From Vagina Monologues to STEM

          From a young age children realize both the anatomical and social differences between girls and boys. As we have been reading, this "realization" is learned and instilled by society by the types of toys children are given, the way they are taught in school and other social influences. The knowledge of ones body is an important thing for children to learn. I grew up on a home where sex and one's body was not discussed, EVER. I learned about the differences between men and women's bodies in school and in a 13 minute lecture the lesson about sex. I never got the birds and the bees talk. Watching the vagina monologues really opened my eyes to the different experiences women have and talk about. Having studied biology and taken several psychology classes I was most interested in the "Hair" monologue and I personally believe that it is society that is the ultimate cause of many of the issues addressed by the vagina monologues. In a critique by Jenae S., the author states that the Vagina Monologues made her feel uncomfortable because of "the idea that a vagina makes a woman, and that all women are ultimately reduced to their vaginas". In our production, I think that this issue should be addressed as well and that great effort should be taken to show that there is no stereotype for STEM students and that women and men of all ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations can thrive in the STEM field. In Schiebinger's chapter on the clash of the cultures, she states that many times pointing out the differences and the conflicts only creates greater division and perpetrates the issue (Schiebinger) . I think that one goal of our production should be to unite people and to encourage coalition and friendship as a way to bring about change in the STEM field.
           The Vagina Monologues are a great resource for our production and i thoroughly enjoyed watching them, so much that I will make a point to take my friends to the next production of the vagina monologues! However, I also think that its target audience is women and that our production needs to be accessible to both sexes. By making it accessible to both sexes, we will increase the likelihood that our message will be heard and that action will be taken to bring about change.

Hola Hola Hola

Hola,
My name is Aubrey Stiers. People often can't pronounce my last name and once a soccer coach told me that my first name reminded him of a type of cereal they eat in Britain. Anyways... I am a third year biology major and I am minoring in Spanish, hence the hola, and Latin American studies. This summer I studied abroad in Peru and loved it and now i'm back at Cal Poly busy with my two jobs and full class load. Unfortunately I have class every tuesday from 4:40-6pm so I will have to leave our honors seminar early to hike across campus in order to learn about molecular and cellular biology. I am really excited about our project and I'm very hopeful about making it happen! I look forward to collaborating with you all in the future!

Sincerely,
Aubrey Stiers

Vagina Monologs

   I have seen the theatrical version of the Vagina Monologs twice. My reaction to it was that of shock, not so much at its subject matter but at how much I enjoyed the performance. Yes the subject matter was out of the ordinary but I feel that it was used in much the same way as any other controversial subject matter is used to stem interest. Like for example when they first started saying, "bitch" on cable television. Yes we all watched and where like, "Can they say that on TV?" and yes it adds a sensational excitement to whatever is using it but because of examples like this I feel that I was better prepared for this particular instance of it; that and the name of the play kind of set it up to be in that sensational realm. I was surprised however by what I learned. I had no idea that there was such a negative outlook for females in regard to their own anatomy. As a man I am in "regular contact" with my "manhood." I mean even if I wanted to avoid it, it would be impossible. Women do not have this same experience. But even given that I was surprised to learn that many women have never even looked at their vaginas and that it seemed taboo to talk about them amongst other women. I grew up playing football all the way though high school and "locker room" chat was regular. Again in my singular experience men commonly talk about their penises in many different realms of conversation. As far as attending the play went, I did feel like an "outsider" being there as one of the few males in the audience. I think that many men feel that it is "not for men" and I attribute this to the name of the play. I think that this is something we should avoid. On its face our performance should not appeal to only one group of people. However I have heard conversation about how different monologs have been left out of the Vagina Monologs to stop from offending some people. I think this should be avoided as much as possible in our performance as well. When you begin to "water-down" your message to appeal to a larger audience you start to lose the message as well. But getting back on topic. I read an analysis by Alyssa Reiser about the Vagina Monologues and she criticizes the lack of certain experiences. For instance there are some monologues about child birth but there was not one about women who can not conceive. This I feel was more of an oversight than an omission but I think that we should try to keep an eye out for "big ticket" items like this that might be left out of our performance. A good way to do this is to look at different aspects of whatever problem we are addressing, like childbirth and the inability to conceive. All in all I thought that the play was eye opening and I had a good time. It brought up and answered questions and I feel that doing our STEM project this way could be very beneficial for our audience.

