This article chronicles the experiences gained in asking students to read The Vagina Monologues in a university level introductory women's studies course and as part of the national V-Day College Campaign to raise awareness of women's sexuality and violence against women. The article recounts the pitfalls and successes of using a popular text to promote thinking, self-reflection, and empathy on issues related to women's sexuality.
Many people are familiar with Eve Ensler's, The Vagina Monologues as a brash, racy, set of monologues on the subject of women's sexuality (1998). On college and university campuses, The Vagina Monologues developed into a play that has been performed to raise monies for local anti-violence groups called V-Day College Campaign. In addition to staging The Vagina Monologues, a few goals of V-Day College Campaign on campuses are to raise awareness of violence against women and to discuss women's sexuality. Campus organizers are encouraged to solicit faculty to integrate womens' issues in their courses, in addition to sponsoring other events related to V-Day College Campaign, occurring during the month of February (Ensler, 1998).
As a show of solidarity for students engaged in staging The Vagina Monologues on my campus, I decided to assign the text for my introductory course in the women's studies program. This article, therefore, chronicles my experiences in teaching using this text in an introductory course in women's studies. I lay out my rationale and teaching strategy using this text and describe how my strategies were revised due to my students' experiences in having to read the text. My students' comments illustrate the risks and rewards in teaching about women's sexuality using popular literature. As V-Day College Campaign gets adopted by more college campuses each year, instructors in women's and gender studies who may want to assign the text for their classes, may benefit from this account of my teaching using The Vagina Monologues.
I assigned The Vagina Monologues to introduce sensitive issues of women's sexuality to my students. Using popular language and humor to build a beginning awareness of issues related to women's sexuality, I felt this approach was an effective learning strategy (Ensler, 1998). In doing this, I concluded that personal stories expressed in The Vagina Monologues offered a means to engender discussion about relationships between individual experiences and their larger collective meanings. Here, I was interested in exploring how the personal disclosures of women chronicled in The Vagina Monologues could assist educators and students about the politics of women's sexuality. Also, I wanted to know in what ways were topics relating to women's sexuality controversial. Further, I sought to consider why it was important to look at popular expressions of women's sexuality. Finally, I wished to examine whether this material suggests anything of importance to educators about the power of images to control and define women (Collins, 1991; Minnich, 1990).
Related to issues of how and what to teach about The Vagina Monologues, I was concerned about how my students would react to such a text. To teach using this material, I needed to assign the text in early February, three weeks into the semester so that it would coincide with the play's performances on campus. This meant that the students and I would still be in the process of getting to know one another. I wondered how this would influence the tenor of discussion in the class. I also wondered about the issue of safety in the classroom and how to mediate the needs for tolerance and different voices for those who needed an outlet to express their thoughts and beliefs (Fisher, 2001). As may be obvious, my concerns were focused on the content of the monologues. The issues I have raised needed to be resolved prior to the course beginning in January.
The institution where I teach is a regional campus of a large mid-western state university. All students are commuters and the student body is diverse in terms of age and life experiences. While the demographics of the student body are changing with more traditional college-aged students, the university is about 50% nontraditional students (over the age of 25), and 50%, traditional (19 - 25 years).
The students at this institution generally derive from a four county-wide area that encompasses a medium-sized city where the university is located, and that is surrounded by small industrial factory towns and rural farm communities. The university has a majority of students who are females. About 9 % of the students are African-American with a growing number of Hispanic/Latino students. However, the campus and the surrounding community have a definite racial identity of being Caucasian.
As expected for many women's studies classes, my class consisted of 30 students. Of this number, there were twenty seven (27) females and three (3) males. The students were of European-American background, which meant that I, as a Chinese-American woman, was the only one in the course to be referred to as a person of color. Although I had expected a balanced diverse group of students in this course, this distribution was not a new situation in my teaching experiences.
Three weeks into the semester, it was time to read The Vagina Monologues. I decided to introduce the text by discussing why Eve Ensler chose to interview women about their vaginas. I saw this discussion as a lead into a discussion of why the word 'vagina' elicited such strong reactions from people and how the Western culture viewed female sexuality. Even before I could get this discussion going, my students related accounts of the obstacles they faced purchasing the book, and reading it while at work or at home.
