[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040126-578986,00.html]]( [url) High school girls to perform the Vagina Monologs
Have you guys heard about this? What do you think? I will admit that I have only a causal knowledge about the Vagina Monologs, but based on what, exactly, the school was thinking. I can not fathom a case where, even though the idea may have seemed good for one brief moment, that they thought that anything good could come of this.
High School girls faking orgasms? What bad could come from it?
Is it so fucking difficult to see why this isn’t alright? Aside from it being illegal… Isn’t there a law about compromising a minor’s morals? Enough of this shit goes on in highschool; does it really need to be approved by the fucking school board? I pity this and the next generation of children to come out of Amherst.
If you don’t actually KNOW the show, Binary, I don’t know how you can be up in arms about it. Shouldn’t you actually know what you’re complaining about?
Yes, but those laws pertain to ILLEGAL activities. Talking about something in a play isn’t illegal.
Oh please. The schoolboard isn’t approving of anything. That’s like saying sex education in high school is the school board approving of kids having sex. It’s a play, and in plays, characters do things regular people might be condemned for. Besides, any college freshman girl can do it, so is it really a big deal if high school girls do it?
That said: I have questions about the message of that monologue as well. But if memory serves, if you do a production of the show you are allowed to pick and choose from a larger body of monologues. You don’t need to do them all, you can drop some. So omit that one and there’s no problem. Likewise - and I’m NOT a big fan of the show - focusing on one monologue and ignoring everything else is bizarre to say the least.
This guy sounds like a real dim bulb. Does he really think the girls have never been exposed to this stuff before? A generation of girls who watch Christina Aguilera videos aren’t going to care about When Harry Met Sally.
What is the age of consent in Mass.? As best as I can find on the internet, it’s 16, so not illegal.
I’m sorry, I don’t think that I was clear here. I am not complaining about anything, nor am I up in arms about this. I simply came across this story and thought that it would make for an interesting subject of conversation. That you would read my OP this way seems to be jumping to conclusions.
At the very least, based on what I do know about this play, approving the production of the Vagina Monologs for underage high school girls is at best guarantied to cause national controversy. I am wondering at the motives for allowing this on the part of the School Board given how they know it must be destined to turn out.
As far as how appropriate this is in general, I don’t think that I know about the play itself enough to judge yet. That said, from what I know it seems that this could be easily seen as sexualizing teenage girls, which is arguable not the best plan.
It doesn’t matter if it is legal or not. People need to get a grip. Nobody complains about Shakespeare being performed despite the depiction of illegal activities like murder. Seriously, everyone who is flipping out about this is being ridiculous. More fucked up American culture – depicting violence in extreme gory detail is a-ok, but depicting or talking about sex is evil.
Then I apologize for that. But you DID say “I can not fathom a case where, even though the idea may have seemed good for one brief moment, that they thought that anything good could come of this.”
May I ask (NOT trying to be confrontational here) what you do know about the play? I suppose you can wonder about the motives, but the play is supposed to be somewhat controversial.
I’d like to see an answer to the previous question. But there are characters of all ages, including the sixteen-year-old and a woman around 80. The fact that the play TALKS about sex and vaginas, and yes, includes an orgasm or two, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily sexualizing teenaged girls. Wait, we’re worried about sexualizing teenaged girls? It’s too late for that anyway. 
To be fair, it’s a lot easier to see a younger person being influenced by sexual content than violent content - We have natural urges towards one, and an instilled avoidance towards the other.
Do I think the Vagina Monologues will fire a Highschool-wide orgy of Sodom & Gamorrah scope? No, but I’m not comfortable with the idea anyway. I definitely think it could do more harm than Hamlet. Sexual experimentation is a lot more likely than a poison-tipped sword fight.
I’ve never seen Vagina Monologues live; I saw a taped performance in Cinemax last year and I hear it’s not as good as a live performance. Still, I have a pretty good idea of the show’s content and the intent behind it.
There’s nothing in there that a contemporary teenaged girl shouldn’t see, and by extension, perform onstage. Few people find the show prurient by any stretch. The show basically reflects real life as many (if not most) women experience it, and 16 is a little old to be kept in a Disney candyland where the performing arts are concerned. Any parent who feels differently has every right and opportunity to keep their daughters out of the production.
Because God knows we can’t have high school kids having sex!
Actually there are people who complain about high schoolers doing or reading Shakespeare because of its portrayal of immoral and illegal activities. Most people ignore these people.
When I was in highschool, one of the drama coaches censored even plays written for adolescents. She condemned any play that would have an adolescent portraying adult activities, or engaging in any even quesitonable acitivites, including asking questions that might make one think about sex. She rejected a play because two characters were married adults and they kissed on stage. She did not want any adult characters in the plays at all. There are several words for her, crackpot being the kindest one I can think of.
Having seen the Vagina Monologs, I think it would be a good highschool play. The sets are easy. How well it goes depends on the on acting and directing rather on fancy costumes and superfluous extranea. The scenes can be extracted for competitions, which is a nice bonus.
Fair questions all. I have seen snippets of the play on video, but not enough to make any kind of judgment on the appropriateness of having it as a high school play. I do know that it deals with sexuality in a frank way, which is always bound to create controversy, especially in a school setting.
I guess that my main take is that (if for no other reason than the fact that the word “vagina” is in the title) this play in the current setting is bound to be controversial. Given that schools in general are more or less under siege (consider the explosive controversy surrounding even teaching safer sex), it seems odd to me that a school board would even entertain the notion of approving this.
I saw a production of this when I was in college.
While I remember thinking it was phenomenally overrated, I can’t remember anything in it that was something the average high school student was going to be “corrupted” by.
A large portion of the students involved were freshmen, which means they weren’t much older than the high school students in this. And this stuff was pretty tame compared to some of the stuff that’s normal for music videos and the like.
From Kelley:
If Kelley “read” the play, as he claims he has, then I’m in possession of kitchen appliances with better reading comprehension skills. The narrator of the piece he finds so “inappropriate” relates the above story after reading off a virtual laundry list of men that have assaulted and abused her ever since childhood. Her sexual experience with the twenty-four year old - who, horror of horrors, is someone of the same gender - is the first time she’s able to view herself as an autonomous, lovable person instead of an object for the gratification of men.
No shit the experience is portrayed in a favourable manner. It should be. If that’s the portion of the scene that Kelly finds so bloody offensive, it says a great deal more about his own twisted morals than the worthiness of the play itself.
The play is a good one for teenagers to see. It gives them exposure to mature material in a safe, educating atmosphere.
The assigned reading in most English classes is more graphic than the Vagina Monologues.
People need to grow up.
I don’t think the problem he had was with them being of the same gender, but rather with one of them being 24 and the other only 16.
Presumably the same people would have objected to a play that portrayed a sexual relationship between a 24 year old guy and a 16 year old girl in a favorable light.
Personally, I don’t see a problem with it, as it is a play. There is no actual sex between 24 year olds and 16 year olds during the play, just as there are no actual suicides during a performance of Romeo and Juliet.
I personally have nothing against the school approving performances of The Vagina Monologues. This seems like a really progressive school. Heck, I’m looking forward to their planned stage adaptation of American Psycho and 100 days of Sodom.
P.S. - I stress this is only my opinion but every time I’ve seen The Vagina Monologues I’ve come out of the theater mentally drawing up plans for a time machine so I can get those 3 hours of my life back and use them for something more productive and entertaining like repeatedly cleansing my sinuses with drano.
IMO, it’s a dull and uninspired show with little educational benefit and I think the students time would be put to far better use performing one of the countless thousands of classic plays which would expand their minds and help develop a wider interest in the theater.