10 Years of "Vagina Monologues"

By Broadside Staff Reporter Mrinalini Ramanan.

It’s back, and it’s ranting its way through the Mason community. The Vagina Monologues is an annual play sponsored by Sexual Assault Services to spread awareness about sexual assault and violence against women.

Written by Eve Ensler, a playwright and actress, the award-winning play inspired its author to establish a movement to stop violence against women: V-day. This global initiative is based around the idea of calling Valentine’s Day "V-Day" until women of the world are living safely and freely. The V-Day website claims that once their mission of empowering both victimized and affected women around the world is accomplished, February 14th will be called “Victory over Violence Day.”

You Can't Say "Vagina"

Jesse Shipley, a graduating theater major and the director of the play this year, is excited that Mason is performing the play for the eighth year, as it is also V-Day’s tenth anniversary since its first performance in 1998.

“We will keep performing these shows year, after year, after year, until rape is no longer a concern," said Shipley.

As a part of generating media coverage about violence against women, the Vagina Monologues helped wear away walls surrounding the censorship of the word “vagina” in media, after its first performance in 1996. The controversy and media focus on the issue helped raise supporters for V-Day in 1998, and contribute to the now decade-old movement. When talking about the publicity for the shows in Mason, Shipley talked about the administration’s hesitation towards displaying vagina on the marquee at Braddock Road. The administration was concerned about the neighborhood's response to the advertisement.

"A lot of high ranking people went to bat for us, and now we are allowed to put up the advertisement after 5 p.m.,” said Shipley.

Although she appreciates the new achievement, she said it would be more fitting for a college environment that is designed for open-minded thinking to allow for the display of the word ‘vagina’ to be unrestricted.

Women Learning To Defend Themselves

The play is directed and performed by Mason students every year, and brings forth a mixed number of reactions from the community. Daniel Blau, a former member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, is glad that the Sexual Assault Services at Mason is using various ways to reach out to the students about crimes against women, but is concerned about other services offered by them.

“George Mason has consistently had one of the highest rates of on-campus rape in Virginia universities, public or private,” said Blau, quoting the statistics provided by the Department of Education and FBI’s uniform crime reporting program, Security on Campus. Blau feels that Sexual Assault services should look into replacing their New Member Education program for first-year fraternity and sorority members with the Rapid Aggression Defense course offered by George Mason's police.

Kelsey Wilkens, an actress in the Vagina Monologues, agrees that women need to learn how to defend themselves.

“Young women do not understand the value of their own lives and how much their safety matters to those who love them. The word needs to be spread that self-defense is family defense.When you protect yourself, you also protect your family and those who love you from the pain they too would feel if anything happened to you.”

However, Wilkens feels that the plays deserve more significance than is given to them by most students.

“The discussion surrounding female sexual experiences has been long over due," said Wilkens. "Women should be able to embrace this subject [...] as men have been doing for quite some time.” She advises the audience to keep an open mind, as they will learn more from the different pieces that are being performed.

Many students, both male and female, are affected by sexual assault on campus, and can contribute to causes that help victims of such undesired situations and raise awareness about sexual assault on campus. This year, proceeds from the Vagina Monologues will go to the Fairfax County Victims' Assistance Network, the GMU Victims of Violence Fund , and the Tahirih Justice Center.

For more information on the play, visit their website.

Edited by Director at 2:21 p.m.