In the 11 years that "The Vagina Monologues" has been a sensation, its focus has never changed — to educate audiences on violence against women.
"Women are often taught to think that words relating to the vagina are offense and they shouldn't say them out loud," said Julia Dillard, the play's co-director. "That they really have no right to talk about different issues that affect them sexually or anything 'down there.'"
This year's theme is women in conflict zones.
"There is the war in Iraq, more news of female genital mutilation coming out of Africa and civil wars on that continent," said Marissa Yardley, co-director of the play.
When a country is in a state of war, women are undermined and unnoticed, Dillard said.
"The Vagina Monologues" will be performed at 8 p.m. today and Friday at Fairchild Theater.
Before writing the play, Eve Ensler held a series of interviews with women, said Dillard, a journalism junior.
Ensler saw recurring situations, such as domestic violence and sexual violence, in the interviews.
Out of Ensler's award-winning play, "The Vagina Monologues," came V-Day, which started in 1998 as a global campaign to stop violence against women and girls.
The monologues are the vehicle by which V-Day puts out its message, Yardley said.
There are many more female survivors of sexual assault on campus than we even know about, said Penny Gardner, visiting assistant professor in women, gender and social justice.
Most sexual assaults go unreported because women are ashamed instead of being enraged, she said.
"Women on campus are extremely vulnerable to date rape," Gardner said. "They buy into it as their own fault because of the way they dress.
"And it's not their fault — they didn't ask for it."
She said one in three women will be sexually assaulted during their lifetimes.
The challenge now is to keep the women's movement visible and the issues pertinent, Gardner said, adding that young people shouldn't take these issues for granted because they may eventually disappear.
"A woman's genitalia is thought to be unclean," Gardner said. "It's part of the meaning of women in that we are less than men in a patriarchal society. We are subordinate, and we are also sexual objects."
"The Vagina Monologues" provides an alternative message to this dominant perspective, Gardner said.
And she added that women should feel proud of their bodies.
"There's mystery to the vagina and not to the penis," Gardner said. "We glorify the penis and not the vagina."
The V-Day global fund receives 10 percent of the proceeds. Out of the remaining money, half is designated to MSU Safe Place, a shelter for victims of physical, emotional or sexual abuse. The other half goes toward next year's show.
"Bottom line," Yardley said, "is the money goes to women who need help."
