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'Vagina' entertains students
By Regina Eckes
Published:
Monday, February 17, 2003
Media Credit: Blair Schlichte
A panel of women recite the Vagina Monologues to students in Ritsche Auditorium Thursday night. Eve Ensler, who interviewed 200 women about their vaginas, wrote the Vagina Monologues.
"Women secretly love to talk about their vaginas," says Eve Ensler in her book, "The Vagina Monologues" and last Thursday, SCSU did just that along with 656 other schools around the world.
The Women's Center, American Indian Center and several other sponsors held the special presentation that packed Ritsche Auditorium with the young, old, students, women and some exceptionally brave men.
The Vagina Monologues were brought to SCSU for the third year in a row as a project of V-Day. The "V" in V-day stands for victory, valentine and, of course, vagina.
But it is not all about the female anatomy; V-Day has a mission of its own. It was created in 1998 to raise awareness and money to address the problem of violence against women, and it has three main components.
The vision: to see a world where women live safely and freely; the demand: rape, battery, incest and genital mutilation and sexual slavery must end; and the spirit: believing women should spend their lives creating and thriving rather than surviving or recovering from terrible atrocities.
The Vagina Monologues' blatant openness about women has helped generate attention to V-Day and its cause.
People attend the Monologues thinking it will be strictly about vaginas, which plenty of it is, but most come to find the underlying sense of respect and love that men should have towards women, and women should have for themselves and their sexuality.
"The Monologues help raise awareness for women and men because it's a subject we don't talk about frequently; it's something we avoid because it's not common," said Shanna O'Donnell, junior. "I don't think it's a topic that should be avoided. I just think it makes people uncomfortable because nobody speaks about it openly."
Before the actual Monologues began, the SCSU Indian Center drum and dance performers were invited to share their music and dance with the audience as a way to honor women from other backgrounds and cultures.
Often the drum and dance performers open for other women's organizations as a way to celebrate people from all walks of life. The men sang and provided the music while four girls dressed in traditional clothing moved to their native dance.
Besides giving the audience a glimpse into another culture, it prepared people for the many different things they would be witnessing that night.
When the Monologues began, the cast of 15 women walked down the aisles shouting out "vagina" and various other forms of the word.
Any awkwardness felt by the audience was lost in the first few minutes. The cast laid everything out on the table, letting people know very clearly what they were going to be talking about that evening.
The uneasiness people feel when talking about the female body is also a reason O'Donnell believes the Monologues were formed.
"It should be common to talk about because it's just like your head or your hand. It's your body part, therefore is part of who you are," she said.
The Monologues were created after Eve Ensler interviewed over 200 women about their personal experiences with, yes, their vaginas. However, the Monologues were not as superficial as being just about a body part.
Each monologue was different and ranged from evoking groundbreaking laughter, to making people gasp in disbelief. Among the sub-topics covered were sex, masturbation, genital mutilation, menstruation, childbirth, rape and even the different variations of sexual moaning.
While most women were probably able to relate to the stories told in some form or another, the brave men that ventured into the auditorium had just as much of a positive reaction as the women did.
"Um, I think it was about vaginas," said junior Tim Davis. "I was impressed though. I thought it would be talking about sexuality and femininity in more subtle ways, but nope, straight up vaginas."
Other men had the same reaction. They did not know what they were in for but were entertained nonetheless.
Sophomore Tom Pitzl actually went to see a fellow employee in the cast of the Monologues. Although he was surprised at some of the content, he was not uncomfortable at all and found it equally enjoyable.
"Yeah, I laughed a lot and thought it was interesting. It was like Sex Ed (at the) 900 level," Pitzl commented.
A standing ovation led to the conclusion of The Vagina Monologues and people were left with a mixture of emotions. Walking out into the lobby after the show one could hear people quoting lines, laughing at particular jokes and discussing the more important issues of rape and assault against women.
Hearts, candy, flowers and cards are more commonly associated with Valentine's rather than vaginas. But amid the hype, audiences around the globe had the opportunity to support a different kind of V-Day, one that deals with rising up against the violence that goes on unnoticed towards women and making women's sexuality something as easily talked about as men's.
The Vagina Monologues has been a success in past years raising almost $2,000 annually. Proceeds of the Monologues went to First Nation Women, SCSU American Indian Center and Anna Marie's Battered Women's Shelter.
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