Typically, many students purchase their books before the start of classes and, more importantly, before they receive their syllabi. The following were accounts of typical reactions at the campus bookstore about the course:
"I went to the counter with at least ten other books. The girl [sic] that was working the counter said in an extremely loud voice where everyone up front could hear her say 'I can't believe they write this stuff and I can't believe you have to read it." (Leslie)
"I put the book at the bottom of my stack and walked up to the register. It was just my luck that the register that I had to go to was a girl [sic] in a previous class of mine. She rang up my books and then came to the end of the stack and there it was, 'the book.' She picked it up and said, "Vagina? Betty, what kind of class are you taking that you have to read about vaginas? Every time I see this girl now she always asks me how my vagina class is." (Elizabeth)
My students expressed embarrassment over these episodes. Several students also were concerned about what the course was about. Initially the students themselves felt awkward and uncertain about having to read this text.
"I was very skeptical about reading The Vagina Monologues for a class when I first found out about the reading list. I laughed at first thinking of how embarrassing it might be to read such a book. When I told my friends that I had to read The Vagina Monologues they laughed with me and sympathized with me." (Barbara)
"The first reaction I had when I saw the title of The Vagina Monologues was very similar to that of the people around me. Other people in the class were shocked by the title and were saying that they could not believe we had to read something like that." (Caroline)
"While purchasing my book at the university bookstore, everyone kept looking at me strangely. Many of the students who were in line beside me questioned what course it was for. It was kind of awkward for me as well. I felt as though I was defending myself over a book I had never read. Many of the students who were in the class looking in the same aisle as I, were disgusted that we even had to read a book like this for class." (Erica)
In addition to their own discomfort, many of my students faced further scrutiny in dealing with family, friends, and co-workers about reading this book:
"My parents are going to lose it when they find out that they are paying for me to read books like that!" (Anna)
"Sis, is it really necessary for you to take this class, and more importantly read this book? How does this have anything to do with your major?" (Jane)
From a male friend's, this reaction, "How disgusting! Why do you want to read a book about women's vaginas?" (Emily)
The reaction from Emily's mother was not uncommon:
"She asked me why I had a book with a word like 'vagina' on it. I told her that the book was for my gender studies class. She was appalled at the fact that IUSB would allow the students to read such a book. I tried to explain to her that there was nothing wrong with the word vagina. She didn't even want to discuss it. She simply just shook her head and kept on cleaning." (Emily)
The fact that my students' families and friends were suspicious of the assigned reading, namely The Vagina Monologues was not too surprising. Women's Studies faculty have long chronicled the adversities students face in taking women's studies courses. Women's studies faculty have been particularly sensitive to the oft-leveled claims that women's studies courses engage in reading marginalized texts without any redeeming intellectual value (Fisher, 2001;hooks, 2004; Maher, 1994; Minnich, 1990). In assigning The Vagina Monologues in the course, therefore, I was undoubtedly taking a risk.
Initially, I decided that the risk was worth taking, because the play was being performed on campus. Campus performances of The Vagina Monologues served as fundraisers and to raise awareness of and spread anti-violence toward women (Ensler, 1998). I believed the identification of the play in terms of raising awareness of issues of violence against women would moderate negative reactions to the play and temper accusations that the text had no redeeming intellectual value. As my students' accounts demonstrate, I severely underestimated people's negative reactions.
It may be no accident that I found surprising (maybe, naively so) the hostility and misunderstanding with which people reacted to The Vagina Monologues on the basis of the title. While Ensler's use of the word 'vagina' was meant to be provocative, it is interesting to note the negative reaction from people in using words such as 'disgusting,' 'shocking,' and 'embarrassing' to express their feelings on reading or hearing about the title of the book. At the outset, it appeared many of the students misunderstood what the book was about. Several students talked about husbands and boyfriends who assumed the book was about pornography or a 'how-to' book for women to improve their sexual performance:
"The men that I have encountered and discussed this play with get very happy. It is as if they think it is some kind of pornographic piece from which they will get a huge amount of excitement. When I tell them that it is to educate and enlighten people on issues of violence toward women and girls, the men usually look let down. The women look relieved." (Susan)
Not all of my students had negative reactions on having to read The Vagina Monologues. Several of my students were pleasantly surprised that family members were supportive.
