On behalf of V-Day, the global movement to stop violence against women and girls, the vagina will once again be the center of attention this weekend. Sponsored by the Women's Initiative and Choice USA, AU students will perform 20 monologues from the book that started it all: Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues."
Based upon interviews with a diverse group of women, "The Vagina Monologues" has drawn back the curtain and revealed the hidden excitement of the vagina.
"The Vagina Monologues" have not only aroused ease with the word "vagina," but they have also been associated with non-violence. The V-Day movement, which stands for "victory, valentine and vagina," heads the annual productions of "The Vagina Monologues" around the world. This year, V-Day will spotlight Juarez, Mexico. Here, many women have disappeared or been murdered, and many are tortured or beaten on a regular basis.
This is the fourth year that the monologues have been performed at AU, and student director Jessica Tacka is happy with the more politicized attention "The Vagina Monologues" has received in recent years.
"Not only are more people talking about it and writing articles about it on college campuses, but it has developed into a world movement where places like Islamabad and Vietnam translate the monologues into their own languages," said Tacka.
This being said, the monologues performed this year range from comical twists like "What would it Wear," in regards to dressing up a vagina, to "Coochie Snorcher," about an African American woman finding love in a woman's shelter, to "In Memory of Her Face," in which women share their experiences living in Islamabad, Baghdad and Juarez.
As the V-Day movement erupts all over the world, so does its progress on the AU campus. The Women's Initiative is in the process of bringing the Clothesline Project to AU. This mission began in Massachusetts in 1990 to address the issue of violence against women. A clothesline of T-shirts will be hung displaying the stories and emotions of several abused women.
There will also be display tables of different organizations, such as Project Hope and TNT, before and after the performances. This is a way for both men and women to get involved or to be informed about certain issues pertaining to the women's initiative in general.
"The group of women this year is passionate about what 'The Vagina Monologues' support, and there is a lot of positive energy in the show," said senior Sheena Luke, who performed in the monologues last year and returns this year.
For more information about V-Day visit www.vday.org, and for information on the Clothesline Project visit www.clotheslineproject.org.
