I would advise against it men…it’s just my opinion (but after researching on the web it is a shared one) but this is definite woman bonding at it’s best and unless you want to come experience that and appreciate it, and don’t get me wrong men need to appreciate it, but this performance is anti-men. In the 90 minutes there is one monologue that describes a good experience with a man and the majority of the audience laughs when the performer makes that comment.

Otherwise, the monologues, which are all performed by different women who rotate from their seats, at RIC approximately 12 range from the hilariously funny My Angry Vagina – when the performer is ranting and raving about all the injustice brought about her vagina such as: dry tampons, cleaning products, cold tools at the ob/gyn’s office to a story titled My Vagina Was My Village(Not so happy vagina fact) in which the performers read off testimonies of women from rape camps in Bosnia.

To relate this experience to our readings I automatically think of Johnson, Carlson and the researching on Gender and Education. Johnson stands out because of the words used through out the whole play. There was a monologue called Reclaiming C--- and describing how it is a lovely word and lists several words starting with each “c”, “u”, “n”, and “t” to prove it. Talk about a Johnson moment and reclaiming words. But it was also true of more serious monologues and more serious words, such as: rape, incest, genital mutilation and sexual slavery, which were used in monologues and “not so happy fact” statements shared with the audience throughout the play regarding violence toward women. Words Johnson would claim need to be used to aide in stopping the violence along with all the great work V-Day is doing.

Carlson is seen often but certainly in They Beat the Girl out of my Boy. This monologue is performed by several of the women on stage presenting themselves as little boys at first and telling stories of being picked on or beaten for dressing or acting in a certain “girlish” way and so they hide (marginalize). They act boyish – they grow a beard, join the military, talk like a man. (They were marginalized) Until there comes a day when they can be themselves and have a sex change …or so they think…people still think they are “different”, and a boyfriend gets killed – because others are terrified of their kind of love.

Every monologue was compelling. During the My Short Skirt monologue the performer is very sassy and has this attitude telling everyone (men) that her short skirt is: not and invitation, not begging for it, not asking for rape, and has nothing to do with you! She made you want to just stand up and say “YAH!” It was a “proud to be a woman” moment for all in the theatre. I can relate this monologue and the My Angry Vagina and Reclaiming C--- monologues I mentioned earlier to Gender and Education. I view these three monologues as the more “I am woman, hear me roar” monologues. I’m relating them to Carlson to just say it is more of what I hope we see in girls attitudes in education. Why title nine is there and why we need teachers that view men and women, girls and boys as equal. Why woman need to stand up for themselves and tell people what they want and what they mean. Girls need to be taught to be confident. Girls need to know that their opinions are as valid as any Boys. They need to know when they say no…its no, it not let’s negotiate…it NO! Just like when a man says no.

I enjoyed all the monologues… Except for one…
At RIC, there was one performance for me that disturbed me. The performance by the young women was good, great even, but the end of the story didn’t sit well with me. It was The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could. It’s based on a true story, as are all the monologues, and was kept as the true story is told. It’s a set of memories a young girl has of her vagina that are awful: 5years old – mother tells her to stop scratching her vagina, 7 y/o boy punchers her vagina, 9 y/o bouncing on bed hurt vagina on bedpost and needs stitches, 10 y/o raped at parents house party by fathers best friend , father shoots friend, doesn’t see father for 7 years, 13 y/o vagina is a “red”, she calls it a“bad luck zone”, 16 y/o (this story is true but in the original version she is 13 in later versions she is 16??) meets a gorgeous 24 y/o women that lives down the street. The woman invites her into her car, ask her if she likes boys and she tells her no. The woman kisses her and sticks her tongue in her mouth and tells her to relax and feel it. Woman asks her Mother if she can have a sleep over and she can because the woman is young and successful and beautiful. It goes on to describe how the woman gives her alcohol, gives her a nightgown and seduces her for the night. For many this is finally a positive experience for this girl and her vagina. For me it’s an adult seducing and raping a child. How would this story play out for everyone if the woman was an attractive man? Would it be different? It’s all the same only a man did this to her…took her home, gave her alcohol, a nightgown, and had sex with her…how do you feel about it? It’s against the law people! You feel for this little girl and her bad experiences but there are other ways to make her feel better about herself and her vagina, there are other stories that could be shared. I thought about my daughter and if this happened to her - positive experience or not – she is 13 or 16 the person is 24 basically a stranger – a one night stand – they’re going to jail! I researched this monologue on line after and I was happy to find others that feel the same - I have support.

This blog is getting way too long and there are many other monologues so take a look at this link if you’re reading this and have an interest.

V-Day has been created through the interest in the Vagina Monologues and there are tremendous amounts of money raised to support the ending of violence against women. I happen to DVR and watch a segment on Oprah last week regarding violence against woman that I feel really talks to this topic. The guest on the show was Gavin de Becker and he has written a book titled The Gift of Fear. Oprah’s website has a lot of information from the show that is amazing for anyone that may need this information to aide them in identifying if they are in a relationship with someone that is possibly violent.

Gavin de Becker talked a lot about signs to look out for that maybe weren’t obvious ones for some women because your boyfriend, fiancé or husband may not hit them, but really fall under intuition and instinct. For example: a man being persistent, blaming others, symbolic violence – rips pictures, gets rid of things from your past relationships. Women are victims of violence every 4 minutes in the United States - please don’t be one of them or let someone you know be one of them. This mosaic is a list of questions that will help you or someone you know determine if they are in a potential abusive relationship – please link to it if you need to or want to learn more. You can’t do it alone – get help.

I enjoyed my night at the Vagina Monologues and watching those young, confident and brave women perform on stage. I really enjoyed reaching this online and learning all the work V-Day does for the fight against violence against women. What a fight we all still have.