I had never been to a production of the Vagina Monologues before. I jumped on the opportunity to go to this event as I had heard numerous good things about the production from those who had seen it in the past. I did not really know what to expect but I was excited to see the topics that this production would cover. I have to say that I was not disappointed by this production. I thought it was very well done and I have to commend those that had the bravery and courage to perform. After the production I was talking to Sara and we both questioned if we would ever be able to go on stage and talk about topics that are seen as very taboo by society.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this production, I think there were still groups that were underrepresented within it. For example, a lot of the monologues were based on a gender binary. The addition of the monologue written by Cornell students did increase the groups discussed, however I wish more than just this one monologue did so. This production also did seem to have a political agenda, especially noticeable during the final scene. I enjoyed this part. It felt very empowering. Overall I am very glad that I attended this event and was able to have this experience.

Last Saturday night I joined a group of other Rose Scholars to go view the heavily advertised “Vagina Monologues”. From the name of the show, I was already pretty off-put. I didn’t have any interest in watching a trans-exclusionary radical feminist skit show on a weekend, but due to a busy week I wasn’t left with another choice but to crowd into Bailey with all the other patrons. Maybe I would be pleasantly surprised after all.

After about the third sketch about vaginal orgasms and various exclamations about pussy power, I was really glad I hadn’t coughed up 10 dollars for this show. Prior to the viewing, our GRF Sarah informed us that the show was based off the 1990’s original, and it was quite obvious. I can see a time when these sketches might have been groundbreaking or taboo, but in this day and age the message is outdated and a little ignorant. The majority of the sketches reinforced the idea that having a vagina and knowing your way around it is essential to being a woman, which completely excludes the transgendered community and other groups that identify as female without the reproductive genitalia. Other issues I had with the production were the seemly random interjections of woman’s issues in between sketches.  What’s the point of bringing up the struggles of homeless females in the United States if you aren’t going to elaborate or shed more light on the topic? Overall, with the huge platform they are given, the show would do better to update their sketches to better reflect current woman’s issues and not cater specifically to the cis-gendered.

With all that said, the performers themselves were great and committed completely to the roles they played. The show itself, however, was just not my cup of tea.

Watching the Vagina Monologues was overall an experience that I’m glad I’ve had.  Many of the stories were extremely valuable stories to hear.  The two that I found the most powerful were the story of a Bosnian woman  who was raped over and over to the point of physical mutilation during the war in Yugoslavia, and the story of an old woman who was mocked by her first date for getting aroused at a kiss and then lived the rest of her life as a virgin out of shame.  There were funny moments, touching moments, and plenty of the “scandalous” discussion of sexuality that the title promises.

The first time I watched a girl have a fake screaming orgasm on stage, I was taken-aback and impressed at the audacity in exactly the same way that the very title “Vagina Monologues” is intended to take-aback and impress.  However, the eighth time I watched a girl have a fake screaming orgasm on stage, I was beginning to be less impressed.

I was disappointed with the lack of variety in the messages of the stories that were told.  I was also disappointed in the failure of the show to address some very important modern issues related to sexuality and sexual health.  Not including the intro and conclusion, on the program I count 4 acts that covered: genital mutilation, rape in war-torn areas, childbirth, and violence against transgender women (I suppose was a nice gesture, but it came across as a sorry attempt to gloss over the fact that the very premise of the rest of the show seems to define womanhood as having a vagina, which is inherently exclusionary to transgender women).  These acts were rather smothered among the remaining 13 acts that ALL conveyed the general message that “Your vagina is yours, unique, and natural. You should not be ashamed of it or of sex.”  Which is not to say that that’s a bad message.  It’s true, and it’s something that should be known.

However, as Sara pointed out beforehand, the Vagina Monologues was written out of a 90’s movement — and that was very evident.  I can only assume that dispelling the shame and mystery about sex for women was a huge, huge deal at the time.  This is 2017 though.  I was born just after the Vagina Monologues premiered, and I’ve been hearing things like this my entire life, I suspect due to a mass movement to normalize comfort with your body and your relationship with sex.  Your body is yours, sex should be fun, etc.  Maybe there are other countries, or other places in this country, where this message is still new and risqué.  Maybe I speak from a limited perspective as someone who grew up in a non-religious household in a liberal city.  Ultimately though, I don’t think that sex and orgasms are the mystery that they might have been to women who grew up 40 years ago.  A 3 second google search returns 27.5 million results about “how to have an orgasm”.  Everything from Cosmo articles to Web.md to a Columbia University advice column.  Any porn site (or for that matter any general media site like tumblr or reddit) can instantly show you people having sex any way you could possibly want to see it.  BDSM, gay/lesbian, group sex.  Advice and communities and information and straight up porn about anything you could possibly be into.  I assure you, to those of us living in the modern world, sex and sexual organs are not a mystery.

