More on The Vagina Monologues

Friday 2 March 2007

Navneet Jaswal, one of my current students in Social Justice, had this to say about the recent Friday evening performance of Una’s The Vagina Monologues.

I went to The Vagina Monologues for the first time in 2005, the second semester of my freshman year. I was a self-proclaimed feminist, and I was thoroughly uncomfortable during most of the two hours I was there. Entering Tegler auditorium that night and listening to twenty fellow SLU students talk about vaginas, even hearing them say the word vagina, was just plain weird no matter how much I believed in equal rights among genders. On the walk back home to Reinert that night though, I caught myself incredibly at ease with the word that, for me at least, was reserved strictly for biology class—vagina.

That was two years ago. I have since taken up women’s studies as a major, and this past weekend I had the privilege of watching many of my classmates and friends perform in this invaluable production. Rachel, my classmate and the incredible director of this year’s show, gave an insightful and thought-provoking introduction to the Monologues, one which stuck with me throughout the show, one which I wish I would have heard freshman year. She explained that at points we would laugh, we might cry, but odds are that we would definitely be uncomfortable. It is from this discomfort that we gain value and meaning from the accounts of so many women across the world who share the same problems. Rachel challenged us to take hold of our thoughts and emotions during these moments of discomfort and ask ourselves what about them made us giggle, cringe, or disagree. Hopefully, people took her advice.

What made this year’s experience especially meaningful for me (besides watching friends put aside their nerves and perform for the greater good) was attending it with a friend who was a non-women’s studies major, and who was also thoroughly uncomfortable. Looking to my right and seeing her shocked expression during “Hair,” “My Angry Vagina,” and “Smell,” made me feel a bit sorry for making her join me on a Friday night, thinking that I had quickly exhausted friend capital that I would have to make up by taking her out to dinner, or something of that nature. To my surprise however, during intermission we started what would be a conversation that is still not over. As a women’s studies student, the issues discussed in The Vagina Monologues have become so comfortable that I almost forgot what it is like to be discovering them for the first time, or more importantly, to be discussing them with someone else for the first time. That new discussion with my friend was the high point of my evening. I came to the realization that every time you hear The Vagina Monologues, you learn something new. Maybe something about women before you, maybe something about your friends, and if you’re lucky, by the end of the night you might know yourself a little better. Two years after the first time I saw them I was still uncomfortable at points (particularly during the “Cunt” chant, still can’t really get over that). The difference now is that I am able to channel that discomfort into learning more about myself. As for my friend and her first Vagina Monologues experience, I think that she got a lot out of it as well. I joked with her at the end by saying that she just got a two-hour, intense version of an entire semester of Intro to Women’s Studies. In all honesty though, the night was and always will be an experience of learning and personal growth for its audience and, I’d imagine for its performers too. The Vagina Monologues are incredibly valuable in liberating men and women of all different backgrounds, opinions, and disciplines to re-evaluate the socially constructed stigmas of femininity and female sexuality. I can only hope that the University’s administration has realized the value of this learning experience, allowing us to bring them back on campus next year where they belong.