The Vag Monologues

On Saturday I went with EH to her school's performance of The Vagina Monologues. It was... an experience. For the first 20 minutes, I was awkwardly embarrassed for the women on stage who were clearly themselves embarrassed about having to recite the 37 words and phrases for the vagina. It was awfully uncomfortable for everyone, and I'm pretty sure that the intent of the TVM is to do the exact opposite of making women feel uncomfortable. Instead I think one of the goals of the show is to make women feel comfortable about talking about our lady parts, proud even. But the first few monolgues did not make me feel proud. They made me feel like I wanted to Alex Mack my way outta there! But I didn't. I stayed. And I'm glad that I did.

The show got better and some of the monologues really were thought-provoking. They spoke of all different kinds of voices that women have from all different backgrounds, ages, and sexual orientations. I'm a big fan of people using their voices (poor Ariel!), so I really appreciated TVM in that respect. I still got skirmy at times though and had to maintain composure when during a dramatic monolgue about domestic abuse, two women dressed entirely in black with black ski masks came running on to the stage making wild gestures and shouting things like "Anger!" "Maddness!" "Violence!" It was a bit much.

But even with my tendency to laugh at awkwardness, skits about domestic violence and gender oppression just can't be funny.