A greater cause

I am writing this viewpoint in response to Rachel Hoff's "Taking Back the Date" from 2/19/2004. In it, she alleged that Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues does not liberate women, as it claims to, but rather imprisons them, as they are driven to self-identification with, and only with, their sexual organs.

This is as far from the truth as one can get. The ultimate goal of The Vagina Monologues is to explore, celebrate, and acknowledge a subject that has long been taboo. Women's sexual victimization -- rape, assault, genital mutilation, molestation, and lack of reproductive healthcare -- is a global, unfettered phenomenon. In our country, one out of four American women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. The number one cause of death for women of developing nations is birth (thanks to Bush's global gag rule on medical clinics that educate on and provide birth control methods). Genital mutilation, or female circumcision, is still a widespread phenomenon in many African nations, and in some Middle Eastern and South Asian countries, a woman risks death for disclosing she was raped, for the shame it brings upon her family.

These issues are rarely spoken about, and Ensler's The Vagina Monologues brings all of them to the forefront, addressing both the negative and the positive aspects of a woman's sexual experience. A woman is much more than her vagina and Ensler is pushing for an open dialogue on the societal ills that have reduced women to such a limited identification. To think The Vagina Monologues limits a woman to her reproductive organs is an ignorant generalization. The play celebrates a woman's sexuality as an integral part of her being, something she should have power and responsibility over, not something society, culture, religion, or politics should dictate for her.

In claiming that scenes of "rape, genital mutilation, sex, and child-birth" draw viewers by its "pure shock value" is to deny the actual relevance of such issues. Should we never educate the developed world on the plight of women in developing nations because certain words may shock, confuse, or scare people? Ensler is demanding attention to the prevalence of sexual assault on a global scale. The fact that bringing up these "taboo" words stirs such controversy only affirms the conviction that they aren't spoken about enough. And what is the problem with the word "vagina"? In placing it as the title of the show and as the binding subject for each monologue, it is simply opening up the formerly censored discussion on women's sexual experience, be it abuse, pain, happiness, pleasure, love, and yes, even abstinence.

In Ms. Hoff's explanation of the "V-Day phenomenon" she conveniently forgot to discuss the millions of dollars raised each year through The Vagina Monologues' ticket sales that go to rape crisis centers and domestic violence prevention programs all over world. All the proceeds from every college and community performance of this play are donated to local charities dedicated to ending violence against women. This year, the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center will receive all the proceeds from Tufts' performances. This V-Day (which does stand for "violence", as in "victory over violence"), thousands of women will march in Juarez, Mexico, a small town on the Texas-Mexico border in which 90 have been murdered and 300 young women and girls have been kidnapped, raped, and mutilated -- there is not a single convicted perpetrator. The marchers hope to shake the local police out of the complacency they have taken towards these women's stories. A previous V-Day has seen the opening of the V-Day Safehouse in Kenya: a place where girls who have been genitally mutilated can flee to, to receive medical treatment, or where girls being threatened with the procedure can find sanctuary. On another V-Day, Japanese women in Tokyo finally asked for a long-overdue acknowledgement from the Japanese government of the use of young women as sex slaves to Japanese soldiers during World War II.

It is hard to disagree with the V-Day movement Ensler has created. Perhaps its quick and dramatic rise in popularity has to do with the absolute necessity of a dialogue on issues previously silenced in our society, rather than its "enticing" language and "pure shock value".

If you think talking about people's varied sexual experiences and yes, vaginas, is inappropriate, do not buy a ticket, do not contribute to the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, and do not listen. Ignore issues of sexual violence and abuse and remain in your isolating, silencing, yet comfortable, status quo. Just please do not ask a woman who has something to say about her sexuality, her stories of celebration and pleasure or abuse and violence, to keep her story quiet because it makes you feel uncomfortable. She has been silent long enough.

Dana Sussman is a senior majoring in International Relations.