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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.ukbrought to you byCOREprovided by Repository Universitas Sanata DharmaLaurencya Hellene Larasati Ruruk & Ni Luh Putu RosiandaniThe Resistance of Women towards Sexual Terrorismin Eve Ensler’s The Vagina MonologuesLaurencya Hellene Larasati Ruruk & Ni Luh Putu Rosiandaniputurosi@yahoo.comDepartment of English Letters, Sanata Dharma UniversityAbstractIn this present time, women are still oppressed and considered as the inferior class to men. Oneof the literary works containing the evidence is The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler. Themonologues inside it share the experiences of various women who have been physically, mentally,and sexually terrorized. From those experiences of the women in the monologues, this study tries toidentify the sexual terrorism that is experienced by each woman in each monologue, and at the sametime, tries to examine the resistance of the women towards the sexual terrorism.Men use sexual terrorism as a tool to control women’s autonomy over their own body, sexuality,and reproduction. It occurs to any woman in any situation. Sexual terrorism is there to keep womenin the subordinate position. The awareness of the women towards the sexual terrorism triggers theirresistance towards it. Each woman experiences different situation of sexual terrorism, thereforetheir ways of resisting the terror are also varied. Feminism approach is used in this study in order tosee the accurate analysis of the condition of the woman in each monologue.Keywords: sexual terrorism, women, resistanceWomen are still being the victims of sexualterrorism.IntroductionAccording to Carole J. Sheffield, there is adifferent kind of terrorism, the kind that ismore familiar and seems natural to allsocieties, it is sexual terrorism. The targets ofsexual terrorism are women. Sexualterrorism is the common characteristic ofrape, wife battery, incest, pornography,harassment, and all forms of sexual violence(1984: 3).As shared by Carole J. Sheffield throughher article, men use violence as the tool tocontrol women, “Violence and its corollary,fear, serve to terrorize females and tomaintain the patriarchal definition ofwoman’s place (1984: 3).” The intention is tomake women frightened, and therefore it iseasier to dominate them physically andpsychologically. She also said that, “Violenceand the threat of violence against femalesrepresent the need of patriarchy to deny thata woman’s body is her own property and thatno one should have access to it without herconsent (1984:3).”Most of the people forget about thehorrible cases that women can or stillencounter in everyday life. Consciously orunconsciously, women are still considered tobe in a state of being weak targets.For somepeople, the opinion that women are stillconsidered weak might be seen as apessimistic idea, however some facts,whether from the news or literary works,prove that women are still vulnerable and arestill being the target of violence and terror.The other evidences of sexual terrorismare presented by Deborah L. Madsen throughher examples of misogynistic practices inseveral literary works such as, Possessing theSecret of Joy, a novel by Alice Walker, whichexposes the reality of sexual mutilation and46
Vol. 15 No.1 – April 2015the imprisonment of women in theirbodies,Maxine Hong Kingston’s description ofChinese foot-binding in China Men, andearlier corsetry in Western society thatrepresents the same kind of women violationin which women are physically torturedinorder to be called a beauty. The threat ofbeing rape and violently assaulted keepswomen confined in terms of where they cango and when, because women as victims canbe accused to be in a wrong situation.“Intimidation, terrorism, fear – thesestrategies keep women in a subordinateposition where they are dominated by men(2000: 153).”ideology is the superiority of men and theinferiority of women, which at the same timeprovides the justification for sexual terrorism(1984: 5).Second, propaganda, it is the systematicdistribution of information for the purpose ofpromoting a particular ideology (1984: 5).The propaganda of sexual terrorism can befound in all expressions of the popularculture such as films, television, music,literature, advertising, pornography, and alsoin the ideas of patriarchy conveyed in science,medicine, and psychology (1984: 5).Third, indiscriminate and amoralviolence, they are the heart of sexualterrorism. According to Sheffield, everywoman at any age, at any time and in anyplace is a potential target of violence (1984:5-6).In this study, the writer chooses TheVagina Monologues as the object of the studybecause this study aims to reveal theresistance of the women that haveexperienced sexual terrorism, and Eve Enslerprovides the evidences needed by the writerto conduct this