Nervous, uncomfortable, and celebratory laughter filled the Mayo Music Concert Hall during all three shows of the Vagina Monologues this weekend. The v-word and the c-word were thrown around, and audience members had no choice but to accept the most beautiful and mysterious part of women.
The monologues were written and developed by Eve Ensler in 1994 after she interviewed hundreds of women about their vaginas. Ensler and volunteers established V-Day in 1998 with the mission to stop violence against women and girls.
TCNJ has celebrated V-Day for almost a decade by performing the monologues to spread acceptance and awareness of vaginas. Monologues from women of all ages were performed. Audience members laughed as women found their vaginas and had orgasms for the first time, and cried as stories of rape and battering were told.
Hundreds of thousands of women in the United States and millions of women worldwide are victims of violence ever year, and V-Day will continue until the violence stops.
The program ended with a call to action to end violence against our mothers, sisters, friends, and daughters. The poignant message resonated within everyone as they left the hall.
This year’s beneficiaries are Manavi, CARE, and Women and Girls of Haiti, which is V-Day’s 2011 Spotlight Campaign.