Reaction to the Vagina Monologues

           Upon reading a script of the Vagina Monologues, I find myself having mixed reactions.  After reflecting on some of my own observations as well as reading several reviews, ambivalence seems to be a normal response to the play.  Beginning with the positives, I felt that the play did an excellent job of opening up a casual conversation about a generally uncomfortable or just downright awkward part of everyday life.  By making the play in a dialogue/monologue format, Eve Ensler allows the tension surrounding the topic to be eased. 

            Beyond the immediate benefit of making some difficult conversations a little easier, there were several sections of the play that really concerned me.  For starters, the play seemed to emphasize too much on sexual pleasure.  In my personal opinion, it came off as unnecessary and crude for what Ensler was trying to accomplish.  I’m not saying that it has no place in the performance, but its extent and explicit nature made me (and probably others) feel a little uncomfortable.  To be fair, I wouldn’t have any desire to see a performance about men’s sexual exploits and their experiences either. 

            What stood out to me even more—no, what angered me—was the segment on the 24 year old lesbian woman who effectively committed a statutory rape against a 16-year-old girl (who it turns out was actually 14).  I know other instances of rape are mentioned in the play, and, while heartbreaking, should be included because they bring attention to a travesty that still happens everyday in this country and around the world.  What sets this example apart and what makes it so offensive is that the monologue is treated in a positive manner.  The younger girl is “freed” from her commitment to a heterosexual destiny.  While everybody is entitled to make sexual decisions regarding their orientation, what is not acceptable is for an older woman to sexually prey on a younger girl who is legally not capable of making such a decision. 

            After reading a number of reviews of the play, I discovered that many feminists, especially lesbian feminists, agree with me.  How could a play that is supposed to celebrate femininity and women’s liberties condone an act of rape?  Clearly the Vagina Monologue has had some positive impacts on women all over the world.  However, this is something I cannot overlook. 

The Vagina Monologues

When I first heard that we would be reading the Vagina Monologues for class this week, I was extremely unsure and skeptical about the topic. I have had friends growing up who were products of feminists, and they would talk about vaginas so casually it made me uncomfortable. It’s not like I’m a prude, or ashamed of it. I guess it was just something that was better left unsaid; we all know its there, but it is – in my opinion – the most personal and private part of the human body, and some things should be kept to oneself. It is because of this mindset that reading the Vagina Monologues was almost painful. I felt guilty reading it in public, and would be constantly checking over my shoulder to make sure a friend wasn’t reading it behind my back. But as I got more and more into the script, I found that the play took me by surprise. I had expected a bunch of outrageous and inappropriate details about vaginas that were aimed to shock audiences. And although there was plenty of shocking material, I found that the real message behind this vagina obsession is a good one.

Eve Ensler uses her outrageous dialogue about vaginas to draw in the audience, but then inserts a few touching stories about working with women that were victims of sexual abuse. She recounted a story about how a young girl, through various scarring events, came to hate and be ashamed of her own vagina. Ensler went on to describe how the girl was eventually able to recover and regain her love for her body and herself.  The story was touching and showed how this seemingly humorous obsession with vaginas is actually helping to make a difference in women’s lives.

Another way in which Ensler enhanced the effectiveness of her argument was her use of statistics. According to Ensler, over 700,000 women are raped in the United States per year. She then goes on to say “and in theory, we are not at war”, to show that stopping rape in the United States should be treated and funded as equally as fighting a war. Ideas like this one are why the Vagina Monologues push the envelope and really make the audience rethink their views on women and sexuality.

The Vagina Monologues

I never saw The Vagina Monologues when SAFER presented them on campus last year, but my roommates had told me about a particular scene involving screaming "c---" over and over again. Being extremely opposed to using that particular word, my roommates were taken aback and definitely were feeling the shock aspect clearly intended in this show. When I read it, there were stories I liked and stories I really did not feel needed to be stated the way that they were. While I definitely support the campaign to end violence against women, I did not quite understand why that word had to be "reclaimed" in order to do that. Of all the different “scenes” in the show, this is the one in particular that stood out to me that may turn people off of the whole idea of The Vagina Monologues. While I am extremely liberal when it comes to ideas about free speech, it may be more effective to edit just some of the scenes so that you can reach a wider audience and therefore influence more people. I was surprised at my interest in the older woman’s story as well. She had so much difficulty talking about her experiences because they were so private and she felt that it was inappropriate to discuss them. While her story was awkward and uncomfortable, it was interesting at the end when she said that she had never told that story before.