study. This study tries toreveal the fact that actually women stillexperience sexual terrorism and they resist it.By trying to see the resistance of thosewomen, this study also aims to show thestrength of women. As also stated in the book,“Ending violence against women meansopening to the great power of women, themystery of women, the heart of women, thewild, unending sexuality and creativity ofwomen – and not being afraid (2008: xxiii).”In order to make sure the continuance ofsexual terrorism, the forth component that isvoluntary compliance, is used as a strategy(Sheffield, 1984: 6). Sexual terrorism ismaintained by a system of sex-rolesocialization that in effect instructs men to beterrorists in the name of masculinity andwomen to be victims in the name offemininity(Sheffield, 1984: 6).The last component is society’sperception of the terrorist and the terrorized.So far, this final component is what differssexual from political terrorism. According toSheffield, in sexual terrorism, society blamesthe victim and excuses the offender. Theoffender is believed to be either ‘sick’, andtherefore in need of consideration from thesociety, or is acting out normal male desires(Sheffield, 1984: 6).Sexual TerrorismAccording to Carole J. Sheffield, sexualterrorism is a system by which men frightenwomen, and by frightening, men control anddominate women. It can be identified throughrape, wife battery, incest, pornography,harassment, and all forms of sexual violence(1984: 3). Still according to Sheffield, thereare five components of sexual terrorism:ideology, propaganda, indiscriminate andamoral violence, voluntary compliance, andsociety’s perception of the terrorist and theterrorized (1984: 5).ResistanceStellanVinthagen in his research statedthat, “Any activity of the subordinated which,in the view of power holders, causes aproblem or is a threat to power, could countas resistance (2007: 5).” Still according toVinthagen, “ resistance is the kind of actionswhich dissolve, undermine, question orchallenge such subordination – andultimately,producenon-subordinaterelations (2007: 6).”First, ideology, it is a united set of beliefsabout the world that explains the way thingsare and provides a vision of how they shouldbe (1984: 5). Sheffield argues that patriarchyis the ideological foundation of sexism inalmost all societies. The focus of patriarchal47
Laurencya Hellene Larasati Ruruk & Ni Luh Putu RosiandaniAs mentioned by Vinthagen in hisresearch, “He divides resistance into twoforms (public and disguised) whichcorresponds to three forms of domination(material, status, and ideological), resulting insix types of resistance (2007: 8).”Sexual Terrorism Seen through theExperiences of Women in The VaginaMonologues1. Inside the Family and WithinMarriagea. “Hair”Resistance exist in the public form aspublic declared resistance (open revolts,petitions, demonstrations, land invasions,etc) against material domination;assertion of worth or desecration of statussymbols against status domination; or,counter ideologies against ideologicaldomination. And, resistance exists in thedisguised form (low profile, undisclosed or“infra-politics”) as everyday resistance(e.g. poaching, squatting, desertion,evasion,foot-dragging)ordirectresistance by disguised resisters againstmaterial domination; hidden transcriptsof anger or disguised discourses of dignityagainst status dominator; or dissidentsubcultures (e.g. millennial religion, mythsof social banditry, class heroes) s monologue shows the experience ofa wife that is forced to shave her vagina hairby her own husband. In his opinion, vaginahair is awful, “My first and only husbandhated hair. He said it was cluttered and dirty.He made me shave my vagina” (2008: 9).Shaving her vagina hair is necessary in orderto please the husband sexually. However, forthe wife to shave her vagina hair is actuallytorturing. It makes her feel uncomfortableand even causes a physical pain for herduring sexual intercourse with the husband.When he made love to me, my vagina feltthe way a beard must feel. It felt good torub it, and painful. Like scratching amosquito bite. It felt like it was on fire.There were screaming red bumps I feltlittle when my hair was gone down there,and I couldn’t help talking in a baby voice,and the skin got irritated and evencalamine lotion wouldn’t help it when myhusband was pressing against me, I couldfeel his spiky sharpness sticking into me,my naked puffy vagina. There was noprotection. There was no fluff (2008: 911).Moreover, Vinthagen also shares sevenbasic forms of nonviolent resistance, they are:discursive resistance (example: fact findings),competition (example: building new societyand social system instead of which is beingresisted),non-cooperation(example:boycotts), selective cooperation (example:helping the opponent with relief work duringa sudden natural catastrophe), withdrawal(example: