HALEY DUVEL
PRIDE STAFF WRITER

If you have never seen the “Vagina Monologues” before, these unique performances are sure to blow audiences away. The “Vagina Monologues” are a series of stories about women giving their vagina a “voice.” However, the monologues do not only pertain to women. The performers made the monologues for anyone looking to bring awareness to and stop violence against women and girls.

Playwright Eve Ensler interviewed more than 200 women to compile this year’s “Vagina Monologues” and each monologue bears a basis on one or several women’s stories. Since the first performance in 1996, the “Vagina Monologues” snowballed into a global phenomenon. They started the V-Day movement, which looks to end rape, incest, battery, genital mutilation and sexual slavery around the world. There are now more than 5,400 V-Day events in over 130 countries.

The 2011 show featured a Vagina Festival, beforehand, where campus organization came together to hand out information pamphlets. The Vagina Festival also met to support the women at CSUSM and the surrounding community. The show sold out and sadly, the staff turned some eager supporters away, since there was not enough space to accommodate the patrons.

“For men and women, this is one of the most powerful experiences you can have around your sexuality, in a public place,” Dr. Jennifer Gunsaullus, a professor of Women’s Studies on our campus said.

All the proceeds from the Feb. 18 and 19 monologues go straight to the California State University San Marcos Women’s Studies Department and the Women in Haiti charity.

Photos courtesy of Haley Duvel