For instance, one section of the show was introduced as the story of a homeless woman who was interviewed in a shelter.  The section then went on to mention absolutely nothing about homelessness.  Or homelessness and sexual assault, dealing with periods as a homeless woman, or homelessness and its prevalence among the LGBT community.  Now, the story that was told instead was in itself a powerful one to tell: a young girl is taught that her vagina is something to be hidden and ashamed of and then raped at the age of 10.  However, save for the sentence or two about the rape itself, the vast majority of this story continued into a long, detailed account of the woman’s one-night stand with a female neighbor, through which she learned to love sex.  Then, this story was sandwiched in among a dozen other stories of very similar focus.  A woman goes to a workshop and finally finds her clitoris.  A woman has sex with a partner who thinks her vagina is beautiful.  A woman finds that she likes being a professional dominatrix more than being a lawyer.  Etc.  Etc.

And yet, for a play that is so heavily and even exclusionarily centered on the literal, physical vagina, it included absolutely nothing about abortion rights.  Nothing about birth control.  I suppose many of the stories could be interpreted as sort of oblique references to the importance of sexual knowledge, but there was absolutely no advocacy for effective sex education.  Planned Parenthood was not mentioned once.  There was a brief section on how short skirts aren’t invitations, but the discussion of campus rape that followed took the general attitude that, “You can get raped even if you do everything right.”  Which is true.  It is not, however, the strong stance on combating rape and sexual harassment that I wanted to hear.  There was no discussion about protecting your friends and helping strangers out of bad situations, no mention of the decision to press charges or not, no hotlines or ways to get support mentioned, and not even any general discussion about the meaning and importance of consent. Despite the pages in the program about the “V-day” movement, as far as I remember domestic violence was mentioned only in a 10 second remark expressing pity towards a girl who didn’t think her abusive relationship was a problem.

With the massive recent changes to our idea of what gender is, being a woman isn’t about having a vagina anymore.  This production, in the modern times, could have been a great platform to talk about what exactly femininity is and the roles that it plays in our lives.  Even aside from more discussion of sexual harassment, consent, and domestic violence, there are so many topics that could have been interesting, inclusive, and relevant.  Why are things like sports and computers considered inherently unfeminine?  Why are so many things largely enjoyed by women considered infantile and stupid?  What about the pressure to have children and “settle down”?  What about rights for parental leave?  Women in STEM?  What about body image?  Makeup and clothing?  What about the idea that both being “too feminine” and being “not feminine enough” seem to attract scorn?  What about media and self esteem?  I understand that no singular show could address all of these issues to any reasonable depth, but to address none of them?  This production was not about femininity, about being a woman, or about women’s issues.  Instead this was, as I suppose the title promised, a play that was very literally about vaginas, complete with vagina pictures, vagina stories, vagina descriptions, and vagina metaphors.

I suppose this was simply not intended to be the show that I wanted it to be.  Maybe it was just a bit outdated and really didn’t aspire to do anything but raise awareness for female genitals.  Maybe it was intended to be very sensitive to the opinions of anti-abortion/anti-birth control portions of the population, and therefore not bring up those issues.  However.  HOWEVER.  The ending was particularly baffling.  To conclude this show in which just about no controversial issues were addressed, the performers all gathered on stage and shouted, “This is what democracy looks like!”, as though they’d just rallied us all with a defiant and poignant political statement.  I did not feel particularly rallied.  Or perhaps I did, but more by what the production failed to say rather than by what it said.  The Vagina Monologues is a show that leaves all the worms safe and cozy in their cans.

This was the second performance of The Vagina Monologues I’ve seen. The first time was 2 years ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed it to the point that I thought about auditioning for it. After watching this year’s performance, however, I was glad I didn’t – more on this later. One thing I noted was that they never said that pictures and videos of the performance not be taken, unlike their request in the previous performance I had seen. Especially with the increased amount of skin and cast members just in their underwear, I felt uncomfortable seeing others take pictures and videos which could end up floating around without the cast’s permission.

Before leaving Rose House, GRF Sara asked a couple of questions about the relevancy of the language and conversation in a play written in the 90s and if staging such a play has political motive. I understand the concern that the play may be outdated in a sense. Heck, my first exposure to The Vagina Monologues was from a Mad TV sketch on youtube several years ago. But I never really felt it was too outdated. From my point of view, the play isn’t on the cutting edge of gender and sexuality issues, but I don’t think it ever was supposed to be. They add in stories and statistics from more recent years, but I’m not convinced that it means the play is trying to represent all gender and sexuality issues.