escape to other areas), hindrance(example: interventions), and humoristicundermining (example: self-irony) (2007: 12).b. “I was Twelve. My Mother SlappedMe.”Menstruation is known as the mark of agirl’s changing phase from a girl to a youngadult woman. Many myths surround themenstruation phase, and parents usuallybecomes more concern about their daughter.Parents are expected to be supportive andcaring,especially the mothers because she hashad her menstruation experience. However,there are also cases that parents are afraidand worried, even uncomfortable with themenstruation phase of their daughter.As concluded by Vinthagen:Resistance is not necessarily directingpeople, telling them what to do but enablethem to make their own choices Thus,resistance doesn’t annihilate the socialbonds of society, it simply, construct newones while deconstructing others – and, inthe best of cases – opens the space for afreer choice (2007: 21). Second grade, seven years old, mybrother was talking about periods. I didn’tlike the way he was laughing 48
Vol. 15 No.1 – April 2015 My mother gave me codeine. We hadbunk beds. I went down and lay there. Mymother was so uncomfortable My friend Marcia, they celebrated whenshe got hers. They had dinner for her Fifteen years old. My mother said,“Mazeltov.” She slapped me in the face.Didn’t know if it was a good thing or a badthing I was twelve. My mother slapped me andbrought me a red cotton shirt. My fatherwent out for a bottle of sangria (35-40).It shows that at the age of thirteen yearsold, she finally feels certain that her vagina isa bad thing, a bad area between her legs.Shethinks that her vagina only brings suffer andpain towards her life.d. “The Memory of Her Face (Part I)”This experience in Islamabad shows howa husband feels like he has the right totorture his own wife even when she has donenothing wrong, that even if there is anyoneknows about the torture, they could not andwould not do anything to save the wife.From the above quotation, it can be seenthat according to those experiences, thedaughters become confused of theirconditions. Their thoughts tell about theuncertainty whether menstruation is good orbad for them.They all knew something terrible wasgoing to happen each time he camehome They heard her screams, theyheard her beg, they didn’t, wouldn’tintervene. She was his unwrittenlaw Don’t ask what she had done, it wasjust her face that pissed him off. Just herneedy face waiting for more (129-130).c. “The Little CoochiSnorcher thatCould”This monologue consists of a girl’sexperiences from when she is five years old,until when she is sixteen years old. At theearly stages of her life, she alwaysencounteres with unfortunate things relatedto her vagina.This story clearly shows that the husbandis intentionally assaulting and torturing hiswife.He might have been angry of his ownincapability of providing a living for hisfamily, so that he unleash his anger to hiswife by brutally torturing her. The scale ofviolence performed by the husband isincreasing towards the end of the monologue. Memory: Ten Years OldI’m playing alone in the basement and I’mtrying on my new white cotton bra andpanties that my father’s girlfriend gaveme. Suddenly my father’s best friend, thisbig man Alfred, comes up from behind andpulls my new underpants down and stickshisbighardpenisintomycoochisnorcher (79).e. “Crooked Braid”This monologue shares the experience ofa woman who is a victim of her husband’sabusive behavior. As the time goes by, theabusive behavior of the husband gets worst.This memory can be said as the peakincident that influences how she thinks abouther vagina. This incident of her being rappedis the one that traumatized her most, assuringher thoughts that her vagina causes manynegative experiences in her life. I looked up and he slapped me, myhusband. Not a blast that knocks youreyes blue. That came later. It was a smack,a hard domestic smack I woke up in the hospital after five brainsurgeries. My hair was gone I had torelearn to talk and move my arms It tookme four months to remember how to cookbreakfast Eighteen years he beat me Then he’d goforgetting that the bruises on my facewere his handprints I was just a piece ofmeat to him, a hole Memory: Thirteen Years OldMy coochisnorcher is a very bad place, aplace of pain, nastiness, punching,invasion, and blood. It’s a site for mishaps.It’s a bad-luck zone (79)49
