This weekend, I get to be angry. I get to yell, and I get to scream, and I get to throw a temper tantrum about the injustices of being a woman.
I am an “Angry” in the Bradley production of Eve Ensler’s “Vagina Monologues.” My part is funny, for the most part. There are lines that I’m sure will garner some hysterical laughter, and other pieces have their moments too. It’s not a show that’s going to leave you feeling down.
But it might leave you pretty angry. That’s okay. You should be angry.
No matter who you are, no matter your sexual preference, no matter your gender, your race or your religion, you should be furious.
You should be livid that sexual violence is not only alive and well, but also rampant.
You should be irate that the concept of defining rape is still up for political discussion.
You should be mad that approximately two-thirds of rapes are committed by someone known to the victim.
You should be infuriated that a woman can be blamed for her rape because of her short skirt or her high heels.
You should be sick to your stomach at the fact that every two minutes someone is a victim of sexual assault in the United States, that 58 percent of victims will not report what happened to them, that 97 percent of rapists will never spend a day in jail.
Not even a day, for 97 percent.
That fact should have you all rioting in the streets.
And if that doesn’t, think about these little tidbits. Ladies, one in six women in the United States are victims of an attempted or completed sexual assault. Nine out of every ten rape victims are women. And to top it all off, 17.7 million American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape.
So get angry.
Men, you aren’t off the hook here either. In all honesty, you should be the angriest of all.
Most of the men I know are upstanding. They would never consider taking what is never theirs to take, because they are men, not barbarians. Unfortunately, every two minutes that is exactly what is happening to a woman in this country, and for the most part a male (NOT a man) is doing it.
You are cordially invited to join my fellow vaginas and me in our anger.
Rise with us. Say enough with the violence, enough with the oppression, enough with the lack of civility. Help us prove that we are better than the numbers I listed. Help us demand an end to the rape culture we live with and make a world with safer, happier vaginas.
Kristina Puerto is a senior public relations major from St. Louis, MO. She is the Scout voice editor. Direct comments, questions and other responses to kpuerto@mail.bradley,edu.
