“Let’s just start with the word vagina. Vagina. It sounds like an infection at best.” – The Vagina Monologues

Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues has taken the world by storm since her book of the same name was originally adapted into a play in 1996, and in which she was its sole performer.

UTSC first hosted its own V-Day Campaign and performance of the Vagina Monologues in March of 2009 and the SCSU plans to bring it all back for March of 2011.

Although women are only allowed to perform in the play, there are various “men who support it [and] can definitely take part backstage in production,” said third-year journalism student and director of UTSC’s version of the play, Maryam Shah.

Shah is producing UTSC’s version of the Vagina Monologues with the help of UTSC’s vice-president of students and equity Zarah Murji, and co-ordinator of the Xpression Against Oppression (XAO) Mattieu Ramsawak.

Shah performed in the play the first time it was held at UTSC and feels that it fits in perfectly wit

Photo Courtesy / Brandon Lu

h the March theme of XAO, which focuses on sexual and gender issues.

“You can’t talk about sex and gender issues without talking about feminism, and you can’t talk about feminism without talking about Eve Ensler,” Shah said.

The central theme of every monologue in the play is the vagina, which in itself is a metaphor for the larger female experience. The monologue topics cover many trials and tribulations that vaginas have experienced since the beginning of humanity. They include birth, sex, rape, masturbation, mutilation, menstruation, and even orgasms.

Although some of the monologues are incredibly hilarious, there are a portion of them which deal with very mature subject matter and topics that evoke feelings of pain and sadness in manys.

All of the stories within the monologues have been derived from the true accounts of approximately 200 women from different ages, sexual orientations, and ethnicities who were interviewed by Ensler as she wrote her book.

Ensler’s main goal has been to raise awareness about the violence that is consistently committed against women in every part of the world. From this she created the V-Day Campaign which has become increasingly successful since she founded it in 1998.

The performance is scheduled to take place on Mar. 9 in Rex’s Den where according to Shah, “people will already be there eating and then you know you open the mic and you start talking about vaginas, you’re going to get a lot of people listening.”

Shah also said that the event will likely have free admission in order to attract a larger audience.

Ensler’s play has attracted audiences worldwide and her book has been translated into over 20 languages. She is famous for noting in an interview that “the story of your vagina is the story of your life, and women want to talk about their lives.”

One of the most controversial monologues is one titled The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could which explains the true story of a woman who had a most uncomfortable childhood experience of being engaged in a sexual relationship with an older woman, when she was only 13.

Shah said that every female should be able to find a role that she can relate to as they’re all so varied.

“There’s one part where we perform different kinds of moans, and there’s one monologue completely about a woman’s orgasms. You don’t really hear a lot about that,” Shah said.

All of the proceeds collected from the V-Day Campaign will be going towards The Women for Haiti campaign.

“[The V-Day campaign] is awesome and you should join it in any way you can,” Shah said. “And read the book, it’s hilarious.”

Look out for more information about the event leading up to March.