For me, the play is should be looked as a play about what the title tells you – vaginas. I think that the scenes are still relevant to many today, though they might be seen as too outdated my very progressive people. I wasn’t raised to think liberally about my body and sexuality or to embrace all things associated with having a vagina, and I think things like this play really help start a conversation for those not accustomed to those ideas. Like someone mentioned afterwards, it was surprising and empowering to see a crowd applauding talking about vaginas, and I don’t think it’s necessary to try and make it wholly comprehensive.

Once criticism of the play I can definitely agree with is the skewed negativity towards men. There were a lot of stories about negative sexual experiences with men, and the one scene that wasn’t was clearly introduced with the tone that this was an uncommon event. On the topic of how they introduced scenes, this production was pretty different from the last one I had seen, despite the fact that they included many of the same scenes. The staging was dynamic and unique enough and the cast was great at portraying exaggerated characters to get an audience reaction. One production choice that struck me as even more interesting was the scene about transgender experiences. The last production, if I’m remembering correctly, did not attach bodies or even faces to the stories, but the staging choice here was quite clearly representing transgender issues stepping out from behind shadows to be seen. This is the kind of change I can more easily understand, as in the past two years, there has been a lot more progress in public awareness of transgender issues.

The inclusion of the Cornell student-written segment was definitely a better reflection of the current conversation of body acceptance, what makes a woman a woman, and experiences that align more with the time period we grew up in. This, however, marked the beginning of the end of my enjoyment of the production. While I can’t remember exactly how the play ended the last time I saw it, I was disappointed by the ending this year. When Sara asked the question about the play being a political act, I thought that was baseless because from my previous experiences with it, it was more of a social movement to get people more comfortable talking about sex. The ending of this production, however, was clearly politically motivated.

There were certain things I could understand – the pink pussyhats for example. Other things seemed unnecessary for this performance. I get that current political situation in America is not ideal, and I too am frustrated when I see the same face dominating the news. But I don’t think that the production over-politicized the play. Sure, calling out a comment about grabbing someone by the pussy is relevant, but protesting the wall and the ‘this is what democracy looks like’ chant don’t fit with the intent of the play. While I agree with many of the issues they threw in in the closing scene, this was one time I felt extremely distant from the sentiment of social justice warriors and a liberal college campus. It seemed like most of the play was negated by the ending – that the message they wanted to get across was not about female empowerment, but about their dissent against the president. The ending left me with such a bad feeling that I didn’t feel motivated to applaud the cast on an otherwise good performance, but felt like if I didn’t, people would judge me for not supporting the cause. I don’t know how this post will be received, but all I wanted to say was that while I generally agree and support the want voice opinions, I feel like there’s a right place and time and that the ending to this performance muddled the original intent.

And you should too, because we all came from one. I enjoyed the Monologues- it was humorous and reminded us of a lot of societal and human rights issues that still, sadly, plague this world. Admittedly, I found the play to be a little over-the-top when it came to trying to make you laugh; for example, the moaning scene that felt like it lasted a wee bit too long, or the cunt scene which was gratuitously theatrical.

I was the only male that went with the Rose Scholars group because my friend ditched me (ugh… men, am I right?), but I wasn’t the least bit lonely. There were men in the audience, sure, but through chatting with the people around me and watching the play, I felt that the Monologues created a sense of acceptance, especially since it also highlighted the concerns of the LGBT community, whose members at times may have felt alone in ways I cannot imagine. And some of the horrifying stories told on stage made even me wince and clench my legs together.

So even though the play would be sexual for the sake of being sexual (and sometimes egregiously so), I would definitely recommend this play to any feminist, of any sexuality, of any gender. I would recommend this play to anyone who wants to smile (and cringe a little). I gotta say, it was really, really weird to see a school play where they talk about sex so openly and so… vulgarly. But hey, they say a man thinks about sex every 7 seconds right? Might as well be productive and cultured when I do.

I went to the Vagina Monologues last year, but that did not diminish the fresh, raw nature of the play this year. Once again I was blown away by the number of strong, brave women we have at this school. The subject matter of the play is intense, and often “embarrassing”, sometimes requiring graphic displays and/or sounds. The audience loves it, but the guts it would take to be the one doing it would have to be made of solid steel.

When I think about why I love this play so much, myriad answers come to mind. But the one that stands out the most is that I just love seeing a bunch of women get up on stage and tell the world how proud they are to be women. It’s empowering to see, and I leave each year feeling just a little bit stronger and braver myself. I feel like maybe one day I can be as proud of my body as the women who were interviewed by the play’s creator. Another reason I love the play is that it is brazen–it does not quail from shocking statements or lewd jokes–it is bold, unadorned, and unapologetic. Exactly what women’s empowerment movements are all about. And that may be the true reason why this play always inspires me–because in its core, I sense the history of female revolution. I watch this play and am reminded of the countless women who boldly stood up for their right to exist as equal members of society. I am reminded that there are many more issues to fight for today, and that I too must do my part.