The Vagina Monologues, an episodic play written by Eve Ensler, delves into consensual and non consensual sexual experiences, body image, genital mutilation, direct and indirect encounters with reproduction, sex work, and several other topics through the eyes of women with various ages, races, sexualities, and other differences.
This year I decided to join The Vagina Monologues Club at Sonoma State. Every year in February they put on the performance to spread awareness, push some boundaries, and raise money for Verity, which is Sonoma County’s only rape crisis center.
I first heard about the Vagina Monologues in my freshman year, thanks to Her Campus President and Vice Presidents Suzie and Kylie. Needless to say, it changed my life. I’ve always been the kind of person that’s okay talking about vaginas and sexuality. I’m very unapologetic about it. The club seemed like the perfect fit, so I started going to meetings, and soon enough I got my piece; “The Beat The Girl Out Of My Boy,” a monologue about transgender awareness. Each cast member is given a piece from the original play, to perform in the show, and this year two cast members performed powerful original pieces about body shaming and gender non-binary people. It took me a while to grow into my piece, but nevertheless, I was so excited about it. I realized how huge of a responsibility I had, and how I had the opportunity to bring this issue to light in front of hundreds of people, along with three other amazing cast members.
The Vagina Monologues has changed my life for the better. I would be a completely different person if I hadn’t continued in this almost six month journey of rehearsals. I cherished the time I had once a week for two hours where I could unapologetically be myself. I always felt so lucky to be surrounded by cast members who weren’t afraid to share their stories, their hopes, and their fears. I had never felt so much love within a group of people.