Steven Soldwedel seems disturbed that women are speaking up for themselves in a positive light, and that the media is supporting them (“Men don’t honor penises with week,” SN 2/27).
I wonder why this is. Soldwedel also seems to think today’s society glorifies women and defiles men across the board.
Maybe he doesn’t realize when he and I graduate, I will make less than 75 percent of every dollar he makes for the same job. Maybe he doesn’t know that in a recent survey, 70 percent of people interviewed said they knew neighbors who beat their wives, and 60 percent believed the women were to blame for their own beatings.
The male reproductive system has long been spoken of freely and used as a symbol of pride and status. The vagina, on the other hand, is often seen as passive and dirty. Because of this shameful connotation, less than one in three sexual assaults are reported. In some African tribal cultures, females go through genital mutilation, which involves the partial or complete removal of the clitoris and surrounding labia. These are only a few examples, but they show so graphically why women need to reclaim their bodies as powerful and not be silenced.
What confuses me about Soldwedel’s response to this is that he feels threatened and attacked by it. This movement is pro-woman, it’s not anti-male. Vagina Week and “The Vagina Monologues” were about education, health, breaking the silence and raising awareness and money to help women out of these situations. Why this should hurt his defenseless little ego, I cannot understand. The experience was healing for many in our cast who had been assaulted, and it opened up many in the audience who had been afraid to speak before.
Men were welcome at every event we held, and men were crucial leaders in our production company. This is not about blame, it’s about coming together to stop violence for everyone. If your mother or your girlfriend were raped, you would understand this is an issue that needs support from men as well as women. You see women in the media not because of some inherent bias in the press, but because women are actively doing things to be heard. “The Vagina Monologues” did not spring out of some black hole onto the front page - women (and men) put months of their lives into making it happen.
If you want a Penis Week, make one. Do some research into how often men are subjected to sexual violence by women or their governments (I suggest you not start looking in Afghanistan). Put together some workshops on men’s health. It will be a learning experience for everyone. In fact, one of the primary men in “The Vagina Monologues” has plans to write the male counterpart, and I intend to be one of his biggest supporters.
To all of the people who supported this movement and helped us to raise more than $14,000 to give to MSU Safe Place and the Council Against Domestic Assault, thank you.
I hope Soldwedel never has to feel what it’s like to watch close friends heal from rape, or be sucked again and again into violent relationships. May he be luckier than I have been.
Hillary Noyes
zoology junior
“The Vagina Monologues” producer
