Vagina Monologues are a success in raising awareness
story and photo by Hannah Riddle, posted March 9, 2009
Emotions ranging from embarrassment to empowerment ran through the audience in Jesse Auditorium at the 8th Annual Vagina Monologues performance on Feb. 28. The show was an eye-opener to some, and all who attended found out what women think of “down there.”
“There were 35 women in the cast, all MU undergraduate and graduate students this year,” said Struby Struble, of the MU Women’s Center. “The MU production of the Monologues is just a small part of the large V-Day organization that Eve Ensler dedicated her original Monologues.”
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Members of the 2009 MU production of the Vagina Monologues. |
Over the years, the monologues have been reenacted by many, from college students to Oprah Winfrey.
The Vagina Monologues was written by Ensler in 1996 and was based on her interviews with more than 200 women, according to the VDAY.org Web site. The book was such a success, the monologues soon began traveling. Ensler took the show on the road to raise awareness of the violence women encounter in their everyday lives.
“As I traveled with the piece to city after city, country after country, hundreds of women waited after the show to talk to me about their lives,” Ensler said, according to a quote on her Web site. “The play had somehow freed up their memories, pain, and desire. Night after night I heard the same stories; women being raped as teenagers, in college, as little girls, as elderly women; women who had finally escaped being beaten to death by their husbands; women who were terrified to leave; women who were taken sexually, before they were even conscious of sex, by their stepfathers, brothers, uncles, mothers, and fathers. Slowly it dawned on me than nothing was more important that stopping violence toward women.”
The show was a hit at Mizzou, filling the seats in Jesse Auditorium with women of all ages, and even a few men scattered through the crowd.
“Our production is part of the V-day campaign,” Struble said. “The beneficiaries we support locally all want to take part in stopping the violence as well. We raised our money for The Shelter, and the Lead Institute. We also give a smaller amount to the MU Stop the Violence Fund; they work on campus to raise awareness and work to end violence.”
Struble thinks that this year was just as good as previous years.
“I just love working with all the women and the cast,” she said. “It’s a great community. We learn from each other, talk and laugh. It is a really great experience to bond with women that I may not cross paths with normally, but it is good to see us come together and share in this experience.”
Cast member Lauren Olson participated to help women in Columbia.
“I’ve taken away an incredible bonding experience,” Olson said. “What makes me passionate about the monologues is how we can use the art of storytelling to directly benefit women right here in Columbia. Our performance raised a lot of money for organizations in dire need of funds during this time of economic hardship. It made me want to expand my involvement in the movement to end violence towards women.”
