Every monologue in the Vagina Monologues somehow relates to the vagina, be it through sex, love, rape, menstruation, mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, the variety of names for the vagina, or simply as a physical aspect of the body.
There have been calls and efforts to make the Vagina Monologues more inclusive of transgender women, and intersex experiences.
What about asexual women? They have been largely ignored by this production. Do you think Eve Ensler should incorporate monologues that asexuals can relate to, or is she incapable of doing so because of her lack of knowledge and experience on the subject matter? Have any of you performed, heard a piece, or aspire to do something that relates to the asexual experience with regards to VM?
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Open Forum: The V(A)gina Monologues?
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7 comments:
Why are intersexed in there? Does it mean ItF (I made that up, but essentially people born intersexed and identify as female)? Because otherwise I don't understand it. I also wouldn't understand why there would be genderqueer or transman monologues, if there are any or anyone pushing for any.
I still see the monologues as being for women, and Id on't think a neutrois monologue about wanting to get rid of their vagina or an intersexed monologue about being happy to not "properly" have either would fit in at all.
RD there are intersex people whose gender identification is female. As well as transwomen who are female.
I also think that people who are unhappy with their vagina should be able to speak up. Just as much of the VM is about embracing or hating periods, etc why can't someone say they hate the idea of sexuality, birth, or having a vagina?
QU, people can (and in fact DO, a LOT) say that they hate the idea of sexuality, birth, or having a vagina. The purpose of the Vagina Monologues is to undo precisely that hatred.
People in many cultures undervalue, hide, shame, abuse and malign the vagina and women. The Vagina Monologues' point is not to be inclusive of every perspective on the topic, but to remove the shame, hate, fear, and filthiness associated with the vagina in the hope that it will empower women to help themselves and illuminate the problem to people who are unaware of it.
People who want to say the opposite are free to do so, but I think it would be silly to call on Eve Ensler to rewrite her show in a way contradictory to the purpose of the show to satisfy our ideas of inclusiveness. It's her show, she gets to cover what she wants.
Thanks for getting me thinking today!
Thalassa being pro-asexuality doesn't necessarily mean you are anti-sexual. Also, I find the show more inclusive of perspectives on various sexual aspects of sexuality, not really the none sexual part. I dunno, thanks for stopping by and leaving input.
Ok, I've been thinking more about this, and I think I understand your point better now. It seems that part of the point of all the pro-Vagina messages in the VM show is so that women can love their vagina and enjoy sex and feel good about that part of themselves. But if what would make them feel good is to feel no pressure to be sexual, then I can see where VM misses that. In all the "rah rah vagina!" messages that say it's okay to enjoy your sex drive and sexual body parts, as opposed to hating the whole kit, there's nothing saying it's okay to opt out of the whole sex drive business.
for some reason, I have never liked the vagina monologues. i don't know why. I am a theatre person too, trendy and artsy enough, but I just really hate it.
Maybe you don't have enough information on The Vagina Monologues.
Go to http://vaginamonologues.iblogger.org/ and look around maybe it will change your mind.
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