"When I first brought home the book, my mother asked me what class I was reading that for. She said that she had already heard of that book and heard it was a very good read. She was hoping that I would learn insight as to how women think." (Mark)
"When he (my husband) saw The Vagina Monologues, he explained to me that it was a play written by Eve Ensler about women and their vaginas. He continued on by telling me about V-Day and what it was about. I believe The Vagina Monologues was performed at his school before he graduated college in Chicago. He talked to me about it with great ease." (Lisa)
In dealing with the varied reactions and misunderstood assumptions about The Vagina Monologues, the students demonstrated attitudes of defiance and resistance to accepting their friends' and families' views. They, themselves, engaged in risk taking by finding themselves having to defend the book.
"ÃÂ Having people inquire about the monologues is key when you are trying to spread a message. After explaining what The Vagina Monologues are to people, most found it very interesting and wanted to borrow the book." (Jody)
"When I told my parents and my grandma they were a bit curious as to why we would have to read this kind of material for school. After I explained what class it was for and what the book was about they understood." (Lauren)
"Once people heard that it is a play of different stories and experiences from different women, and was intended to bring a bigger broader voice to women's issues, they became a teeny bit more relaxed." (Yvette)
There were also attempts at explaining the purpose of The Vagina Monologues that did not go so well.
"My father laughed and said 'What the hell were you reading that for?' and said he supposed it was one of those women's lib things. I pulled out my copy and he looked at the cover. Nothing offensive there: 'Are there any pictures of vaginas in there?, he asked. 'Do vaginas talk in there?'" (Cindy)
"As I found parts of the book to be funny or particularly engaging I offered to read these monologues to my extremely conservative, political, law enforcement loving boyfriend. His reaction was expectedly judgmental, angry, and disgusted. His view was more narrow-minded and ignorant than what I truly expected. Instead of an enlightening source of femininity he saw the play as man-hating. Offended and insulted by the contents, I was told not to read the book around him anymore." (Julia)
And, then there were attempts to avoid comments and conflicts altogether as some students resorted to hiding the fact that they had to read the book:
"Because of other peoples' reactions, I tended to keep the book hidden in my bag or face down on the desk in other classes. I did not want to have to keep answering people's questions about why I had to read it and what it was about, followed by their response of laughter." (Caroline)
"I hesitated to mention to anyone that I was reading Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, not because I was offended or embarrassed by the idea, but because I'm tired of explaining to my family and coworkers what exactly I'm getting out of women's studies classes." (Cindy)
The students' accounts of having to deal with the reactions to The Vagina Monologues point to the continuing risks they face in enrolling in gender and women's studies courses. The ridicule and hostility they received from their friends, family, and coworkers heightened the trepidation that many of the students initially had when they found the books on the bookstore shelves.
For many of the students, the reactions triggered their thinking about why the word 'vagina' created such controversy, and so they reflected on their own discomfort in discussing anything having to do with women's sexuality. In this respect, being forced out of one's comfort zone was causing the students to begin an appraisal of their attitudes toward women's sexuality. It should be noted here that none of the students dropped out of the course after they read the assigned reading list at the bookstore. Furthermore, the weeks in which the text was discussed, attendance in class did not suffer either.
The experiences and reactions on the part of my students with regards to reading The Vagina Monologues framed the class discussion of the text. After sharing their stories concerning how people reacted to them, the class discussed why people behaved the way they did. The class discussed also what the word 'vagina' connoted in popular American culture, why certain subjects and words were deemed as 'taboos' and not considered topics for serious discussion.
Aware of the obstacles my students faced in having to read The Vagina Monologues, I made it a point to ask them which of the monologues troubled them. This part of the discussion was framed by a local debate that had been taking place at a nearby St. Mary's, a Catholic women's college. The administration at St. Mary's had banned the performance of The Vagina Monologues as a play after several alumni and community members objected to some of its contents.
