It took courage to stand up in front of so many people-even though I was reading other women's words which I had read and performed so many times that they began to feel almost like my own. The emotions of the women interviewed for the monologues were so potent, so real and so honest. Even after having heard it so many times, I still get teary-eyed listening to "My Vagina Was My Village," a dedication to the many women of Bosnia and Kosovo who have been raped in the name of war.
The Monologues, along with generating awareness about violence against women, is a celebration of every self-respecting step taken along the way we've come in the women's movement since giving women the vote and the birth control wars. And it's been a long journey.
Of course, there's a long road still ahead of all of us. Women have yet to be able to walk alone at night without feeling scared and most women and men are still uncomfortable saying "vagina" aloud. But the Monologues are definitely a part of the dancing and skipping along that road. There are diverse voices and experiences juxtaposed in the Monologues to create the richness of a range of perspectives and a variety of encounters. Together, these experiences complement each other and create tension and hopefully understanding. Many of these voices are angry, scared, hurt, funny and controversial. I believe in the power of these honest accounts to jar and generate discussion and thought.
"The Little Coochi Snorcher That Could," the reading about a woman who, among many other memories, remembers a sexual experience with an older woman when she was 13 years old, has generated a lot of discussion about statutory rape. What's important to me is that this is a woman's story as she told it. It's real. It was one woman's experience. She sees it as an incredibly empowering and awakening experience. The Vagina Monologues aren't saying that statutory rape is good, or that lesbian relationships are above the law-they present diverse and powerful voices of women about the "secret" body part, the body part that has so many euphemisms it gets stifled. The point of this monologue was that this experience brought the 13-year-old to love her vagina, and not be ashamed of it or scared of it. The Vagina Monologues honor women throughout the evening, whatever their experience or attitude.
I found an interview that Women.com did with "The Vagina Monologues" author Eve Ensler about "Coochi Snorcher."
Women.com: "What's your response to criticism of your work, for instance, that the 'Coochi Snorcher' monologue, where a 14-year-old girl is willingly seduced by an older woman, glorifies pedophilia?"
Ensler: "Look, the piece is controversial. It's not politically correct. And I assume people are going to have responses to it. I interviewed women, and I told their stories. I didn't make them up. People are going to have problems with people's stories."
Ensler herself is reiterating the importance of being honest in the portrayal of these women's stories, to not pass judgment on their experiences, to hear their voices, to accept other experiences as valid and, ultimately, to learn from what we hear during the Monologues.
As the Monologues strive to make more women aware of their self-worth and to help men understand some of the facets of having a vagina, we progress from "monologues" to "dialogues," generating ways to stop the abuse of women all over the world. In Gloria Steinem's introduction to "The Vagina Monologues," she writes, "With the help of outrageous voices and honest words like those in this book, I believe the grandmothers, mothers, and daughters of the future will heal their selves-and mend the world."
"The Vagina Monologues" are about real women expressing real feelings about being women, sex objects and sexual beings, as well as all the joys and sadness inherent in such identities. I hope Thursday's audience enjoyed the "outrageous voices and honest words" and thought about how these issues are so close to campus.
Every man has a mother or a sister or a friend-these issues should matter to everyone. Cheers and mad props to all the Bobs out there! I salute all the men on campus who were man enough to come. As a woman, seeing men along with the women in that packed room felt really good. Just as it takes courage to perform in the Monologues, I think that it takes courage to be a part of the audience's experience.
The energy in the Red Room on Thursday was intense and wonderful. Somehow the combination-caring about violence against women, becoming comfortable with the word "vagina," supporting and making a stand for women and the sea of red in the room-worked. "YEAH VAGINA!"
Jun Matsui '03 presented as part of The Vagina Monologues.