I remember reading Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" my sophomore year of high school when my friend, Emily, handed it to me in the middle of class, whispering that it was about vaginas and sex. So I figured, why not? It seemed interesting.
I got weird looks from my classmates when they got a look at the title.
It was a relatively tiny book, with a very simple cover. "The Vagina Monologues" was written in bold, with white letters on a black background. I carried it around, reading it during my classes.
"What's that about?" "That's so weird." "I don't need to know about other peoples' vaginas."
And of course, I'd answer in the nicest way possible that a lot of people don't know much about their own bodies. The book is about self-discovery and exploration, as well as the meaning of having (and not having) a vagina in today's society.
After finishing the book, I become more aware of the troubles that affect women. I learned what real, intersectional feminism is, and I learned that a lot of the things people with vaginas go through are almost universal.
Recently, I was able to see a live-action reading of "The Vagina Monologues" at UNLV. It was phenomenal. Women of several races, sizes and backgrounds were chosen to speak selected pieces from the "Monologues." There were moments of awkward silence in the beginning, but that soon faded, since it seemed like almost everyone in the crowd started to relate and sympathize with the stories.
When the narrators finished their own pieces and the spotlight acts were done, we came to the end of the performance. The crowd was asked two questions:
If you are comfortable with it, please stand up if you have been a victim of sexual violence.
About half of the crowd stood.
If you know someone who is a victim of sexual violence, please stand.
Then the entire crowd was standing.
Tears welled in my eyes after I stood up in response to the second question.
"The Vagina Monologues" isn't just a book or play filled with funny and sad stories from women, it's also about the incredibly high rate of sexual violence that plagues our nation today.
By the end of the performance, I could tell by the atmosphere that everyone felt the gravity of the problems that many people face and struggle with on a daily basis.
I left that theater with renewed pride in being a feminist. "The Vagina Monologues" taught me more than anybody else about myself and the women I surround myself with. It taught me that the word "vagina" should be normalized just like the word "penis" and its slang terms. It taught me that none of us are free until we are all free (Carmella Gadsen, Director of The Vagina Monologues for UNLV V-Day 2017).