Although it had caused such controversy, the play had been performed about two years previously, and the monies raised went to local anti-violence women's organizations. The president of the college did not permit students to perform the play again, and there was a debate on campus as to the ideals of a Catholic college and academic freedom (Fosmoe, 2001).
At the center of the controversy at St. Mary's was a monologue that dealt with a young girl being seduced by an older woman, entitled: "The Little Coochie Snorcher that Could." I brought this issue up in class and the class had a lively discussion about this issue. As was expected and rightly so, several of my students were disturbed by the discussion relating to child seduction; others felt that it was a real woman's experience and that we needed to, at least, acknowledge the difficulty of judging such situations:
"While the writer of the monologue tells a story that sounds very free and liberating to her sexuality, I do not believe she is conveying a good messageÃÂ ..She was only sixteen years old when this sexual revelation took place; her partner was 24 years old. The age factor here is very significant to abusive relationships and behavior." (Julia)
"I understand why Eve Ensler put the ordeal of being raped into the monologue, but I don't understand or agree with the later portion of the monologue when an older woman seduces the girl. I thought that portion of the monologue sends a negative message." (Emily)
In the end, most of my students felt that banning the play from St. Mary's was unfortunate but that they were glad that at this public university this play was permitted. What was far more problematic for many of my students was the monologue entitled "Reclaiming Cunt." There was near unanimous sentiment that the word 'cunt' was pejorative and that no amount of trying to co-opt it back to its purported origin to signify female power, would change its meaning in contemporary society. Many of the female students felt that the use of the word, "cunt" has been insulting and hurtful to women:
"There is one word that I would not mind if I never hear, see, or think about it again. It was perfectly appropriate to have this monologue in the book but it bothered me. It bothered me in such a way that I just wanted to rip that page out of my book." (Yvette)
"The word does not sound appealing and makes me feel very dirty. It makes me feel like my vagina is dirty or defective and I do not like feeling that way. The word cunt should not be reclaimed, but thrown away." (Megan)
Several students suggested that this monologue should be taken out of the text. Others thought that Ensler had succeeded in rehabilitating the word, so that it no longer could harm women:
"This (monologue) took away the negative connotations placed on the word and almost made it somewhat of a good thing to be called. Furthermore, when we read it in class, it didn't seem like such a horrible word after all." (Brenda)
During class discussion, I had a student read the monologue out loud. As a whole, the class discussed the power of language and who gets to define the terms of discourse. The class also discussed how words like 'cunt' and 'whore' are used to control women's sexuality in particular. For some students, nonetheless, The Vagina Monologues was a personally transformative experience (Lovejoy, 2001):
"I grew from reading the book. True I will never say the word "vagina" out loud without being at gunpoint - it's just not who I am, but I can honestly say that I am a bit more comfortable with myself having read the book." (Yvette)
"I feel that I have matured more as a woman, by hearing the stories of other women and feeling the freedom to voice my opinions." (Anna)
"The book gave me a better understanding of who I am, and helped me to realize, that some things in life that I think about are also thought about by other women." (Marsha)
For other students, however, The Vagina Monologues caused them to rethink their own sexuality, and women's sexuality in general (Lovejoy, 2001).
"Through this play she encourages us to learn more about our own bodies and how to reclaim them. A woman owns her body and must possess a great deal of respect for herself, develop autonomy, and realize that no one should have control over her body than herself." (Brenda)
"Before reading this book, I felt women shouldn't talk about their bodies. It's sad that society has taught women to feel ashamed of their bodies and their sexual needs and desires. Eve Ensler's book has really opened my eyes in how I view my own body." (Emily)
"One thing I realized about myself from reading Ensler's play is to love myself and not to be ashamed of my body. ÃÂ I now know how important it is to discuss sex and sexuality. Sex is a serious issue and I wish my mother would have had the 'sex talk' with me." (Kathy)
As for the word 'vagina,' many students became convinced by Ensler's attempt to de-mystify the word and to celebrate it instead (Maher, 1994).
