I have had some interesting Valentine's Days at Dartmouth, but none of them have focused on vaginas quite as much as this coming one will. On February 14, I will stand in the middle of the Top of the Hop and yell about my anatomy. Fourteen women will join me in this performance of Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues," a collection of personal narratives about exactly what you think they're about. These monologues are being performed as part of a national movement hoping to end sexual violence against women by ending silence about women's sexuality.
When people ask me why I'm am performing these monologues, I attempt to explain the philosophy behind "V-Day." This philosophy is based on the fact that women are never taught to talk about or think about their sexuality. Therefore, as a society, we find it hard to know how to acknowledge violence against women when it is so often of a sexual nature. The purpose of these monologues is to name that most sexual and secret part--vagina--and then to get down and really talk about the good and bad aspects of having one. In this way, our culture will begin to understand women as sexual beings, and will begin to comprehend (although not completely understand) sexual violence against women. It's all a neat tidy circle: the more we talk about things, the more we understand them, the more we can talk about them and understand them.
When people ask me why, though, they really mean why would I choose to stand up there and explain my vagina or someone else's or a culturally collective vagina (or something). I'm not necessarily psyched to have to say the word so many times to so many strangers, but I think it's especially important at Dartmouth to begin to push on the "hiding" that really does seem like a double standard. Women here may talk about sex as much as men do, but they don't exactly celebrate their anatomy as publicly. How many women have you seen pee out a basement door or into a dorm trashcan? How much louder can you say "dick" than "snatch" in the middle of Food Court?
My Vagina Monologue is not going make it easier to use slang in a public place; I don't care if it does. However, I do care that women on this campus feel like they can talk about anything they need to talk about, especially their experiences of sexual violence. If my saying a whole lot of "vaginas" in the Top of the Hop tonight can somehow help open up the space for those important conversations, then it is well worth practicing my V's.
