They were, each of them, beautiful is spectacular ways. They put on nice clothes, did their make up, wore nice shoes. They smiled and smiled, these beautiful women and then they broke hearts.
With words and actions, heart and soul, and emotion, and emotion, and emotion, the women of The Vagina Monologues rampaged and cajoled; joked and cried; cried and laughed; and cried some more.
And it was beautiful in spectacular ways.
This was InnerMission Production's The Vagina Monologues (3-24-12). Strong women, beautiful women, powerful women -- life-changers all.
It cannot have been easy. The process is lengthy and involved. There are events and rehearsals and planning meetings and lessons in advocacy.
And it's a really good cause, with excellent monologues acted by excellent actresses, and comediennes, and women who care and some women who were not comfortable before a large audience but believed in the message. This twofold message...
Message one: Aren't vaginas cool? They are multi layered, multi faceted, pretty, sweet-smelling things attached to people we'd be glad to know, to love or to have as friends, lovers and family members. Message two: Why then, after we've come to learn how great vaginas are, do people harm these vaginas and their owners?
Good question. Screwed-to-hell answer, when you consider that one in three women are violently abused and/or raped. Seven billion humans on earth, half of them women and a third of those women...
Shit almighty! That's a billion women, give or take. One Billion, with a b, women raped and how many men (mostly) who did that to them? Not a billion men but let's say 500 million. Can you count to five hundred million? I cannot.
The problem is that rape is so horrifyingly fucked up that people don't feel like thinking about it let alone doing anything about it. And so, most rapists don't go to jail. So let's say 400 million of them are out raping and getting away with it. And it's time we did something about it. Like not abusing or raping women and not letting anyone else abuse or rape women.
So InnerMission Productions and a ton of other organizations get together to perform The Vagina Monologues and at the end, just as you're trying to make sense out of it all and to remember to not rape anyone, someone from the cast comes forward and tells a real story. Not a rehearsed monologue but one that you just know down deep in your bones is true.
Because, let's face it, we might not know when we're being lied to but we sure as shit know when someone's telling the truth.
We hear a true story about abuse and rape. And before we can come to terms with this attractive, talented, very normal person who's just told a horrible secret to hundreds of strangers, this person asks anyone else who's survived violence or rape to stand with her (or him). And people do. And there's this exchange of love, and relief, and maybe someone doesn't feel so alone…
And the person, who has been joined by literally dozens of other attractive, normal people, asks anyone who knows or loves a survivor to stand with them and then the rest of the audience to stand with us (I stood up with the first group) and so we are all standing at the end, ready to call people out about rape and violence.
And we will.
