The Vagina Monologues

        The Vagina Monologues are an interesting thing to be told to read as a guy.  Before this, I had heard the name, but never given a second thought.  Oh, vaginas, they exist and are a culturally well known part of the anatomy right?  Apparently not. 

        I took it for granted, that vaginas are something that is appreciated and well known.  How could someone not know about something so important on their body?  Or even worse, how could they despise or feel that such a part of their body looks disgusting?  Even if in retrospect, my sexual education class seemed rudimentary, the things that people didn't understand in the monologues seemed surprising.  The biggest surprise to me though, was the fact that women could find what is down there so ugly.  I always thought that genital mutilation was the product of some disturbed man, when in fact Labiaplasty (the alteration of the lips on the outside of the vagina) seems to be a fairly common surgery.  Where I saw something that was always equated with a flower, apparently society sees as ugly.   

        The damage seems to extend into imagery, where Photoshop allows the labia to be removed digitally, changing what people see and what they expect to see.  It is eye opening to see just how far the cultural issues of female body image go beyond needing to look like a twig... 

        Moving back to the Vagina Monologues themselves, Eve Ensler really did find a way to help push people to think more about issues related to vaginas.  Because of the fact that vaginas are often a forbidden topic in many social situations, they aren't talked about much.  Despite this, the Vagina Monologues are more than a one sided conversation.  Indeed part of their power is to turn a monologue performance into a cultural dialogue.  This opens the door to talk about many related issues, such as sexual assault, leading to not only a greater cultural dialogue, but hopefully a greater awareness and knowledge about such issues. 

Verbatim Theatre, a Question of Ethics

Documentary (or more specifically Verbatim) Theatre appears to be such a positive and powerful tool.  I had never heard of it prior to this reading, so my initial reaction, while short-lived, was a sense of encouragement.  I thought, “What a great way to use the arts as a ‘voice’ for the oppressed or unheard.”  My second thought was to the parallels between last week’s class on the Vagina Monologues as well as the production we intend to create.  However, it didn’t take long before my initial opinion received a devastating blow in the form of two scholarly articles questioning the ethics of Verbatim Theatre, specifically the use of personal interviews.   

                There were a couple of points that particularly stood out to me; both having to do with the very nature of Verbatim Theatre itself.  The name implies that performances in this genre of arts will entail an exact reproduction of words belonging to persons other than the writer(s) of the play.  Depending on the nature of the subject matter, more often than not these productions are based off of personal interviews that contain numerous individual stories. These are then compiled together to convey the message that the writer intends.  The ethical dilemma comes into play through the question of whether or not a person can be completely separated from their own personal story.  While scholars can make arguments that no one can own a story, nevertheless many people feel they have a right to their own experiences, even if they choose to share them with other people (such as in the form of an interview to be included in a play).  What has been observed is that writers and producers of verbatim performances essentially take ownership of people’s stories when they record and then perform the words, thoughts, and ideas of their interviewees.   The other observation is that writers and producers have the capacity to capitalize tremendously (both in terms of money and fame) off of these plays.  The question here is whether or not it is ethical to profit off of other’s life experiences (even if they consent to sharing). 

                The solutions to these ethical dilemmas are important to everyone, but are particularly vital to our class.  I’ve always been a big believer in learning from other’s experiences (both positive and negative).  Of course you can’t base every action you take off of others before you, but you certainly can take them into account.  In our case, it would be wise to assure that no one we interview feels used or taken advantage off, no matter the outcome of this project.  The author of the first article used the term “negotiation” several times for good reason.  In my experience, when incorporating numerous opinions in a piece, it’s critical to be constantly evaluating progress and consensus as whole.  In our case, this would mean assuring that our interviewees are always comfortable with how we are using their stories and life experiences.  In regards to the second dilemma…we probably have nothing to worry about.