CRYSTAL LUONG
News Editor
She wears a short skirt to express herself, and everything beneath belongs to her.
She bears facial scars from acids penetrating her flesh.
And she, violated by men since childhood, embraces salvation in the comforts of another female.
They are women who are pained, prideful and aware, demanding respect for their vaginas.
V-Day in Malibu promoted the cause of such women over the weekend through benefit performances of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.” A cast of 20 Pepperdine students and a celebrity ensemble performed the blend of explicit language and mixed emotions Friday and Saturday at the Malibu Stage Company Theatre.
Each of five monologues in the show reflected the situations and struggles hundreds of women revealed to Ensler during interviews over the years about their personal lives.
“Overwhelmingly, people are thankful we’re doing this,” said senior Victoria Russell, who has been the organizer and producer for two years. “Some tell me, ‘I feel vindicated. I feel heard.’”
The production, which benefits the Santa Monica-based Sojourn Services for Battered Women and Their Children, aims to donate as much as $4,000 to the group after production costs, according to Russell.
The “V” in V-Day stands for victory, valentine and vagina. Worldwide, V-Day is committed to stopping violence against females, from the home front of America to Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The nonprofit organization specifically targets an end to rape, incest, battery, genital mutilation and sex slavery.
Conflicting messages
Malibu’s V-Day effort by Pepperdine students is one among hundreds at college campuses across the nation. Other local colleges with their own productions of “The Vagina Monologues” include Loyola Marymount University, Occidental College, UCLA and University of Southern California.
Russell estimated that more than 50 Pepperdine students and alumni were involved with this year’s V-Day in Malibu. However, the University has chosen not to establish an official affiliation with the provocative production.
“It’s not as though they (the administration) don’t see merit in it,” Russell said. “It’s the feeling that it condones certain behaviors, like premarital sex and homosexuality.”
Russell communicated last year with Tabatha Jones, associate dean of Student Affairs, and Doug Hurley, director of Student Activities, about her intentions to organize the production.
“They were gracious, but adamant that it wouldn’t happen (the affiliation with Pepperdine),” Russell said.
The administration does not have an official stance on “The Vagina Monologues” per se, according to Jones, but Student Activities determines the suitability of events sponsored by student organizations.
“We felt the production did not meet the standard that campus events should be suitable for family audiences,” she said.
Jones said she appreciates the intent of the show, but sees alternative means of accomplishing its message without the radical approach.
“As someone who has been touched by violence against women in my extended family, I appreciate being a part of a University community that takes seriously the principle that all of us have been created in God’s image, and thereby possess infinite dignity and worth that should be both treasured and respected,” Jones said.
The shows’ organizers did not approach administration for support again this year. Without support though, “The Vagina Monologues” could not be associated with the Pepperdine name in any context and no advertising was allowed on campus.
Most publicity was thus conducted via word-of-mouth. Local public relations firm TRC Entertainment also lent a hand by producing a “V-Day in Malibu” Web site.
Despite on-campus restrictions, members of the Pepperdine community constituted a majority of the production’s audience during its weekend performances, Russell said.
Say what?
One out of every six American women have been the victims of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime, a survey by the National Institute of Justice reported in 1998.
“The Vagina Monologues” is like the “Bible for a new generation of women” who will fight against such records of violence and more, Russell said.
Senior Julianna Reed, who read Ensler’s novel and then heard about Russell’s efforts, decided she too would become a vagina advocate. Reed and other cast members don’t deny that the show’s dialogue of menstruation, vaginal imagery and social taboos can place many people beyond their comfort zones.
“It (the show) dares you to open your mind,” Reed said, “why is our society so embarrassed to talk about certain things?”
Although Reed doesn’t necessarily condone the entire content of the production, she said a part of each monologue speaks to her.
“If they (administration and critics) can look past the f-word and cunt, in the bigger picture, it’s something that should be on campuses,” Reed said. “The message is far more important than the language.”
The monologues transcend direct relationships to females. Male audience members seem to walk away after two hours of seeming discomfort with an appreciation as well.
“It was pretty amusing, and it’s always good to hear what the other sex is thinking about,” said senior Gene Kim. “It’s like deciphering a book of codes of some sort.”
Critical support
Promoting V-Day can be a challenge within the Pepperdine community, but Malibu needed it, according to Russell.
“When people hear ‘Vagina Monologues,’ I get one of three reactions — I love it, what is that and you’re one of those people?” Russell said. “I find myself always learning to be tolerant of people.”
Some criticisms of the Ensler production include accusations that it promotes promiscuity. The lack of understanding represents a setback, V-Day advocates said.
“Not everyone has to agree with or support ‘The Vagina Monologues,’ but to accuse us of perpetuating the very thing that we fight against does not show a critical analysis of our production, but a critical lack of understanding,” Russell said. “Once again we have men attempting to tell women how, when, why and under what circumstance we should express any feelings about our vaginas.”
Russell graduates in April and is uncertain about the future of the production in Malibu.
“I hope that other students will take up the cause and produce it here,” she said.
She also emphasized the need for critics and supporters alike to continue to recall a vital message direct from the monologues: “My short skirt has nothing to do with you, and my short skirt and everything under it, is mine, mine, mine.”
02-24-2005
