The Vagina Monologues

Until I first experienced The Vagina Monologues one very late night on HBO, I was mostly indifferent to my role as a woman on this planet. Being 16 and plagued by the preoccupations of boys and school I never really took the time to understand the meaning and beauty of being a member of such a wonderful sex.

My views on the symbolic meaning of my vagina changed when I saw Eve Ensler perform the monologue "I Was In The Room." The monologue describes Ensler's witness of the birth of her granddaughter. Towards the end of the monologue Ensler compares the wonders of the vagina to the heart, "It can live for us, it can bleed for us, it can die for us." I was moved to tears and was motivated to see the rest of the play. It was beautiful and empowering and made me really appreciate my sex. It gave me a new definition of feminism.

Every woman should see this play. It's somewhat educational and easy to relate to and most importantly, it will move you to truly love yourself.

Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues has had a lot of press, good and bad, since she first compiled her interviews into an entertaining, celebratory, moving, and thoughtful show. What's wrong with talking about something half the population have? What's the stigma here? Ou of this became V-day, against domestic violence and for the protection of women. If it takes a few monologues that make the sensitive uncomfortable to put women on the agenda again in a world where violence against women is often ignored or regarded as trivial, then it is all for the good. And what woman hasn't thought about most of the issues in Ensler's work, even if she's never said it? The film version is a good record of a brave piece of theatre, but to get the full effect see a mixed cast, see a local performance, just don't dismiss it.

The Vagina Monologues, both in book and visual form, is one of the most moving experiences of our times. An attempt to enlighten, entertain and to bring a "taboo" out of the shadows. Why women talking about their sexuality should be considered taboo in the first place escapes me but some of the comments here (especially the ones labelling it "disgusting") seem to be written by people still trapped in the 1950s. The Vagina Monologues is a heartfelt celebration of female sexuality and a condemnation of those who attempt to supress it. Alternating between humor (the list of slang names for the vagina) and more disturbing material (the rape material) the film attempts to take in all aspects and attitudes. A compelling achievement.

I really don't quite know what to make of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES. On the one hand I admire actor Eve Ensler for her versatility in performing so many different monologues embodying the experiences of her interviewees - all of them of different ages, backgrounds, and social experiences. She communicates the thoughts of a prostitute, a New York Jew, a woman experiencing the embarrassing sight of a man staring at her vagina, another person who has never had sexual intercourse, and - most interestingly - the experiences of Bosnian women kept as sex slaves during the civil war of the mid-Nineties.

All of these monologues reflect the desire to bring out into the open a subject normally hidden under the wraps of civilized societies - the significance of the vagina, both personally and socially. Customarily perceived as an object of titillation by men, Ensler shows how it means different things to different people - there are those who would quite happily use the c-word to describe it, even though for many people that would be considered thoroughly offensive.

Ensler is an accomplished performer; we see her backstage in this film, as well as hearing extracts from some of her interviewees who are brave enough to recall their experiences on camera. Ensler herself enjoys keeping an audience amused, and can readily adopt different personae.

On the other hand, there is something almost too controlled about her stage persona. We can admire her technique, but we never feel that she inhabits the roles she plays. Consequently there is a strong sense of mimicry about THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES; rather like a western colonialist, Ensler speaks for her interviewees rather than encouraging them to speak for themselves. This is especially true of her monologue when she impersonates the Bosnian women, which is mediated through Ensler's western consciousness rather than making an attempt to empathize with a culturally distinct experience.

THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES is an entertaining piece, but we can't help but think that it is has been deliberately cleaned, sanitized, and oriented towards the tastes of middle-class Broadway audiences rather than embodying the experiences of socially diverse people.

I am shocked that a third of the reviews written were negative. The Vagina Monologues, while overtly from a feminist viewpoint, are anything but abrasive to men. In fact, I've known more than one male who has been converted to thinking "maybe there might be something to this whole feminism thing after all" from seeing this play. From my not-so-limited experience, the Vagina Monologues has been one of the most moving pieces of literature for feminism, simply because it is not abrasive to masculinity as other "gyno-centric" pieces may be-- also because it mixes joy and pain to give an accurate depiction of womanhood. To make the entire play funny-- and, yes, very witty and clever-- would be to give a glossed-over version that panders to a certain audience and is no better than it should be. To make it completely serious would alienate the audience and betray the play's purpose, which is to open eyes that might have been shut from lingering fingers of "penile-centric" society.

In all, the Vagina Monologues is one of the best-written and well-performed plays I've ever seen, a classic of feminist literature, one that every adult of the 21st century should see. For those readers who are considering seeing the Vagina Monologues for the first time, you will enjoy it, male or female. Unless, of course, you are already prejudiced against the female gender and those working for its equality.