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About The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler. It premiered Off-Broadway in 1996 and won an Obie Award. She originally starred in it, playing all the various women who share their views about their vaginas with the audience; when she left the play it was recast with three celebrity monologists. The production has been staged internationally, and a television version featuring Ensler was produced by cable TV channel HBO.V-Day The Vagina Monologues is the cornerstone of the V-Day movement, whose participants stage benefit performances of the show worldwide each Valentine's Day. The "V" in V-Day stands for Valentine, Vagina and Violence, linking love and respect for women to ending violence against women and girls. The proceeds from these performances go to programs that assist victims of domestic violence. V-Day has raised (and donated) over $25 million dollars and exists in 76 different countries. The organization has worked directly with women in regions like Cairo, Kenya and the Pine Ridge Reservation to build safe houses and support political resistance. Camille Paglia has criticized V-Day as "turning Valentine's Day, the one holiday celebrating romantic harmony between the sexes, into a grisly memento mori of violence against women." Criticism of The Vagina Monologues Feminist criticism The Vagina Monologues has been criticized by a number of people in the pro sex feminist, gender egalitarian, and individualist feminist movements. Pro-sex feminist Betty Dodson saw the play as having a negative and restrictive view of sexuality and an anti-male bias [2] (http://bettydodson.com/vaginano.htm). Individualist feminist Wendy McElroy shared many of Dodson's views. Many of the monologues are controversial in nature. The monologue entitled "The Little Coochi Snorcher That Could" has evoked allegations of double standards and hypocrisy among feminists (McElroy, 2000). This chapter recounts the seduction of a drunken 13-year-old girl by a 24-year-old woman. At the end of the chapter, this girl says that some would call what had happened a rape, but that if it was then it was a "good rape". In subsequent editions of the book and script, the young girl's age was changed to 16 and the phrase "good rape" was omitted, but the scene otherwise remained the same. Social conservative criticism The play has also been criticized by social conservatives, such as the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (ASDTFP). The ASDTFP denounced it as "a piece replete with sexual encounters, lust, graphic descriptions of masturbation and lesbian behavior", urging students and parents to protest. As a result of ASDTFP protests, performances were cancelled at sixteen Catholic colleges. Several performances of the play had also been banned by municipal authorities within the People's Republic of China. Links Official sites The Vagina Monologues V-Day The television production The Vagina Monologues The Vagina Monologues Criticism Camile Paglia on V-Day Betty Dodson on The Vagina Monologues Wendy McElroy on The Vagina Monologues ASDTFP call to protest The Vagina Monologues Source: wikipedia.org |
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