# High school girls to perform the Vagina Monologs **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 23, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821 "2004-01-23T21:42:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Art\_Barber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@Art\_Barber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Barber)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/21 "2004-01-25T05:44:34Z")
Oops… [Betty Dodson](http://www.bettydodson.com/vdayvmonologues.htm) Art ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/22 "2004-01-25T06:20:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Think all feminists love this play? Think again… Who said that? I know feminists who don’t love it, and I think they have many legitimate complaints. I’m a guy and I acted in the show last year, and I don’t love it by any stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Netbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71e660/32.png) [@Netbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Netbrian)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/23 "2004-01-25T09:26:25Z")
> [@Gomez](#): > > 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. Might I reccomend the Lysistrata? That’s very definately a play that’d generate wider-interest in theater, and is most certainly a classic. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/24 "2004-01-25T11:20:09Z")
> [@](#): > > **Gomez** : …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. **Gomez** , I think that everyone reading your post probably immediately found a solution to your ennui. I really like _The Vagina Monologs_ and I wish they had been around in the early 1960’s. If some find them helpful now, more power to them! I don’t see exactly what harm they can cause. They encourage young women to be at ease with womanhood and the words used to describe their genitalia – including those words which have been considered vulgar. They encourage women to talk about their sexuality – all kinds of experiences. No one is being forced to participate or view the production. It doesn’t require a lot of money to produce. What is there to complain about? The young woman who had the idea of putting the production together said that the real reward has been the process. Even if the presentation were cancelled now by some coward who believes that education should always avoid controversy, much good has already come from it. ---
**Author:** ![Avenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avenger)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/25 "2004-01-25T12:08:46Z")
I have seen a production of the Vagina Monologues and read it also (and anyone who hasn’t is _really_ not in a position to comment) and found it positive, life affirming and thought-provoking. The school should make it compulsary for every pupil, female and male, to watch this production. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/26 "2004-01-25T13:34:04Z")
Can someone help me out here? What’s the problem? Are any girls being forced to take parts in the play? Are the people complaining being forced to watch it? What exactly is getting everyone so upset? > [@](#): > > _originally posted by Slugworth_ > 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. It’s not just a poison-tipped sword fight. How about the vulgar language (“Do you think I meant country matters?” [III.ii.111])? How about the assault on traditional values (“I say we will have no more marriages” [III.i.150])? How about the contemplation of suicide [III.i.58-90] (a serious problem for teens today)? How about the ridiculing of one’s elders and parental figures (Hamlet’s mother is stupid and deceived; Hamlet’s uncle is an usurper and murderer; Polonius is a doddering old fool, overly pleased with his own advice, and a snoop). How about portrayal of the supernatural (Hamlet’s father appears as a ghost)? And who is to say that children won’t internalise the violence of the play, using fighting (not, necessarily in the form of lethal fencing) as a solution to their problems - surely we don’t want to encourage gang warfare in our teens! All this makes women talking about their pink bits seem like a walk in the park. I cannot believe you would propose corrupting innocent children with filth like Shakespeare. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/27 "2004-01-25T19:23:05Z")
From the news story: > [@](#): > > Conservative critics like Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly have joined local residents in assailing the school board’s decision. > . . . > At a town-hall meeting last week on the controversy, opponents of The Vagina Monologues were outnumbered by supporters. So O’Reilly goes on record, once more, that he is a knee-jerk ass and the people of Amherst stand up for intelligent discussion in education. What an uplifting news story! ---
**Author:** ![Treviathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@Treviathan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treviathan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/28 "2004-01-25T20:39:26Z")
> [@Nightime](#): > > 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. Well, I think by using the word “woman” twice he’s calling extra attention to the fact that it’s a same-sex relationship, but you’ve got a point. It’s probably a little from column A, a little from column B. As a slight hijack, I find it funny that whereas women have _The Vagina Monologues_ as a frank, introspective look at female sexuality, we men are basically stuck with _Puppetry of the Penis_. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gomez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d78d45/32.png) [@Gomez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gomez)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/29 "2004-01-25T20:39:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Gomez, I think that everyone reading your post probably immediately found a > solution to your ennui. Well, maybe everyone who likes the Vagina Monologues, but everyone who shares my opinion that it’s dull, uninspired and trite probably got a giggle out of it. > [@](#): > > Even if the presentation were cancelled now by some coward who believes that education should always avoid controversy, much good has already come from it. Absolutely lovely. However, call me old fashioned but I believe _more_ good would come out of studying and performing a play which was a recognised classic of literature. Education shouldn’t always avoid controversy but at the very least it should strive to be educational. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/30 "2004-01-25T20:46:54Z")
What exactly is a recognized classic? The fact that past generations like it doesn’t mean it teaches much of anything… when I was in high school, Dickens resulted in UNIVERSAL boredom among the students. I’m still not a fan. We’d have probably been much more interested in something that related to contemporary life. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/31 "2004-01-25T20:48:15Z")
> [@Gomez](#): > > However, call me old fashioned but I believe _more_ good would come out of studying and performing a play which was a recognised classic of literature. Education shouldn’t always avoid controversy but at the very least it should strive to be educational. Why does it have to present ‘the classics’ to be educational? Reminds me of the criticism of English exam papers tending towards the “This Shakespeare play is a work of genius because…” type question. Wouldn’t it be highly instructive if the girls involved were able to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the play they’re performing? ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/32 "2004-01-25T20:55:45Z")
