The Vagina Monologues

Okay, so when I was told that the Vagina Monologues were coming to Chico State again and I could see it for a cultural event, my roommate and I jumped on the bandwagon and bought tickets.  Since I was freshman at Chico State I have heard the words “vagina monologue” floating around campus about the same time each year and wondered what in the world it was about.  I have been intrigued for years and was glad to finally have an excuse to go (an assignmentJ).   My roommate is in a women and politics class, so they discussed the play and watched the promotional video.  From what she understood, it was a play to increase awareness about domestic violence.  I was prepared for anything.

To give a little more background about the production, Eve Ensler is the author of The Vagina Monologues, which has been translated into over 45 languages and is shown, in theatres all over the world.  The performance is based on more than 200 interviews with women and their feelings on their vaginas and experiences they’ve had.  With humor and beauty the play was created to celebrate women’s’ strength and sexuality. 

Sounded pretty intriguing to me, so I was ready to go.   I have to say it wasn’t exactly what I expected.   I need to start off by saying that I’m not a very shy person, and talking about the famous V doesn’t really bother me or rub me the wrong way, so I definitely didn’t feel uncomfortable.  The lovely array of actress’ all dressed in black and red came out to great the audience to give us a little background about the program.  Then, one by one different women would come forward and deliver a monologue varying from titles like, “Vagina Workshop,” “The Memory of her Face,” and my personal favorite, “My Short Skirt.”  I liked this one because it didn’t just talk about vaginas, but the main point was that what women wear should not be a mechanism for a man to come on to her!  This is what I thought the monologues were going to be about; more about domestic violence.  In reality, I felt like it was an hour and a half of VAGINA POWER! Which is okay I suppose, but for me, it was a little much.  I don’t feel like I need to be told to love my vagina.  It’s a part of me, yes, but I don’t feel the need to give it a nick-name.  I understand its importance and am all about women power, but I don’t feel the need to be so outspoken about my vagina.