The Woman Behind the Vagina
A Q&A with Vagina Monologue-Creator
Eve Ensler
by
Ingrid Ducmanis
Eve Ensler is a 
hard
woman to satisfy. Her groundbreaking hit play The Vagina Monologues–a
series of hilarious, heartbreaking and brutally honest first-person vignettes
based on interviews with women from around the world about their vaginas–has
earned her critical acclaim, years of sold-out shows and an Obie Award.
Her play is performed all over the world by some of the biggest actors
in the business. You’d think this would be enough to satisfy anyone.
But not Eve Ensler. Through creating The Vagina Monologues, she learned that there was really only one thing that would truly satisfy her: Stopping violence against women. Not just speaking out against it, not just fighting it. No, nothing less than the total eradication of violence from the lives of women and girls, everywhere, forever, would do.
In the spirit of activism, Ensler and a group of like-minded women co-opted Valentine’s Day and renamed it V-Day, in honor of vaginas and a global movement to stop violence against those who possess them. Now in its fourth year, V-Day is an annual theatrical and artistic event that takes place simultaneously in local, national and international venues to raise both money and consciousness.
This year, V-Day 2001 will be held on February 10 with a keystone all-day, all-night event at New York's Madison Square Garden. More than 70 of the world's most celebrated women will gather at the Garden for a one-night-only live benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues, with performances by Oprah, Jane Fonda, Calista Flockhart, Queen Latifah and more. Additional musical and dance performances will be given by Joan Osborne, Alanis Morissette, Elizabeth Streb and others. V-Day 2001 will also include the launch of The Charter to End Violence Against Women and the first Stop Rape Contest, a worldwide initiative designed to produce innovative and effective strategies to stop rape by inviting women and girls to propose their own creative, out-of-the-box ideas. The top 60 finalists will be at the Garden when the winner is announced.
Heroine Magazine caught up with Ensler while she was preparing for this year’s V-Day event:
Q: As The Vagina Monologues popularity grew, at what point did you realize that you had tapped into something really big?
A: It’s still hitting me now, how big this is. We’re in fifteen countries and six cities in the U.S. This is a world-wide movement. It’s thrilling! Women are really feeling empowered; they hear the Monologues and it triggers a desire to say things that really mean something to them, to speak out against violence.
Q: What made you decide to create V-Day?
A: In 1997, I traveled around the world doing The Vagina Monologues, going to all these small, grass-roots-level theaters. Everywhere I went, women queued up after the show to tell me their stories, about how they’d been beaten or raped or abused. Taking all this in, I started to go crazy. I realized that either I would have to stop performing the Monologues or I would have to do something about this. So, I decided to do something. I got a group of women together to talk about how we could use The Vagina Monologues to stop violence against women, and that’s how the idea for V-Day arose.
Q: V-Day’s stated purpose is clear and simple: To demand the end of violence. What do you say to people who argue that this goal is impossible, that there will always be violence against women?
A: Most people do think it’s impossible.
Like with the Stop Rape Contest, people are always saying, "end rape?
Oh, that’s impossible." 
You
have to expect to push through some denial and anxiety. We are all attached
to violence at some level. In some ways, we’re like prisoners who
are afraid of leaving the familiar environment of our cells. Violence
gives us boundaries. Ask yourself: How outrageous, expressive, visible,
and sexual would you be if you weren’t worried about attracting violence?
The first step is to create a vision of a world without violence. It’s
going to take a lot of work.
Q: The idea for The Vagina Monologues first came to you while talking to a friend about menopause and being surprised by how negative she was about her vagina. Can you tell me a little bit about what was going inside you at this moment of revelation? What was it about you that made you want to do this?
A: I certainly wasn’t in love with my vagina when I started this. The idea was in some part based on my own history of violence and abuse. And at the time, I didn’t associate with my vagina, I was very separate from it. So there was also my own hunger to return to my vagina. And when that woman started talking about her contempt, first I identified with it, and then I became deeply curious: Why have we gotten to this place where we don’t like our vaginas?
Q: You’ve probably done more to make people comfortable with the word "vagina" than any other person in history. What are the benefits of simply being able to say the word?
A: I believe in the power of words. If you can’t name something, it doesn’t exist. If you can’t talk about something, it implies shame. So if you can’t say "vagina," it means there’s a disconnection, shame and embarrassment. But as women become comfortable with saying the word "vagina," they become comfortable with the fact that they have one. Really, they become more comfortable with themselves. It’s a very basic and deep change, accepting yourself and your body.
Q: As you were conducting the interviews that you used to create the Monologues, did this process have a transforming effect? How did the way you feel about your own vagina change?
A: Every woman I interviewed helped my own process of reentry and recovery. One of the things I’ve discovered is that as women we don’t have a context for the real stories of our lives. We remain invisible and nonexistent in our cultures, and so our image of ourselves is not evolving, or is evolving very slowly. I identified with all the women I talked to, and I was moved by all of them. I learned so much about myself and things I’d never admitted to myself. I think that’s why The Vagina Monologues have had such impact–the audience goes through the same experience I did when I was creating the piece.
Q: You’ve been talking about vaginas for going on five years now. Are you getting bored with the topic? How do you stay interested?
A: Women are the most interesting thing in the world. And Vaginas never cease to be fascinating. So, no, I’m not bored at all!
Q: You’ve written a number of plays–including Necessary Targets, about the plight of women in Bosnia–but like many famous artists, you’re best known for only one facet of your work. How do you feel about being so strongly associated with the Monologues? Do you worry about being the Vagina Lady forever?
A: In some ways, it’s none of my business what the world thinks of me. Thinking about it gets in my way. I’m very proud to be associated with vaginas, but I have other work to do. If this is what I’m remembered for, that will be wonderful. But really, you can’t spend too much time thinking about it. You just have to keep doing your work.
Q: What’s your next project?
A: I’m working on my next play, "The Good Body." I’ve interviewed women in fourteen countries about how they mutilate, fix, and otherwise transform their bodies in order to fit in with their cultures. I’m trying to get at what women perceive as beautiful, and what parts of their bodies they don’t like and why. I hope to have a draft done by next spring.
Q: To make the point that violence affects everyone, at some of your events, you ask every woman who has been the victim of abuse to stand up, and usually nearly every woman in the room stands. To what degree do you feel the general perception of how many women’s lives are touched by violence falls short of the reality?
A: UN statistics say that, globally, out of every three women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime. Do we need to know more? This is not a minor issue. This is the destruction of a gender, it is genocide against women. We’ll be asking women to stand at V-Day 2001. With 20,000 people in the room, that should really be something to see.
To learn more about V-Day, go to:
Be sure to check out Heroine’s live coverage of V-Day 2001