Columnist's view of Monologues skewed

As a member of the Vagina Monologues cast and a newly self-proclaimed feminist, and as someone who used to giggle every time the word “vagina” was spoken, I want to rebut the misinformed and biased account of the purpose of the Vagina Monologues in Nathan Carleton’s Feb. 17 column. I am honored and proud to have been a part of a production pulsing with eccentricity, women from different backgrounds and at different levels of their sexuality. And guess what, Nathan Carleton, our vaginas have nothing to do with you.

This “overpriced” play donated the majority of its proceeds to the V-Day Spotlight of 2005: Women of Iraq, Under Siege and the Sexual Assault Support Services and the Durham Crisis Response Center (our local rape crisis and domestic violence agency). I didn’t know safety had a price tag on it. The author’s skewed information regarding the actual monologues he cited make me wonder if he even saw the production this year. We did not impersonate vaginas. We told the stories of real women who find peace and beauty in their shadowed sexuality cast in the wake of arrogant assumptions, which is exactly what we’re trying to change.

The Vagina Monologues is not about lesbianism or man hating. It’s about grabbing our notoriously taboo sexuality by the horns and cultivating it. It’s about liberation from the double standard. It’s about saying what we feel, about saying what too many women are afraid to feel. And yes, its about sex (gasp) and enjoying it.

Laura Fausch

Trinity ’06