The Vagina Monologues is about spreading awareness, and is a movement of ending violence against women and girls. But instead of finding any good in this play, people are letting the word vagina stand in the way. People are allowing themselves to find more negativity in the book than any good.
Recently I gave a copy of The Vagina Monologues to a coworker of mine, and the first thing she said after reading the book was, "If I was to give this book to anybody, I would tear out any of the parts that had to deal with lesbians." I have heard people say that this play makes men feel like dirt, or that in order for the play to be successful in Utah county, they would have to change the name. I know people that would never be able to tell friends, even their own families, that they were in this performance, just because of the title. Also, there are possibly people who have never even heard of The Vagina Monologues who see a poster advertising the play and have no idea what it is actually about, and instantly think the opposite of what this play is really portraying. How is it that people can be so critical? Why are people so passionate about getting rid of the word VAGINA in our society? Are we teaching ourselves that anything to do with vaginas is dirty, obscene, or negative? We have to start out small, with a slight transformation in our minds about vaginas. We can change this to mean something of hope instead of vulgarity. Each person is capable of this transformation of thought process.
Eve Ensler says in the introduction to The Vagina Monologues, "Ending violence against women is actually about each of us being willing to struggle to be a different kind of human being. It means not accepting force as a method of coercion and oppression in our homes and in our world. But really it means examining what is at the root of that need for force. Why are women still muted, controlled, silenced, weakened, and contained? What would happen if they were safe and free? Ending violence against women means opening to the great power of women, the mystery of women, the heart of women, the wild, unending sexuality and creativity of women and not being afraid."
2008 Marks the tenth anniversary of the V-Day movement. Make this your year to see the performance live at UVSC on Tuesday, Feb. 26. at 7p.m.
