“Pooki … twat … monkey box … mushmellow … tamale … and a PUSSY IN PEORIA!”
To the tune of “God is a Woman” by Ariana Grande, nine female Bradley students rocking red lipstick sashayed on stage for three performances of “The Vagina Monologues” throughout last weekend.
Using Eve Ensler’s script based on real interviews and performed nationally for over 20 years, the performers addressed risky topics with both reckless abandon and controlled delicacy as they transported audience members into an alternate universe where the word “vagina” in all its forms is normalized.
Kayla Lee, senior music business major, clad in only leather lingerie, curled her body into various sex positions while demonstrating different types of moans, telling the story of a sex worker obsessed with the female moan.
“It was a really big step out of my comfort bubble, especially being mostly naked on stage and making sexual noises in front of a group of people who … I don’t even know who they are,” Lee said.
One-by-one, other members of the cast told the darker stories of an elderly woman diagnosed with cancer after a lifetime of fearing her “down-theres,” a wife whose cheating husband shaved her pubic hair without her consent, a transgender woman bullied harshly by those who wanted to “beat the girl out of [her] boy,” a girl whose “politically incorrect” older neighbor taught her her own lesbian sexuality after being raped by her dad’s friend in her childhood and more.
All these tales spoke out against abuse in some way, which is why the production’s host, Bradley Women’s and Gender Studies department, decided to partner with Center for Prevention of Abuse in Peoria. To raise money for the center, tickets were $3 for students and $5 for the public. Additionally, guests had the opportunity to purchase $5 “pussy pops,” which are chocolate suckers in the mold of a vagina.
Although
skeptical about the show’s topics and relevancy to him as a male, Robbie Svidron,
senior mechanical engineering major, was happy to support the cause.
“That’s probably the best place my three dollars has gone this week,” Svidron
said.
To keep the mood from becoming too dark, some other performances included a humorous rant about tampons and gynecology exams, a lady who learned how to turn her “magical accidental orgasms” into purposeful pleasure and the fun fact that the clitoris has twice as many nerves as the penis.
Members
of the Peoria community and advocates for women’s rights, Sherry Cannon and
Chama St. Louis, ended the show with their personal narratives as part of this
year’s show theme “Amplifying New Voices.”
“I think ‘empowering’ is the appropriate word to use because for so much of the
time, all of us … even our physical parts have made us embarrassed,” Cannon
said. “Everything in us is intentional, so we need to embrace it and …
celebrate it.”
This
year’s production of “The Vagina Monologues” follows in the footsteps of women
at Bradley for several years now. Traditionally, members of “The Vagina
Monologues” return as directors or cast members the following year to carry on
the powerful message. They refer to themselves as “saggies.”
“I had such a great time [last year] that I was like, ‘I can’t leave this. I
need to be a part of it again,’” said Kelly Hicks, junior psychology major and
director of this year’s production.
For those who missed this year’s shows, watch out for “pussy pops” being sold in the student center in the upcoming weeks and advertisements for next year’s “The Vagina Monologues” around Valentine’s Day 2020.
