The Truth About the Vagina Monologues
Michael Rosario
Professor Stone
COMM 1010-60 Experiencing Theatre
April 24, 2013
The Truth About the Vagina Monologues
First things first. VAGINA is NOT a bad word. It is a biological term. A medical reality. A reproductive necessity. It is not perverted to say the word or acknowledge its presence. In fact will all those who don’t have a problem with the word in the audience, please raise their hands. Ok, good. Now can we please whisper the word. .vagina.. a little louder please..Vagina.. Now can we scream it out at the top of our lungs please.. VAGINA!!! There, its out in the open. No need to be shy.
For anyone who doesn’t know, The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler. Each monologue deals with an issue relating to the vagina. Topics cover everything from love and masturbation to rape and mutilation. Understandably, there are elements to Ensler's play that some may find objectionable, but to dismiss it entirely seems to demonstrate a callous disregard toward the personal sentiment of other members of the feminist community. For many, The Vagina Monologues has been an affirming and transformative experience. The play's exploration of female sexuality, sexual assault and other topics of female empowerment is a powerful display of self-ownership and the reclamation of power that has been used against women in the United States and abroad. To blithely denigrate the importance of this play is a clear exhibition of the True Feminists' exclusivity and disregard for the full spectrum of feminist ideology.
However for some like me even though the play was well performed, it still provided me with some disturbing realizations that I do not condone nor accept to be true. It’s not the open discussion of sex that caused the discomfort, but the generalization of women, the idea that a vagina is what makes a woman, and most of all the reduction of all women to vaginas. Women are more than vaginas. The Vagina Monologues presents the idea that all
Professor Stone
COMM 1010-60 Experiencing Theatre
April 24, 2013
The Truth About the Vagina Monologues
First things first. VAGINA is NOT a bad word. It is a biological term. A medical reality. A reproductive necessity. It is not perverted to say the word or acknowledge its presence. In fact will all those who don’t have a problem with the word in the audience, please raise their hands. Ok, good. Now can we please whisper the word. .vagina.. a little louder please..Vagina.. Now can we scream it out at the top of our lungs please.. VAGINA!!! There, its out in the open. No need to be shy.
For anyone who doesn’t know, The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler. Each monologue deals with an issue relating to the vagina. Topics cover everything from love and masturbation to rape and mutilation. Understandably, there are elements to Ensler's play that some may find objectionable, but to dismiss it entirely seems to demonstrate a callous disregard toward the personal sentiment of other members of the feminist community. For many, The Vagina Monologues has been an affirming and transformative experience. The play's exploration of female sexuality, sexual assault and other topics of female empowerment is a powerful display of self-ownership and the reclamation of power that has been used against women in the United States and abroad. To blithely denigrate the importance of this play is a clear exhibition of the True Feminists' exclusivity and disregard for the full spectrum of feminist ideology.
However for some like me even though the play was well performed, it still provided me with some disturbing realizations that I do not condone nor accept to be true. It’s not the open discussion of sex that caused the discomfort, but the generalization of women, the idea that a vagina is what makes a woman, and most of all the reduction of all women to vaginas. Women are more than vaginas. The Vagina Monologues presents the idea that all