#&%$@! monologues

[keryx]

So, this post on the feminist community about the Vagina Monologues reminded me of how much I hate that production.

I mean, leave aside the fact that it's pretty bad theatre. Cause it's not supposed to be theatre - it's a political/personal happening. It still annoys me. Eve Ensler annoys me.

Y'all can kick me out of the Great Sisterly Clubhouse for bashing a so-called feminist event if you want, but there it is. VM doesn't represent feminism so much as it represents sisterhood, and those aren't the same things [ETA: I've written a bit more on that topic before, too.].

A while back, I wrote a piece on my blog about my distaste for a) the word "vagina" [SHEATH!? I think not.] and b) Eve Ensler's approach to the world. I stand by it. Being defined by biology, being reduced to a single part, doesn't feel powerful to me.

Comments

[rackletang.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's it, marry me.

[keryx.livejournal.com]

But the state won't recognize it!

I have to know... what does Jesus smell like? I'm thinking patchouli.

[kitty-pitchfork.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with ya there. Eve bugs me, too, for the same reasons. BUT! I did see a really good P.O.V. last year about a creative writing workshop she conducts with women prisoners in New York, where she got them writing and talking about the crimes they'd committed, the violence in their lives and relationships, their feelings about being in prison, etc. Powerful stuff, and much more compelling than I'm making it sound (although the fact that she brought in celebrities to read thier stuff to the entire prison sorta tweeked me out, but hell, the ladies themselves loved it, so...). It redeemed her in my eyes somewhat.

[kitty-pitchfork.livejournal.com]

And I should also add...there was no talk of vaginas! At all!!

[missmeridian.livejournal.com]

but i will reiterate my biologist pro-"vagina" position - i firmly believe that using this word in a clinical, non-sexual manner can destigmatize sex from morality to biology. the scientific term is "vagina" and that's the word we have to use when something's medically wrong, so from a sex-ed/human-health perspective i feel it's important to say it early and often.

[peregrin8.livejournal.com]

Frankincense and myrrh! And, um, stable.

btw... when I saw the "Monologues" in DC (sans Ensler) there was a whole part about shouting the word CUNT at the tops of our lungs. It was fun. Though I wasn't that into the rest of the play...it seemed kinda...remedial? But it seemed like it was revelatory to some of the more elderly folks in the crowd.

[peregrin8.livejournal.com]

Sure, if that's where the actual problem is... doesn't it bug you, though, when women use the word "vagina" as if it referred to the entire vulva?

[missmeridian.livejournal.com]

well sure. and probably because they giggled their way through sex-ed and didn't learn a damn thing.

[rackletang.livejournal.com]

Probably. Damn hippies. :)

[momsmilkrules.livejournal.com]

I agree that it isn't really about feminism, and I agree on being reduced to a part, but then there is the other part of me that thinks it is so cool that this is "accepted". Many people are hearing stories about the sexual lives of women(mainly women).
So it isn't an exact pooling of society, was it meant to be? I think she has done some cool stuff. I wish I could say that I had done some of the things she has to make people more aware... like of mutilation in not just other countries, but ours.
Also on the vagina word, I think it sucks that so many people can't seem to say it. It is apart of our bodies. I like to use correct terminology and speak of the whole... so my daughters refer to their "parts" as vulva's. This irked me during the show.
(I guess being nominated for the VW award could have jaded me though:X)

[totorochan.livejournal.com]

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Anne M Miller