Vagina Monologues…say what, you mean they talk too?

Catchy title huh? Yeah, I know…I figured it might catch your attention. But before you jump to any conclusions or get the wrong idea, no I’m not trying to be fresh or explicit in any way, shape, or form. However, if you have never heard of the Vagina Monologues before, then today is your big day. It’s almost like getting ready for the first day of school after a long summer, and being filled with so much excitement and anticipation that you can’t eat or sleep and all you can think about is which outfit you’re going to wear to impress all of your friends. Okay, so maybe it’s not all that intense and maybe I’m the only one who used to get excited about the first day of school, but many students in the Vanderbilt community genuinely embrace the Vagina Monologues making it apart of our campus culture and something that you should know about.

Now, if you don’t know, the Vagina Monologues is an episodic play, written by Eve Ensler, that initially premiered Off-Broadway in 1996. Since then, the Vagina Monologues has been translated into 45 languages and is performed in theaters across the globe, Vanderbilt’s Neely Theater (the campus student theater) being one, where Vanderbilt women put their own twist on the 11 year production. What’s exciting about the women of Vanderbilt, is that the Vagina Monologues is apart of the V-Day celebrations, which is a worldwide movement to end violence against women. The program also gives the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center the opportunity to bring awareness to the campus about much of its programming including Project Safe and Take Back the Night. Plus, fellas, don’t fret because you don’t have to be a woman to speak out against violence to women. There are many organizations on campus to get involved with as well including one called Men Promoting a Solution, a student organization striving to promote gender equality on Vanderbilt's campus and throughout the nation.

Now you’re probably thinking, “Why in the world would Angelo bring up the Vagina Monologues in his blog?” Well, oh inquisitive one, I’ll tell you. The campus is buzzing with excitement because it was announced a day or so ago that Eve Ensler, the award-winning author of the Vagina Monologues, will be visiting Vanderbilt in February as a part of her college campus tour. The Women’s Center will be sponsoring this lecture and quite frankly it is this kind of inclusiveness and awareness that you can expect as a student on Vanderbilt’s campus. But, then again, this is just one aspect of Vanderbilt’s culture that makes it great. Tune in again soon and I’ll enlighten you about another exciting aspect of Vanderbilt’s diverse culture and if you’re interested, check out The Women’s Center website at ( http://www.vanderbilt.edu/WomensCenter/) to find out more about the Vagina Monologues and additional programming that the center sponsors.