V Stands for Vulgar
Michaela LeBlanc and Elyse Braner, Republican Club
Issue date: 2/9/06 Section: Opinions
Valentine's Day is next Tuesday. However, instead of associating the day with love, romance and affection, students at Smith and across the country now associate the holiday with the zealous "V-Day" campaign and its accompanying rally cry, "The Vagina Monologues."
Instead of positive publicity promoting healthy relationships, both romantic and platonic, students are being subjected to crude and vulgar advertising for "The Vagina Monologues." Pictures of flowers made to look like women's sexual anatomy adorn posters, mailbox stuffers and flyers. Words and phrases such as "Do you multiple orgasm?" and "Sex fair" are being thrown in our faces.
This type of speech is unacceptable for an institution of higher learning, especially one that values strong, female leadership. Besides the vulgarity, "The Vagina Monologues" is decidedly anti-male, commercializes violence against women and reduces women to little more than their sexual anatomy. The manner in which the play promotes the use of graphic language, evident to anyone who has seen a performance or read it thoroughly, is additionally disturbing.
This is not an issue of political preference, as women from both ends of the political spectrum have come out against the use of "The Vagina Monologues" in the V-Day campaign. Noted radical feminist Betty Dodson stated in reference to "The Vagina Monologues," "That's the main problem with V-Day. Women end up with a false idea that V-Day will end violence against women and girls. Ending violence is a worthy cause, and I am all for it, but consistently equating sex with violence offers no real solution."
Instilling a fear of men through "The Vagina Monologues" performances on college campuses across the country will not end violence against women. "The Vagina Monologues" paints a despairingly bleak picture of the male nature, as is evident in all the men portrayed in the play as rapists and child molesters, save "Bob," the single non-violent male character who is obsessed with the female anatomy.
Teaching women not to trust men will not change anything, and furthering the use of derogatory terms against women challenges the core principles of feminism. By highlighting women talking about themselves and their anatomy the way the characters in the play do, the play is allowing men to follow along and to see women in terms of their anatomy instead of in terms of their intelligence, creativity and passion. Men attend the play and hear women shouting out the "C-word"-- not a word associated with empowerment and liberation but rather with derogatory connotations of violence and vulgarity. Using harsh, offensive language is part of the "shock value" of the play, but in actuality such vulgarity contributes little to the feminist cause.
This play does not in any way liberate women. "The Vagina Monologues" sends the message that women identify solely by their sexual anatomy and that the female source of power comes from her vagina. Telling an audience that your vagina feels "chatty," or that your vagina would wear "a beret," or that it is named "Froggie Doodle Mashy Pie" does not make women stronger, but makes them sound pathetic and crude.
A production that is supposed to end violence against women should teach audiences that women should be independent, free thinkers and focus on personality and intellect, not their sexual anatomy. Teaching women how to be great leaders, to be confident, well spoken and poised is far more important than a monologue telling women that their vagina is a "village." Students at institutions such as Smith College should be focusing on all of the strong, capable women that are educated here and go on to do amazing things. We should be honoring women for their talent, not their anatomy. Smith College is an institution that values civil debate and intellectual conversation. We are smart, privileged women, and we do not need to cater to the "shock value" of "The Vagina Monologues" to learn about an important issue such as domestic violence.
On Feb. 11 we challenge all Smith women and members of the Smith Community to make an informed decision as to whether or not to see "The Vagina Monologues."
(For more information about the anti- V-Day campaign, please e-mail republicans@smith.edu)
Read the other side -- see what Feminists of Smith Unite have to say!
Instead of positive publicity promoting healthy relationships, both romantic and platonic, students are being subjected to crude and vulgar advertising for "The Vagina Monologues." Pictures of flowers made to look like women's sexual anatomy adorn posters, mailbox stuffers and flyers. Words and phrases such as "Do you multiple orgasm?" and "Sex fair" are being thrown in our faces.
This type of speech is unacceptable for an institution of higher learning, especially one that values strong, female leadership. Besides the vulgarity, "The Vagina Monologues" is decidedly anti-male, commercializes violence against women and reduces women to little more than their sexual anatomy. The manner in which the play promotes the use of graphic language, evident to anyone who has seen a performance or read it thoroughly, is additionally disturbing.
This is not an issue of political preference, as women from both ends of the political spectrum have come out against the use of "The Vagina Monologues" in the V-Day campaign. Noted radical feminist Betty Dodson stated in reference to "The Vagina Monologues," "That's the main problem with V-Day. Women end up with a false idea that V-Day will end violence against women and girls. Ending violence is a worthy cause, and I am all for it, but consistently equating sex with violence offers no real solution."
Instilling a fear of men through "The Vagina Monologues" performances on college campuses across the country will not end violence against women. "The Vagina Monologues" paints a despairingly bleak picture of the male nature, as is evident in all the men portrayed in the play as rapists and child molesters, save "Bob," the single non-violent male character who is obsessed with the female anatomy.
Teaching women not to trust men will not change anything, and furthering the use of derogatory terms against women challenges the core principles of feminism. By highlighting women talking about themselves and their anatomy the way the characters in the play do, the play is allowing men to follow along and to see women in terms of their anatomy instead of in terms of their intelligence, creativity and passion. Men attend the play and hear women shouting out the "C-word"-- not a word associated with empowerment and liberation but rather with derogatory connotations of violence and vulgarity. Using harsh, offensive language is part of the "shock value" of the play, but in actuality such vulgarity contributes little to the feminist cause.
This play does not in any way liberate women. "The Vagina Monologues" sends the message that women identify solely by their sexual anatomy and that the female source of power comes from her vagina. Telling an audience that your vagina feels "chatty," or that your vagina would wear "a beret," or that it is named "Froggie Doodle Mashy Pie" does not make women stronger, but makes them sound pathetic and crude.
A production that is supposed to end violence against women should teach audiences that women should be independent, free thinkers and focus on personality and intellect, not their sexual anatomy. Teaching women how to be great leaders, to be confident, well spoken and poised is far more important than a monologue telling women that their vagina is a "village." Students at institutions such as Smith College should be focusing on all of the strong, capable women that are educated here and go on to do amazing things. We should be honoring women for their talent, not their anatomy. Smith College is an institution that values civil debate and intellectual conversation. We are smart, privileged women, and we do not need to cater to the "shock value" of "The Vagina Monologues" to learn about an important issue such as domestic violence.
On Feb. 11 we challenge all Smith women and members of the Smith Community to make an informed decision as to whether or not to see "The Vagina Monologues."
(For more information about the anti- V-Day campaign, please e-mail republicans@smith.edu)
Read the other side -- see what Feminists of Smith Unite have to say!