The Vagina Monologues should not be dismissed as pornographic accounts of female sexual experiences. Doing so ignores the purpose behind productions of the play. To clarify, these monologues are not a part of the raunchy culture propagated by Girls Gone Wild; their purpose is much different. The Monologues have become an integral part of the V-Day movement to end violence against women. V-Day celebrations have been spreading across campuses all over the country. Ticket sales for productions of The Vagina Monologues raise money that is donated to organizations such as battered women’s shelters, which work to address the issues of violence against women. Those involved are passionately committed to increasing awareness and dialogue about rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation and sexual slavery in order to eliminate these forms of violence and abuse.V-Day and related events can only succeed in this mission if there are venues for women’stories to be heard. Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues shares 200 women’s stories. In a monologue entitled, “My Vagina Was My Village,” a Bosnian woman recounts her experience being raped by soldiers in Croatia. In “The Coochie Snorcher That Could,” an American woman describes her childhood molestation and the subsequent struggle to reconcile with this experience.If people are not reminded of the violence some women experience on a daily basis in the United States and globally, there will never be change. We know one in six American women is a victim from either a complete or attempted rape. Violence is not always sexual, but it often takes that form because it is a way to shame and disempower females. Rape and assaults are about control and not sexual gratification, and these monologues are about women reclaiming the control they have been denied.The Vagina Monologues encourages conversation about these violent acts. What deters people from these conversations is a belief that these monologues are pornographic. Yes, they are graphic. The goal of such description is to educate and dispel the harmful myths about female sexuality that persist to this day. In past centuries, it was believed that women who experienced an orgasm during intercourse would avoid a pregnancy. Such myths condemned the female orgasm as dangerous, leading to a loss of women’s power over their sexual activity. Some recent statistics show that the majority of women do not experience full sexual pleasure during sex. The Monologues and the conversations they inspire allow women in this postmodern world to reclaim their sexual agency and their equal right to sexual pleasure.In truth, the discussion of sex and sexuality in the Monologues is explicit. However, it is not exploitative; it is meant to give voice to the true life experiences of many women. It may make some people uncomfortable due to the frankness of the dialogue, but discomfort is a poor excuse when this issue has far-reaching effects for members of our world. Ensler says, “In order for the human race to continue, women must be safe and empowered,” and it is impossible to imagine the Catholic Church contesting such a humane and righteous aim.
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