IN THE NEWS: "The Vagina Monologues" & the Fight Against Transphobia
1/19/2015
Throughout V-Day's history, trans women and trans men have been welcome to perform in The Vagina Monologues. In 2004, the first all transgender performance occurred in Los Angeles, the result of which was the creation of a new monologue "They Beat The Girl Out of My Boy..." which has been performed at V-Day events worldwide for the last 10 years.
Last week, students at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, U.S., decided to retire The Vagina Monologues due to their belief that the play is not inclusive to transgender students. This has lead to a national discussion which has played out in many media outlets, and we wanted to take a moment to highlight some recent interviews, op-eds and statements that speak directly to this issue.
Despite some inaccuracies behind the decision at Mount Holyoke, V-Day and Eve stand in solidarity with students there in their fight against transphobia. As Eve states in her TIME op-ed, we "believe that this is a beautiful opportunity to hear each other's stories in this ever-evolving journey toward liberation."
TIME Magazine - Op-Ed by Eve Ensler
"The Vagina Monologues never intended to be a play about what it means to be a woman. It is and always has been a play about what it means to have a vagina. In the play, I never defined a woman as a person with a vagina..."
CONTINUE reading at TIME.com >
TIME Magazine - Op-Ed by Actor & Trans Feminist Julie Rei Goldstein
"The responsibility of trans inclusivity is not on V-Day as an organization or the material Eve Ensler has written. They have already provided all the tools you need to make it inclusive. It is on each individual production to use those tools to ensure all voices and experiences are heard. Even the monologue that highlights transgender women, They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy, includes varied perspectives from within the trans community across both gender expression and sexual orientation..."
CONTINUE reading at TIME.com >
STATEMENT From Producers and Cast Members of First All-Transgender Benefit Performance of The Vagina Monologues
In 2004, Eve Ensler supplemented The Vagina Monologues, writing a transgender piece after having intimate conversations with a diverse group of women in our community. It debuted in 2004 as part of the first all-transgender performance, which was cast without regard to transgender surgical status.
That trans-inclusive piece has been performed by trans and non-trans participants around the world as part of V-Day's global fundraising efforts to end violence against women and girls. We feel it is one of many important steps which made the feminist movement more trans-inclusive.
CONTINUE reading at The Huffington Post >