Laurencya Hellene Larasati Ruruk & Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani He elbowed me, jerked me, pulled meup He picked me up like I was a rag Myhusband beat the shit out of me (150156)b. “The Vagina Workshop”This monologue shows the experience ofa woman who joins a vagina workshop. Thiswoman is the exact example of the womenwho have never seen their own vagina, andonly fantasized about it.From the ending part of the monologue,it can be seen that the husband is actuallydesperate. He is oppressed by some powerabove him, and it makes him hopeless. Hebatters her in order to feel strong again andappear a winner. I don’t know why, but I startedcrying Maybe it was knowing that I hadto give up the fantasy, the enormous lifeconsuming fantasy, that someone orsomething was going to do this for me –the fantasy that someone was coming tolead my life, to choose direction, to giveme orgasms. I was used to living off therecord, in a magical, superstitious way (48).2. Outside the Family and Marriagea. “The Flood”This monologue shows the experience ofan old lady who has experienced sexualterrorism in her young age. She was sexuallyharassed by the boy named Andy Leftkov.According to her, he is a tall-good-looking boywho is desired by many girls, and he is rich.From the above quotation it can be seenthat she has been terrorized by her own fearand anxiety. It is built and influenced by thesociety, so that a woman like her believes thatshe needs men to depend on. The socialcondition makes her live in a fantasy thatsomeone will help her and satisfy her, but notherself. Society teaches her to be dependentand afraid, making her believes that talkingabout her sexual parts is wrong andinappropriate. Andy was very good-looking. He was acatch. That’s what we called it in my day.We were in his car, a new white ChevyBelAir I was looking at my big kneecapswhen he just kissed me in this surprisingly“Take me by control like they do in themovies” kind of way. And I got excited, soexcited, and well, there was a flood downthere. I couldn’t control it. It was like thisforce of passion, this river of life justflooded out of me, right through mypanties, right onto the car seat of his newwhite Chevy BelAir Andy said, that itsmelled like sour milk and it was staininghis car seat (2008: 27).c. “Because He Liked to Look at It”This monologue shows the experience ofa woman who hates her vagina. I thought it was incredibly ugly. I wasone of those women who had looked at itand, from that moment on, wished Ihadn’t. It made me sick. I pitied anyonewho had to go down there I began topretend there was something else betweenmy legs I got so accustomed to this that Ilost all memory of having a vagina (54).Knowing that, the boy thought it wasdirty and smelly, so he labeled her “a stinkyweird girl (2008: 27).” After the incident, shebecomes afraid of opening herself to othermen. Andy drove me home and he never,never said another word and when I gotout and closed his car door, I closed thewhole store. Locked it I dated some afterthat, but the idea of flooding made me toonervous. I never even got close again (28).And one day, she believes that a guy,whom she went to bed with, named Bob,changed her hatred towards her own vagina. I watched him looking at me, and he wasso genuinely excited, so peaceful andeuphoric, I began to get wet and turnedon. I began to see myself the way he sawme. I began to feel beautiful and deliciousThis shows that actually she was verballyand sexually harassed in the past and thatincident makes her ashamed of herself.50
Vol. 15 No.1 – April 2015– like a great painting or a waterfall. Bobwasn’t afraid. He wasn’t grossed out. Ibegan to swell, began to feel proud. Beganto love my vagina (57). Whatever they did to her, it went on andon. You can tell from the others, whoshowed up without hands or nipples When she finally reappeared, she wasbone. (132-134).This monologue shows that actuallywomen are indeed vulnerable, and they stillneed the opinion of men in order to valuethemselves sexually.The evidence clearly shows that in Juárez,girls are easily targeted, kidnapped, andtortured until they die in such an upsettingcondition.d. “My Angry Vagina”f. “They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy .or so They Tried”The woman in this monologue shares herthoughts about the unfair things that she feelsas a woman. It represents the condition ofwomen even in this modern time. Manyopinions and rumors are spread in order toshape women’s thinking about themselves ina certain way, a way that the society wantsthem to be, to see, and to feel.This monologue shares the experience ofa transwoman.Being a woman for her issomething that she was always longed for, itwas her purpose of life. They beat me for it. They beat me forcrying. They pummeled me for wanting totouch, to pet, to hug, to help, to hold theirhands Forcarryingpursestokindergarten, they kicked the shit out ofme every day on my way to school. In thepark, they smashed my Magic Markerpainted nails. They punched my lipstickedmouth. They beat the girl out of my boy (143). All this shit they’re constantly trying toshove up us, clean us up–stuff us up, makeit go away Like tampons As soon as myvagina sees it, it goes into shock he tells you it smells like rosepetals That’s what they’re doing–tryingto clean it up, make it smell like bathroomspray or a garden more