However, I think that a shock factor is effective when discussing rape and sexual assault instances. There is a lot of misconception and misinformation that people believe about rape, and even though graphic stories can be uncomfortable, I think that they are the best way to communicate the information to the general public. In this sense, I like the mission statement of the “V-Day Project,” but I disagree with the way they carry out this idea. Being a woman is not just about having a vagina, and I feel like when a day is devoted to raising awareness about violence against women, there should be more to discuss that just her physical aspects. There could be less focus on women’s body parts and more focus on the woman as a whole, including her personality and intelligence rather than focusing on just her womanly parts. I think the who device of using the shock factor to make people listen can be effective but is overused in the case of The Vagina Monologues. 

The Vagina Monologues

The Vagina Monologue pieces were different than anything I have ever read. They were surprising and at times deeply uncomfortable. However, I appreciate the idea of the project in getting women (and men!) to talk about subjects that are often considered taboo or weird. While sex is sometimes discussed as a general concept, topics surrounding that concept are often considered forbidden and deeply disturbing topics and are rarely, if ever, discussed. I think in many ways it is empowering for women to talk about some of these issues. For example, the section on “My Angry Vagina” discussed things we never seem to question- such as being uncomfortable about tampons or OB-GYN visits.

I also think some of the pieces were helpful in the way that they show the inter-relatedness of the female experience. There were some pieces that discussed topics I think many women could relate to, such as issues of hair, being uncomfortable about seeing your own vagina or even thinking about it, and talking to others about issues of sex. While they were uncomfortable pieces to read, I think it is sometimes a valuable experience to get out of one’s comfort zone and think about or discuss issues that are important, even if we do not necessarily want to.

The piece on the Bosnian refugees during the war in Yugoslavia was particularly horrifying. Partly was their stories, and the other part was that such horrible acts could have been committed with barely a mention about it in histories that describe the war. Rape, like many other topics surrounding women, are sometimes talked about as some far-away concept but very rarely as personal, horrible stories. It was uncomfortable but probably necessary to read about these horrific experiences told by the women who survived them.

Not My Idea of Empowerment

    I did not particularly enjoy reading The Vagina Monologues, as it included statements and ideas I found to be offensive and uncomfortable. I certainly did not laugh at any of the monologues, as I know countless audiences did, and I honestly could not wait to be done reading the dialogue. Many of these feelings probably do stem from my background as a conservative Christian and as someone who does not like to confront people or get into heated debates about personal topics, such as religion and politics. Despite my shy nature, however, I do understand and commend some of the motives behind The Vagina Monologues and V-Day. The efforts made to bring awareness to violence against women have been tremendous and the resulting social stimulation and change most likely could not have come about without such a shocking and outspoken play.
    My experience with The Vagina Monologues is very similar to that of The Book of Mormon, which I read for a theater class in the spring. Both of these pieces present ideas and dialogue that are funny to some people and offensive to others. No matter what a person’s reaction to these plays is, however, Eve Ensler, Trey Parker, and Matt Stone have raised awareness and sparked a greater interest in important social issues that people were often afraid to talk about before these productions. I also found The Book of Mormon to be offensive at times, but I was able to understand the greater message that society needs to learn the truth about important issues, such as AIDS.
    In The Vagina Monologues, I felt that only some of the stories actually revealed the violence that occurs against women and furthered Ensler's overall message. Most of the monologues, on the other hand, only discussed women seeking sexual pleasure, which I think strays too far away from the ultimate goal of V-Day. After reading some critiques of the play, I understand that Ensler was trying to evoke a message of empowerment for women, but I found nothing empowering about the monologues. I would have rather read about women who are accomplishing great tasks, despite adversity, than having read the actual dialogue of the play. To me, true empowerment comes when one is doing the most good for other people and focusing his/her time on the needs of others, instead of seeking to help oneself.

