Recently we read The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler in class, which was very different from anything else I have ever read in an English class. Just from the title, you would think that most people would be immediately turned off. And one point of this book is to give people the opportunity to be more comfortable with just the word vagina. That is one thing that I find intriguing about Eve Ensler, how she pushes things to limits, but she has a point to it. It isn’t for entertainment (trust me, it really isn’t) or it isn’t just to show the depths that Ensler can go. Instead, it’s for a change. Ensler starts off in the introduction explaining how she is from the “down there” generation. And she is trying to change that. She goes to the extremes to give an example for people to follow. To see a change, you have to push things. Otherwise, gradual change, which is what it would be, might not happen. Ensler claims that, "Women secretly love to talk about their vaginas. They get very excited, mainly because no one's ever asked them before" (back cover). Our generation is the first to actually grasp the concept of vaginas and take hold of it.
But what is it about the word vagina that turns so many people off? Even the media harbors fear of the word, as Ensler explains by recalling how "David Letterman tries to say vagina, but can't" (xxvii). Ensler brings in a great sense of humor in the first chapter with reasons as to why she thinks vagina is such an ugly word. "It sounds like an infection at best, maybe a medical instrument: 'Hurry, Nurse, bring me the vagina'" (5). Many of the things she says I completely agree with. It isn’t a pretty word; nobody really likes to say it. So therefore, we don’t address the issues that surround it. "Doesn't matter how many times you say it, it never sounds like a word you want to say. It's a totally ridiculous, completely unsexy word" (5). But I don’t think that it is the word that makes it “unsexy”. I believe that it is the discrimination against women that has occurred over the past centuries that has lead to our fear of this word. Men are portrayed as having strong and powerful genitals. But for women, it shouldn’t even be mentioned. It’s almost like saying Voldemort if you were at Hogwarts. Ensler states that, "There's so much darkness and secrecy surrounding them- like the Bermuda Triangle. Nobody ever reports back from there" (3-4). But I do think that this book helps to address these issues and try and change them in a positive way. Ensler states that, "With the help of outrageous voices and honest words like those in this book, I believe the grandmothers, mothers, and daughters of the future will heal their selves- and men the world" (xix).
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