Writer Urges Readers Not To See The Vagina Monologues
Part of a Point/Counterpoint in: The North Texas Daily, 2/5/02

I was taken aback last year when I came across a rather odd flier in the Union.

“Stop the Violence: Say Vagina,” the sign sassily stated.

I stood and thought about it for a second. My first reaction was that it was a common “post hoc ergo propter hoc” logic error—Assuming that speaking about one’s private parts has a joint effect in stopping domestic violence or sexual assault.

Increased promiscuity has failed to stop sexual assault, it would seem. After the “free love” movement of the ‘60s, sexual assault rates have increased. Nationwide, one in four women in their lifetimes are raped.

I later noticed this example of bad logic was part of a series of advertisements for a play shamelessly titled, “The Vagina Monologues,” scheduled for Valentine’s Day evening.

“Valentine’s Day evening?,” I thought.

The timing of the event alone alerted me that something was wrong. I mean, why Valentine’s Day? Like any good journalist would, I went to investigate. (I didn’t have a date that night anyway).

I watched most of the play and wrote an unfavorable review about it. I warned readers about “V-Day.” While the play itself made some good points about some relevant social issues (while only saying “vagina” about one hundred times), the behavior in the lobby beforehand carried a much different tone.

The theme did not appear to be one of women’s rights but of sexual exhibition. Emblazoned on an interior wall of the Music Building auditorium was a large, sequined model of a vagina. For sale were “pussy pops” and vulva-shaped bed pillows. I watched in extreme disapproval as sexual health radicals accosted audience members with demonstrations on how to properly wear a female condom. In line, I heard jokes with enough profanity to shame a naval officer at a bachelor party.

Believe what you want to about the boundaries of sexual activity. Several women I spoke with felt threatened in the dimly lit area. One of the girls found me in the crowd and told me that she wanted to leave, but was afraid to walk outside alone. I assured her nobody would harm her there, since I knew many of the feminists putting on the play and I could see their intentions were essentially good. I escorted the girl back to her dorm, anyway. It agreed it was kind of creepy.

I’m not saying that discussions of human genitalia should be left out entirely—It is not “shameful” to talk about one’s genitalia in a rightful context. A woman’s health is at stake if she doesn’t share certain details that were once considered social taboo.

On the other hand, proudly shouting to the campus, “Hey look at me! I have secondary sex characteristics” is both childish and perverse.

How, then, are “V-Day” organizers any different from exhibitionist flashers or pornography vendors? I suppose the feminist political agenda somehow justifies this example of audacity. If proceeds from pornographic magazines went to benefit battered women’s shelters, perhaps they too would be excused.

“The Vagina Monologue’s” author Eve Ensler, on publisher Random House’s website, said a male-dominated culture has declared war on the vagina, and open and free display discourse of sexuality is a woman’s best defense.

“If [mothers] see their daughter masturbating, never make her feel dirty or bad,” Ensler said. “I would encourage mothers to encourage their daughters to talk about their sexuality, to be proud of their sexuality, to draw pictures of it, paint images, write poems, erect monuments.”

Obviously, Ensler buys into a paranoid “patriarchal conspiracy” theory. Sadly, she is getting away with misleading many of our fellow Eagles into sexual perversion.

I see her point, and I agree with her goals of social equality for women. But the ends never justify the means. The means, in Ensler’s case, involve disposing of time-honored values like abstinence and modesty.

If you don’t see eye-to-eye with me on this, I won’t get bent out of shape (no pun intended). Go see the play for yourself.

But here’s some better advice: Spend Valentine’s Day evening with someone special. It would be time better spent.