“You gotta be kidding me…”
That was my first reaction the first time I was exposed to a vagina monologue several years ago in the US. It was edgy, provocative and insightful. I couldn’t believe it. If it was liberating for me to hear them, I can’t imagine how liberating it must have been for Eve Ensler to write them.
I must admit that my initial shock to these monologues almost kept me from seeing their purpose. I was being bombarded with explicit and graphic truths that were not my own but truths of many women who survived rape, domestic violence, and/or dealing with other sexuality issues important to women today. Culturally speaking, it makes sense why a movement like this originated in the US. But that’s the beautiful thing about a movement, that once it picks up momentum, there’s no telling how many people it will empower and where it will end up. Even in places like Mexico where topics like this are still discomforting to talk about in public. This discomfort is not a direct result of “machismo” in Mexican culture either. The discomfort stems from the realization that the elephant in the room is tired of being quiet and is now tapping on our shoulders for attention. With a word like”vagina” in its title, it’s getting all the attention it sought out. Luckily for promoters, vagina is spelled the same way in Spanish 🙂