In hopes of raising campus awareness of violence against females, a group of Dartmouth women gathered yesterday to perform Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" for the third consecutive year.
Seeking to become "vagina friendly," an overflow crowd packed Collis Commonground on Valentine's Day to see the performance, part of the Women's Resource Center's annual sex series.
The crowd, consisting mostly of women, reacted warmly as over 30 Dartmouth students and alumni read monologues from on Ensler's award-winning play.
Published by Ensler in 1998, the play came about as the result of hundreds of interviews she conducted with women who shared their stories of rape, incest, domestic violence and genital mutilation. Its success prompted the creation of V-Day, a Valentine's Day campaign aimed at stopping violence against women.
"I think the idea of choosing Valentine's Day was a way to draw attention to the fact that a lot of this violence is committed in the name of love," said Xenia Markowitt, the outreach coordinator for the Women's Resource Center.
Last night's production marked the third time that the Monologues have been performed at Dartmouth. With each show the Vagina Monologues have grown in popularity, prompting the decision to broadcast yesterday's performance simultaneously on DTV.
The event doesn't enjoy such mainstream status at all of the schools which host it. At Texas A&M, the provocative nature of the content has provoked controversy, drawing fire from conservative and Christian groups.
Organizers of the Texas A&M event had planned to donate proceeds from the event to a women's shelter, but the charity has since said it will refuse any public donations. A member of Young Conservatives of Texas, David Rushing, said, "I think it's radical, leftist propaganda -- feminist filth."
On most of the nearly 550 campuses that stage productions of the Vagina Monologues under the auspices of V-Day's College Campaign, however, the show is quickly becoming a standard feature of Valentine's Day celebrations.
Director and WRC Programming Intern Katie Oliviero '01 attributed the show's popularity at Dartmouth to the fact that it "provides a venue of voice for women."
It's become the "date of choice on Valentine's Day," according to Markowitt."
Although the core group of monologues remains the same, Ensler periodically makes revisions and additions. This year's show featured two new pieces -- "The Burqa" and "My Short Skirt."
Monologues such as these "raise awareness about things that can be invisible a lot of the time," Markowitt said.
The performance is also designed to counter culturally defined stereotypes that Oliviero said "impede conversations about women's sexuality, separate women from each other and perpetuate cycles of violence."
"I think this piece is a perfect example of fighting back against where society has placed women," cast member Sagine Gousse '05 said.
In addition to the monologues, which are sent out and supervised by College Campaign, this year's production also included the original testimonials of three women.
Although there were few men in the audience, those that did attend seemed to find the performance educational.
"To hear women speak like this is informative," Johnny Lee '02 said. "Because of society it's strange to hear women speak so openly about their sexuality."
The performance was also a benefit. Donations of $1 each were collected at the door to aid in the V-Day Campaign's effort to help the women of Afghanistan. Pins reading "Vagina Friendly" were also passed out at the door.
To be vagina friendly, said Markowitt, means that "you are working for a society where women feel safe and free from violence."
