Ensler #4

            Ensler, in her text, works toward both celebrating vaginas and raising awareness of violence against women. Several monologues support this claim of celebrating vaginas. “The Vagina Workshop” tells the story of a woman who finally connects with her body and her vagina; the experience is profoundly stimulating and liberating. For the first time in her life, she is amazed with herself and left in an awe called “vaginal wonder.” In “Because he liked to look at it,” the female professes she “began to feel beautiful and delicious-like a great painting or a waterfall…began to feel proud. Began to love my vagina.”  

            Many monologues also help raise awareness of violence against women. In “My Vagina was my Village,” the monologue reveals the story of a girl being raped and tormented by a group of soldiers. Words like “They invaded it. Butchered it and burned it down,” haunt the page and the reader’s mind. Women from a Bosnian refugee rape camp inspired the monologue. “The Little Coochie Snorcher that Could” tells the sad story of girl who comes from a broken home and is subject to rape and sexual abuse at very young ages.

            I believe that she does achieve both these goals equally and it is obvious in reading the 10^th anniversary addition. In the introduction, Ensler professes, “There have been so many victories. Women speaking the word where it had never been uttered. Women standing up against local and national governments…and the voices inside them that judge and censor.” To realize the enormous amount of awareness raised the reader must only look at the “V-Timeline: Ten Years of Vagina Victories.”

            There is a slight contradiction between celebrating vaginas and raising awareness. In many of the monologues, heinous and deplorable acts are often committed to women in the hope of raising awareness through the truth and reality of it. In these specific monologues there are no celebrations of the vagina, simply because the stories are too disturbing. This contradiction is seen by reading all the monologues as one large piece. Also, the reader is able to see the dual-purpose of Ensler’s work in both celebrating and raising awareness.