âÄúThe Vagina MonologuesâÄù WHERE: St. Paul Student Center, Coffman Theater See the Multimedia On ValentineâÄôs Day, one show took the time to get to know your friend and mine, the vagina, a little bit better. As is the risk of all openly vaginal art, best put by Maude from the Big Lebowski, âÄúThe word itself makes some men uncomfortable. Vagina.âÄù And it does, at first âÄî but only at first, because it doesnâÄôt take long for the compelling story of The Vagina Monologues to leave that awkward zone behind. The Vagina Monologues, written by Eve Ensler , has become a ValentineâÄôs Day classic specializing in the exploration and candid discussion of that old taboo body place, the âÄúvajayjay.âÄù The show seeks to change the way people look at the vagina, making it not a dirty word (even though it may âÄúsound like a diseaseâÄù) but, instead, an open word everyone can be comfortable using. The show was split up into performances of different stories usually by one or two actresses. There was one male actor in The Vagina Monologues, though the rest of the cast was female and many were University students. The monologues themselves are based on interviews with over 200 women from all walks of life. These interviews were weaved together by Ensler to create each manifesto. Every story explored different vaginatic topics, attempting to answer basically one question: What do women (or men) really know about the vagina? The answer, demonstrated by many women, is probably not very much. Their stories are of the self-discovery women have had with their bodies, most of it coming in the form of making peace with that âÄúroom of furnitureâÄù down there, as one woman in vagina denial put it. The Vagina Monologues allows frank discussion of serious issues in a powerful way. There were monologues about a transgender girl who was beaten for her differences, the rape of women in small villages by soldiers and even the sad story of an older woman who was afraid to explore her own sexuality. Although the show was flamboyant and pushed the limits of comfort, it never put the audience on the defensive because of its ample use of humor. Almost every segment, regardless of topic, was blended with well-placed vagina jokes. Some silly: âÄúWhat would your vagina wear? Purple fur, leather and glasses.âÄù Some side-splitting: âÄúBurt [Reynolds] didnâÄôt do much for me in life, but in my dreams âĦâÄù The show was part of a greater event that day along with ValentineâÄôs Day called âÄúV-Day,âÄù a second holiday focused on raising awareness and putting an end to violence against women. V-Day itself was started with money raised originally from the performance of The Vagina Monologues. All of the money collected at the performance of the monologues went to battered womenâÄôs shelters. The UniversityâÄôs performance of The Vagina Monologues was a well-staged and crisp look into issues of sexuality not often talked about. It makes a man sad that this kind of dialogue happens only once a year.