Intro: Erin Canino

Hello! I am a third year senior majoring in Political Science with a concentration in Pre-law. I am planning on attending law school and becoming an attorney. I grew up in Lake Tahoe, California, though I went to school in Nevada (Lake Tahoe lies on the state line). Because of this, I grew up learning how to ski and ice skate, water ski and wake surf, and chase the occasional bear out of my car with a loud frying pan and a broom. In high school I played soccer on the Varsity team and participated in many different clubs and organizations. I got to travel to the national We the People competition in Washington D.C. my senior year after my team won the state competition, which is how I really got interested in the legal field. After graduating high school and surviving eighteen years of shoveling endless feet of snow, I was ready to head down to the beach. I came to Cal Poly because I loved the area, and I have been having a great time ever since.  I am involved in many different clubs on campus and love that Cal Poly has so much to offer students. Some of my favorite positions that I serve are the Chief Panhellenic Officer of Kappa Alpha Theta, the President of the Undergraduate Law Society (hit me up in you’re interested in law school!), and one of the College of Liberal Arts representatives on the ASI Board of Directors. This year is exciting, as I will be completing my senior project and graduating in the spring. I also have the privilege of having my little brother, Sam, attend Cal Poly with me this year. I also have an older sister, Casey, who graduated last year from Cal State Fullerton with a BFA in musical theater. She is currently performing in Sacramento in a production called, “Next to Normal.” My parents are currently both teachers. My dad is an English teacher at the local high school, and my mom teaches Journalism at the community college in my area after she finished as Editor for two different newspapers in the area.

This is my first Honors Seminar and I am looking forward to getting started on our project! 

The Controversial Monologues About Women

The Vagina Monologues can be hilariously entertaining and disgustingly offensive.  It can be a source of fundraising for women’s anti-violence groups and a source of endless heated disputes.  Without question it is a complex topic with many angles and viewpoints. 

Personally I found “I Was Twelve, My Mother Slapped Me”, “My Angry Vagina”, and “The Flood” extremely funny.  A few women performed “I Was Twelve…” which described different reactions to the first menstrual period as experienced by girls and young women of varying ages.  Wrongs against the vagina were rattled off in “My Angry Vagina”.  The wrongs included things such as metal speculums, tampons, and douches.  These two pieces were entertaining to me because I could relate to certain aspects of each.  However, I enjoyed “The Flood” for a different reason.  This piece was about an older woman that stated she closed off access to “down there” after a humiliating incident she experienced as a young girl on a date with a boy.  I couldn’t relate to this woman’s experience at all, but the lack of connection coupled with the delivery of this story made it enjoyable.  Although, in retrospect, it’s frustrating that she would allow one incident to control such an important aspect of her life.

Now flipping to the other side of the coin; “The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could” was offensive and a disservice to the homosexual community.  If an underlying reason of this piece was to draw attention to homosexual issues, then it was done in extremely poor taste.  This event was a one night stand, but even if this encounter developed into a long term commitment the action is still not justified.   The monologue recounts multiple sexually traumatic incidents a young girl experienced during childhood.  The woman relays her first sexual experience, at the age of sixteen, with an older woman.  Although the monologue speaks of this event in a positive and consensual light it doesn’t escape the fact that it was statutory rape and involved the intoxication of a minor.  Statutory rape occurs between same sex individuals and heterosexuals, but the point is these actions are not typical or representative of either community at large.  This teen has a history of sexual attacks by males, but suddenly it’s presumed acceptable when she’s violated by a successful woman with an air of “don’t fret over the age technicality”.  The older woman goes on to instruct the teen in masturbation as an alternative to reliance on a man for sexual pleasure.  The implication of this “lesson” is that heterosexuality and masturbation are the norm for sexual pleasure while homosexuality is abnormal and taboo.  It’s reprehensible!

The complexity of The Vagina Monologues is easily noted by anyone that has ever watched it.  In one light, the audience can find a connection to the women represented on stage which makes it difficult to light the torches and bring out the pitchforks, especially, when proceeds of this show aid a very worthy cause.  In another light, it can be one more offensive weapon forged in the fires ignorance and bias.  The contention continues.