"In the end, I believe that this play can best be used to teach all people that the word vagina is not one to be used with a negative connotation. The vagina is part of the female anatomy and people, especially women should not be afraid to talk about or mention the word." (Jane)
"Eve Ensler did a great job persuading me that a vagina is not just a dirty word or thing, but that it is a beautiful work of art." (Elizabeth)
Many of the students in this course also felt empathy for the fact that women's experiences and issues were as chronicled in the text for general discussion (Gawelek, 1994):
"I think that's the purpose of the Monologues, to get us to think. To identify with other women, with their experiences, even if we haven't been traumatized ourselves. We feel that the way these women have been treated is wrong. We become angry. We think we would never let this happen to our own daughters. But some daughters aren't that lucky." (Cindy)
There were also students who appeared quite apprehensive of the contents of the book (Maher, 1994):
"I think Eve Ensler would have been disappointed in the fact that I kept the book hidden to avoid confronting other people's reactions, but as I got farther into The Vagina Monologues and as we talked about it more in class, I began to realize what it was really about. Female sexuality was okay, and it should not be perceived as wrong to talk about it. I began to understand what Eve Ensler's message was, and did not mind if other people saw me reading it anymore because I could explain that you could learn a lot from the play." (Caroline)
"This play makes you aware and I guess that is a starting point. Why dance around the subject? Let's just talk about it. Once you get past the embarrassment, then there is much to learn from this play." (Mark)
And for other students, the play gave them an opportunity for a greater appreciation for feminism, and the need to raise societal sensitivity of the violence against women (Lovejoy, 2001):
"Violence towards women happens so frequently that I am sure every woman knows at least one women that this offense has been committed against. In other words, violence towards women is everyone's problem. I believe Eve Ensler is using the shock value of the word 'vagina' to make more people aware of what is happening." (Susan)
"Eve Ensler argues that in order for women to become more aware of what violence against women is, they need to be able to understand themselves. Understanding themselves, and working together to stop violence, is the other main objective of this book." (Marsha)
"Learning about feminism with such a wide range of emotions dealing with fantasies of pleasure to traumatic stories of rape and abuse, it makes one understand that there is a need for a stronger education for feminism." (Leslie)
Pedagogically, The Vagina Monologues promoted the goals of empathy towards others. The stories of the women opened-up a greater awareness of how other women live for the students while, at the same time, it spoke to many of their unarticulated experiences and feelings. Engaging in discussions with each other about the monologues enabled the students to identify with women's issues and stories (Belenky, 1986; Ensler, 1998; Fisher, 2001; Gawelek, 1994). In this respect, I believe, one key pedagogical goal was met.
Lastly, The Vagina Monologues was a good text to discuss the concept of "the personal is political" (Fisher, 2001; Minnich, 1990). Framing individual women's experiences within the larger cultural norms of American society gave the students in my class the opportunity to look beyond issues of individual psychology to their own community's and family's perceptions of women's sexuality. In my opinion, the reactions the students in my class faced in being assigned The Vagina Monologues also permitted them a real lived experience of how society's norms impact people's attitudes and behaviors. From a teaching position, I believe, that the students were able to take their personal experiences of adversity and confusion, and frame them within the larger social context of women's sexuality as to promote women's issues, and end violence against women.
Overall, assigning The Vagina Monologues exceeded my expectations as a learning tool. Students were able to overcome their initial anxieties and suspicions about the text; and in the end, the students were pleased to have read the Monologues. The value of assigning The Vagina Monologues was reinforced by students who went to see the play during that semester, coupled with the focus the local media gave to Eve Ensler's work during the month of February.
For me, what was informative was the fact that my students had to negotiate their reactions for the purchase of The Vagina Monologues long before they entered the classroom. The students in the class, most of whom were new to gender and women's studies, had to navigate through their own initial anxiety, and the taunts of close relations. As may be obvious, I had no way to intervene on the students' behalf earlier on at the bookstore and other places. It is my anticipation that the students learned enough to become better agents of change in the societies around them.
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