Friday, March 07, 2003
Anatomical Correctness
Next week, a group at IUSB will stage a benefit performance for two local agencies. In search of the script, I called the library. “It’s by Eve Ensler,” I told my helpful librarian, who entered the catalogue and started to reel off titles, “Let me see: we’ve got Necessary Targets, another copy, and...” There was a sharp intake of breath, and I knew he’d found the right book. “Oh,” he said, steeling himself, “The.... The Vagina Monologues.” “Yes,” I said, brightly, “that’s it, thanks!”
By now, many people have heard of Eve Ensler’s work. The Monologues have been performed by Hollywood stars, homemakers and college students, from Aspen to Zagreb, to raise awareness and money for organisations that combat violence against women and girls. In 2002, V-Day, the non-profit group that coordinates performances, reported donations of nearly $4 million. Around the world, money has been donated to groups from the Santa Fe Rape Crisis Center to RAWA, a group of Afghan women who ran clandestine schools for girls forbidden education under Taliban rule.
In our community, last year, there were three productions of The Vagina Monologues. At Notre Dame, there was a lively debate in the student paper, featuring condemnations from some who said they didn’t need to see the work to know it was wrong. The St. Mary’s production hit the news, when the administration withheld official blessing, for reasons that weren’t made clear in the press. On the other hand, the productions at IUSB sold out and raised over $4,000 for charity.
Clearly, the play provokes strong reactions. Why? One place to start is with the title, The Vagina Monologues. My librarian’s hesitation over the V-word is a symptom of something much broader. Though our culture is saturated with explicit representations of sexuality - scantily-clad nymphettes are used to sell everything from breath mints to time-shares - we hate to talk realistically about women’s experiences of sex. It’s hard to find a language between the antiseptic of the clinic and the pornographer’s foetid clichés. So, to start a new conversation, Ensler uses taboo words in new contexts, with creative defiance.
The monologues began as interviews with all kinds of women: old women, young women; Jews and WASPS and Catholics; Black women, Asian women, white women. Many were initially reluctant to talk to Ensler about sex, let alone about “down there.” “But,” Ensler says, “once they got going, you couldn’t stop them. They get very excited, mainly because no one’s ever asked them before.”
When we do start to listen to women, we hear a lot of humour. Clearly, feminine bawdiness didn’t die out with the wife of Bath. But we also hear a lot about violence against women. Many of the monologues revolve around experiences of domestic battery, sexual abuse, and violation of women, mostly by men. Lest we dismiss Ensler’s work as exaggeration, some reliable figures should give us pause.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, hardly a radical feminist organisation, 1 in every 6 women in the US has experienced an attempted or completed sexual assault. In 2000, the US Department of Justice reported that 1 in 3 murdered females are killed by a partner, as compared to fewer than 1 in 25 of murdered males. Further, somewhere in America, a woman is raped every 90 seconds.
So, why go to a performance? Why not just write a cheque to support the Women and Children’s Shelter at the South Bend Women’s Y, or the SOS Rape Crisis line? First, because The Monologues offer some compelling insights into relationships. A student of mine last year said he belatedly understood what his ex-girlfriend had been trying to tell him, once he saw the play.
Another reason to go is that Ensler’s work is hilarious. I don’t want to spoil the surprises of the evening, but my favourite moment last year had to do with yodeling in bed. That, and something to do with frozen duck lips. Truly, though, you have to be there.
For Michiana Chronicles, flushed with anticipation, this is Louise Collins.
Links: More information about V-Day / Eve Ensler’s official Vagina Monologues website / Information on the IU South Bend performance.