Love your muff: in defense of “The Vagina Monologues”

By Bethany Morris in Front Page, Opinion on Mar 4, 2013 23:10 / comments

Hoo-haas, vajayjays, muffs, lady caves and, of course, your run-of-the-mill vaginas are being celebrated all around the world in V-Day events. The play has increased in popularity in recent years and has become a worldwide phenomenon that has women and men loving and embracing the ever-seductive honey pot.

“The Vagina Monologues” is a play written by Eve Ensler that ran for the first time in New York in 1996. The play is based on over 200 interviews that Ensler conducted that asked women about their relationship with their vaginas. From the plays humble beginnings in ’96 that starred Ensler in all the roles, the play has grown and evolved. It has been translated into 48 different languages and performed in over 140 countries. Despite its popularity, the play faces criticism.

Lilly Grisafi's porforms in the 2012 Vagina Monologues. (CU Independent/David Zimmerman)

Lilly Grisafi’s performs in the 2012 Vagina Monologues. (David Zimmerman/CU Independent File)

With its harsh language and touchy subject matter, the monologues range from a rape victims perspective to the sounds that women make during sex. The play has been called anti-feminist, has been accused of reducing women to their vaginas and has been labeled outdated. To these accusations, I not so humbly say: you’re wrong.

The play features women’s stories from all around the world and strives to provide a forum for a subject that has been labeled taboo in our society. Ensler’s play never claimed to tell a universal story about women and their vaginas. Rather, it celebrates a diverse group of women’s stories and makes them public so that a greater understanding and appreciation of women can be reached.

“The Vagina Monologues” has sparked a worldwide phenomenon known as V-Day. V-Day is Feb. 14, where worldwide, people get together for the sole purpose of ending violence against women. Due to its popularity, V-Day has gained over 1 billion activists. According to the site, 1-in-3 women will be either raped or beaten in their lifetime. One woman is too many, and one-third is unacceptable.

The world is working towards equality.The United States made it legal for women to be in combat, and some states have made gay marriage legal. However, there’s still a long way to go to break down walls and talk about sexuality. We’ve all seen the commercials of the woman on her period who is buying tampons so she can be liberated from her period and outsmart mother nature, playing soccer or going swimming instead. Your period is nothing to be ashamed of. It happens to all women, yet we think we have to hide it or “beat” it.

In fact, the shame towards vaginas can go to extremes such as surgery. Labiaplasty is a surgery growing in popularity. The goal of labiaplasty is to reduce either or both the inner labia and outer labia–folds of skin surrounding the vulva. WTF? Your vagina is awesome the way it is, and no one, no not even your partner, should make you feel ashamed about the appearance of your vagina. Self-love, not surgery, is the answer. Your vagina isn’t a problem to be fixed, and it certainly shouldn’t make you want to spend thousands of dollars so it can be “pretty.”

In defense of vaginas and all they have to say, I think that as long as women are still beaten and raped, as long as our bodies are considered taboo and as long as we think that we have to fix our bodies, “The Vagina Monologues” and its message of self-acceptance are still very relevant. Love yourself, and love your vagina because it’s not going anywhere. It’s here to stay.

Contact CU Independent Breaking News Editor Bethany Morris at Bethany.morris@colorado.edu