A Dirty Word No More: Confidence on Display at This Year’s Vagina Monologues

“Vagina” — the word is taboo, yet when used in the right context, so intriguing. For most people, it’s an evil-sounding word. It’s unsettling, upsetting and inappropriate. Heck, one might even wince at the sound of it. Despite this social bias, the women in last weekend’s performance of The Vagina Monologues at George Mason University broke through that awkward shell and put on a spectacular show.

I walked in about 15 minutes prior to the show to a nearly full theater. Immediately realizing I was only one of a few male attendees, I took a seat in the third row, and waited for the monologues to begin. After an emotional introductory video focusing on the struggle of women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the show began as three ladies entered the stage and performed a monologue concerning the general perception of the word “vagina.”

The idea that the word “vagina” is such a hard word to say casually because of its negative connotation is introduced in this monologue, and done so with quite some humor. “It sounds like an infection at best, maybe a medical instrument. ‘Hurry, nurse, bring me the vagina.’” After this ice breaker, various students performed different monologues throughout the night, evoking a range of emotions from the audience ranging from tears of sorrow to tears of laughter.

One of the best and certainly most impressive monologues of the night was “The Vagina Workshop,” performed by theater major Miranda Rawson. Recalling an experience she had at a workshop designed to help women ‘find their clitoris,’ Rawson’s character expressed her evolving feelings toward her vagina, which exemplified her sense of self as a woman. It was phenomenally executed. “My Angry Vagina,” performed by health science major Chelsea Ashby garnered a room full of hysterical laughter.

Discussing her views on her “angry vagina” represented her fury towards the oppression of women in the most empowering, yet comedic, way possible. Another favorite of the night was “The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy,” performed by communication major Khadija Rahim. This monologue was unique to say the least.

The audience had lost the ability to control their laughter when Rahim closed the performance by going through a laundry list of all the different kinds of moans women make during an orgasm, acting every single one out. Confidence was an overbearing theme that night, and the cast did not show a single breach of that confidence throughout the whole night.

If the rest of the audience was as blown away as I was, I’d say there is litle doubt that this year’s Vagina Monologues performance was a success.