|
The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play, written by Eve Ensler. It premiered on Off-Broadway in 1996 and won an Obie Award. She originally starred in it, playing all the various women who share their views about their vaginas with the audience; when she left the play it was recast with three celebrity monologists. The production has been staged internationally.
The Vagina Monologues has been criticized by a number of people in the pro sex feminist, gender egalitarian, and individualist feminist movements. Pro-sex feminist Betty Dodson saw the play as having a negative and restrictive view of sexuality and an anti-male bias [1] (http://bettydodson.com/vaginano.htm). Individualist feminist Wendy McElroy shared many of Betty's views [2] (http://www.zetetics.com/mac/ifeminists/2002/0212.html) [3] (http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2000/0803.html). A number of people specifically criticized a chapter in the original version of the book and play called "The Little Coochi Snorcher That Could," and made allegations of double standards and hypocrisy. This chapter recounted the seduction of a drunken thirteen year old girl by a 24 year old woman. At the end of the chapter, this girl says that some would call what had happened a rape, but that if it was then it was a "good rape." Many questioned how feminists and others would react were the 24 year old a man [4] (http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/mcelroy2.html). In subsequent editions of the book and script, the young girl's age was changed to 16 and the phrase "good rape" was omitted, but the scene otherwise remained the same. Some also criticized a section of the play called "Hair," which was seen as having the message that a woman could not be liberated if she chose to shave her pubic hair [5] (http://bettydodson.com/vdaymonobrad.htm).
The play has also been criticized by social conservatives, due to its explicit nature, and has been a target of their protests. For example, the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property denounced it as "a piece replete with sexual encounters, lust, graphic descriptions of masturbation and lesbian behavior." [6] (http://tfp.org/student_action/activities/protests/monologues_protest_2004.htm) The organization credited protests against the play with having resulted in the cancellations of planned performances at sixteen Catholic colleges.
Supporters of the Vaginia Monologues argue that desipite these controversies, the play has done a lot of good as the cornerstone of the V-Day movement, whose participants stage performances of the show worldwide each Valentine's Day. The proceeds from these performances go to programs that assist victims of domestic violence.
External links
|
