Monday, February 28, 2011

Chico State Vagina Monologues Review


By Sarah Mann

200 interviews conducted, 15 years performed, and limitless reactions, the Vagina Monologues have truly evoked an array of emotions in me.
In its 12th year of production at Chico State, the Vagina Monologues have never failed to bring in a full audience. 
Presented by Associated Student Women’s Center, the Vagina Monologues had its annual spring production this past weekend in the Bell Memorial Union Auditorium.  
Now for those of you, who, like me before this weekend, have little to no knowledge about the creation and basis for the Vagina Monologues, here you go.

It all began in 1996 when a woman named Eve Ensler interviewed 200 women and asked them questions relating to their relationships, sexuality, and violence against women. The responses she got led her to, well, develop a great interest in vaginas. What it seems she gathered is the thought that a way to gain female empowerment is to gain the empowerment of one’s vagina. A parallel if you will.
After a few years of production, however, the idea and intention of the Vagina Monologues changed form, from a celebration of vaginas to campaign the end violence against women.  This is where the V-Day movement comes into play.

V-Day is a movement also started by Ensler in an effort to end violence against women and girls.  Through the thousands of annual benefit performances of the Vagina Monologues, preformed in 45 different languages in 130 different countries, V-Day has raised awareness and of course funds. 
This simple statement encompasses everything V-day and the Vagina Monologues represent.
V-Day dreams of a world in which women and girls will be free to thrive, rather than merely survive” – V-day website
SO anyways, before viewing my first Vagina Monologue, I wanted to get a bit of background and that is what I learned. 
As a first time intern at the AS Women’s Center, and someone who has never taken a women studies course in her life, I have to admit that I fell into that horrible  margin of people who get uncomfortable, make inappropriate jokes, and are simply ignorant about the purpose of what the Vagina Monologues is. 
The stigma that comes along with the words vagina, feminist, and even sex, completely gets torn down after witnessing this phenomenal presentation of activism. Every single one of these monologues encompassed topics from sex and mutilation to emotions of anger and pleasure. From each monologue comes a theme of general female empowerment, yet some are easier to detect then others. Names of these monologues ranged from “My Angry Vagina” to “Reclaiming Cunt” to this year’s annual spotlight act called “Myriam.” 
Barb Foy, a cast member of this year’s production couldn’t contain her enthusiasm for the importance of what the Vagina Monologues mean to her, It has empowered me as a woman,” Foy said, “It has to be done in every city in the world!”  
My first exposure to this production was during a Tuesday night rehearsal last week.  I was taking pictures of the different cast members and then all of the sudden I witnessed “The women who loved to make vaginas happy.”
My initial reaction to this act, which included varied orgasm moans, was shock, then laughter, then true empowerment.  Just after watching one of these real life stories brought to life on the stage, a feeling of riotousness washed over me and I felt the need to jump up on the stage and join those amazing women.

So the bottom line: go see it!

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