Once one gets past the initial “Ooh, she said vagina!” novelty of the play, one can see that it’s mostly trite, feel-good stories. A couple of gems are strewn here and there, but that’s mostly because they’re pieces that can give an actor a lot of room to work with (I saw the most awesome performance of _Reclaiming Cunt_ the first time I saw the show). However, it’s an interesting show to work on, at least once, and I see nothing inappropriate about the material. ---
**Author:** ![Reader99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df788c/32.png) [@Reader99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reader99)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/33 "2004-01-25T23:55:17Z")
The thing to remember about this “play” is that it is nothing but a series of readings by one or several actresses who simply sit on stools and talk. The readings are about a variety of women’s experiences ranging from sexual encounters to violence to medical problems, but NO sexual activity of any kind (or any other action, for that matter) is depicted or implied. The content is about as offensive as the average big-city daily newspaper, and there is nothing in it that wouldn’t be suitable for high school girls. (It might do the boys some good to hear it too.) ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/34 "2004-01-26T11:40:09Z")
> [@Binarydrone](#): > > [[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040126-578986,00.html](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. You **caused** the VM??? I was amused to read in “Private Eye” 's column about Fleet Street of an editor who is so fond of using the C-word that his motivational speeches have become known as the “Vagina Monologues” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/35 "2004-01-26T12:25:15Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by Reader99_ > The thing to remember about this “play” is that it is nothing but a series of readings by one or several actresses who simply sit on stools and talk. How is this so? A director can direct a monologue however he or she wants to. What about the play restricts its action to stools? I’d be disappointed if a director didn’t look for other ways of presenting the material. Even a high school drama student knows you don’t perform a monologue by sitting there and speaking it. ---
**Author:** ![Reader99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df788c/32.png) [@Reader99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reader99)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/36 "2004-01-27T01:45:48Z")
The actresses are not portraying characters in a drama or reciting lines that further the action on stage. They are reading excerpts from about 200 interviews that the playwright conducted with women of varying ages and backgrounds about their sexuality, their feelings about their bodies and their life experiences. Some of the monologues might include responses to one question by several women (favorite words for genitals, for example), or different thoughts on one subject. Typically the performers hold scripts in-hand, which has allowed big-name stars and non-actress celebrities to appear in the show for a few days at a time: they don’t have to memorize lines or movement. Even the playwright, Eve Ensler, performed her own show with the script on a music stand in front of her. The performers are certainly free to read their lines energetically and enthusiastically, but it would be distracting if they started bouncing around the stage. This isn’t Shakespeare. Not everybody has liked the show. Some reviewers have found it overrated, even silly. Some don’t like the political perspective. But with respect to the original question, it is ONLY words. High school girls are not being asked/directed to take their clothes off or simulate sexual activity on stage. The cheerleaders at a football game probably do a racier show. [http://www.aislesay.com/WA-VAGINA.html](http://www.aislesay.com/WA-VAGINA.html) [http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/06.05.03/vagina-0323.html](http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/06.05.03/vagina-0323.html) [http://www.kdhx.org/reviews/vagina\_monologues0301.html](http://www.kdhx.org/reviews/vagina_monologues0301.html) [http://www.star.niu.edu/features/vagina\_monologues/](http://www.star.niu.edu/features/vagina_monologues/) [http://www.portlandmercury.com/2002-01-03/theater.html](http://www.portlandmercury.com/2002-01-03/theater.html) [http://my.en.com/~herone/Vagina.html](http://my.en.com/~herone/Vagina.html) [http://www.bcheights.com/news/2002/01/15/ArtsReview/Vagina.Monologues.Returns.To.Boston-163683.shtml](http://www.bcheights.com/news/2002/01/15/ArtsReview/Vagina.Monologues.Returns.To.Boston-163683.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/37 "2004-01-27T04:53:58Z")
I told my wife about this. She has seen the VM, and also happens to stage high school plays on occasion (all Shakespeare). Her only objection to Amherst HS putting on the VM? “It’s really kind of a shitty play…I’m sorry but listening to some ditz say cuuuuuuuUUUUnnnnt over and over was just fucking stupid.” So there you go. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/38 "2004-01-27T14:12:21Z")
Booooooring. ---
**Author:** ![Astra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@Astra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astra)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/39 "2004-01-27T17:55:28Z")
On a related note, the president of Loyola University in New Orleans just banned a drama group from performing this play on campus - because of the “language.” I’ve never actually seen it, but shutting down a play because of “language” in a college environment just seems a bit ridiculous to me. Not to mention that students weren’t complaining about the play, only the administration had an issue with it. ---
**Author:** ![Abbynormalguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Abbynormalguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbynormalguy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821/40 "2004-01-29T19:17:25Z")
The Vagina Monologues are the culmination of many years of research by one woman (her name eludes me at the moment though). She’s spoken to many women, young and old, about their sexuality. If you think that high school boys and girls know nothing about sex, especially when they are 16 or older, then you are sadly mistaken (unless the kids are home-schooled, which is another thing altogether). What the Monologues do is allow women to recognize their sexuality and to take it for what it is. It does not promote promiscuity or anything like that; quite the opposite, it portrays a woman’s vagina as something that is so special, so sacred that it should only be used with someone that the woman really cares about. (How do I know about this, especially when I’m a guy, you ask? I have seen the Monologues performed at my university several times and even wrote a piece for the Monologues last year. The format for the Monologues allows for user-created input) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-girls-to-perform-the-vagina-monologs/225821.md?page=3)