Ensler #3

For Ensler, language is a very important part of her message. This whole entire movement that became The Vagina Monologues started with the word “vagina.” It was far from an ordinary word either, because along with it came feelings of “anxiety, awkwardness, contempt, and disgust.” Now that is most certainly a powerful word. Because of these uncomfortable feelings, vagina has also become a censored word in our society. Ensler seems to feel that this beautiful word that personifies a woman, has been stolen from the female gender and made ugly and embarrassing. She hopes to reclaim it; to reinvent it. The most fundamental difference among males and females is their reproductive organs. A woman’s vagina, and all its beauty, belongs to her; and so should the term, its definition, and its meaning. She should be able to say it openly and discuss it freely. Ensler sees her vagina as her “primary resource, a place of sustenance, humor, and creativity. So how on earth did vagina become a bad word? NO MORE!

The word vagina does not stand alone either. Pussy, cunt, vulva, coochi snorcher, clitoris, etc., are all words that describe and define something that is truly unique and representative of the female gender. Somehow, however, these words have evolved into making the female body seem dirty or shameful. So the question is… If all these words that are supposed to describe a female body are dirty and shameful…. which terms/words actually do exist that explain the beauty and delicacy of the female body??

To explain why Ensler asks the questions about what vaginas would wear, etc., I would like to start with a quote from Ensler in the preface: “I say vagina because when I started saying it I discovered how fragmented I was, how disconnected my body was from my mind. My vagina was something over there, away in the distance. I rarely lived inside it, or even visited.” Taking this quote into careful consideration, I think it’s pretty clear as to why she asks these questions; the woman and the vagina are one and the same. If your vagina got dressed, what would it wear? The question is answered with a long list of silly answers undoubtedly relevant to the woman answering the question. These questions offer “a personal, grounded-in-the-body vantage point of identifying with your body.