“I bet you’re worried. I was worried … I was worried about what we think about vaginas, and even more worried about what we don’t think about them.” So begins Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues,” which was performed this week at Rudder Auditorium. It created quite a controversy last year when it was performed for the first time on the Texas A&M campus, and this year has proven to be no different. There remains to be a large, underground, anti-Vagina Monologue movement coupled with those who are too ignorant to look past the “V-word” in the title and appreciate the production for its raw display of femininity, sexuality, self-appreciation, or lack of it.
Don’t be ignorant.
As far as many are concerned, anything with the word “vagina” flagrantly displayed for the public to see is too crude for an ordinary person’s taste. The word is immediately associated with sex, and since many do not like to openly discuss sex, using the word “vagina” is just as taboo as talking about sex itself. There cannot be a more perfect example of an invalid hypothetical syllogism than the one above.
From the title alone, there are a million and one assumptions to be made about the actual premise of the play. In reality, there is only one principle behind “The Vagina Monologues.” This is not some raunchy, vulgar outlet to promote sex, but rather part of Eve Ensler’s crusade to wipe out the shame and embarrassment that many women still associate with their bodies or their sexuality, as The New York Times wrote in its 1999 review of the play.
While many of the monologues are funny, such as the one that asks different women what their vaginas would say if they could talk, there are also those that deal with more difficult topics such as rape and subjugation.
A particular monologue, entitled “My Vagina was My Village” was written for the tens of thousands of women in Bosnia who have been raped as a “systematic tactic of war,” according to Eve Ensler’s introduction for this piece. It is littered with imagery, sexual and violent, yet is done in such a manner as to convey the underlying significance of its theme.
For those who say this piece is vulgar and distasteful, they are doing nothing more than blatantly ignoring the vulgarity of rape itself, as well as the physical and emotional scars left behind after the crime is committed. Other monologues are pure shockers. Ears will burn, cheeks will flush, and a few may even avert their eyes. Why is it that we can discuss politics, religion, and even sports without thinking twice about it, yet blush at the mere fact of discussing our own bodies? We know our bodies better than we will ever know about the intrinsic workings of today’s political systems, but we refuse to talk about them.
“The Vagina Monologues” ends with a powerful piece called “I Was There in the Room.” It has nothing to do with sex — not directly, anyway — and everything to do with vaginas. It describes an account of a woman witnessing childbirth in all its agony and glory. “The heart is able to forgive and repair. It can change its shape to let us in. It can expand to let us out. So can the vagina.” It adds a tender touch to an edgy production and makes us think about the overall role of the vagina beyond a sexual connotation.
Get your ticket for tonight’s show and enjoy.