tortures: dry wad of fuckingcotton, cold duck lips, and thongunderwear. That’s the worst. Thongunderwear Hate to see a woman having pleasure,particularly sexual pleasure (69-73).Although the earlier process was tough,and the journey of becoming a woman waslong, in the end she succeeded on becoming awoman. Even after she became a woman, sheis still terrorized. This time, the terrors tookform in an indirect assault to make her sufferand to make her realize that whatever shedid, she will never be fully accepted.It can be seen how she feels toward thetorturing things invented to control andsuffer women. At the same time, she revealsthe doer that is always trying to torture andcontrol her as a woman is in fact men. But you know how people feel aboutimmigrants.They don’t like it when youmix. They killed my boyfriend. They beathim insanely as he slept, with a baseballbat. They beat this girl out of his head.They didn’t want him dating aforeigner They didn’t want him falling inlove with ambiguity (147-148).e. “The Memory of Her Face (Part II)”The experience of a witness seeing whathappens in Juárez shows how women meannothing in the eye of the sexual terrorist thatthey are regarded as an easy target to bekidnapped, tortured, ruined, and murdered.Seeing her experience, it is obvious thateven as a woman, she will never be fullyaccepted by the society. There is one girl missing for ten months.She was seventeen when they took heraway 51
Laurencya Hellene Larasati Ruruk & Ni Luh Putu Rosiandaniher life, it seems like she does not have achoice whether to wear or not to wear theburqa. The only marriage she has evercommitted was also an arranged marriage,“the only man you ever loved, even though itwas an arranged marriage (2008: 136).”3. Within the Situation of Wara. “My Vagina was My Village”This monologue shows the experience ofa woman who was raped at war.Before shewas raped at war, she describes her vagina assomething which is beautiful and cheerful.She identifies her vagina with the feelings ofexcitement,happiness,richness,andhopefulness:She cannot even choose to live or die. Sheis forced to live inside the ‘cage’ that is theburqa. Wearing a burqa is usually connectedto religious reasons, however, in thismonologue, it becomes a way to dominatewomen. Women are treated as animals andput inside a ‘cage’, “imagine muttering andscreaming inside a cage” (2008: 138-139).She is restricted andtortured, her freedom isentirely raided from her, “imagine you arebegging in this bedspread reaching out yourhand inside the cloth which must remainedcovered, unpolished, unseen, or they mightsmash it or cut it off” (2008: 136). My vagina was green, water soft pinkfields, cow mooing sun resting sweetboyfriend touching lightly with soft pieceof blond straw My vagina singing all girl songs, all goatbells ringing songs, all wild autumn fieldsongs, vagina songs, vagina home songs (61-62).And it changes drastically after she isbeing sexually tortured and raped by thesoldiers. She describes her vagina assomething which is ruined beyond repair andall the good feelings about it has gone.This monologue obviously shares theexperience of a woman who is severelyterrorized for life, “imagine you could nolonger distinguish between living and dying,so you stopped trying to kill yourself becauseit would be redundant” (2008: 138). There is something between my legs. I donot know what it is. I do not know whereit is. I do not touch. Not now. Notanymore Not since the soldiers put a longthick rifle inside me. So cold, the steel rodcanceling my heart.Not since I heard theskin tear and made lemon screechingsounds, not since a piece of my vaginacame off in my hand, a part of the lip, nowone side of the lip is completely gone Notsince they took turns for seven dayssmelling like feces and smoked meat, theyleft their dirty sperm inside me. I becamea river of poison and pus and all the cropsdied, and the fish (61-63).c. “Say It”This monologueis the compilation of theexperiences of the Comfort Women. TheComfort Women refers to young women andgirls who were abducted and forced intosexual slavery to service the Japanesemilitary from 1932 to 1945 (2008: 176).The Comfort Women was living in such ahorrible terror at that time.What we saw:A girl drinking chemicals in the bathroomA girl killed by a bombA girl beaten with a rifle over and overA girl running headfirst into a wallA girl’s malnourished body dumped in theriverTo drown (161-162).From her description about her vaginabefore and after the rape, it can be clearlyseen that she was drastically changed herthoughts about her vagina.b. “Under the Burqa”They were barely fed, that they wereextremely malnourished at that time.Even so,they were still forced to do sexual intercoursewith tons of Japanese soldiers. They werebrutally tortured and treated as a thing toBefore the beginning of this monologue,there is a statement saying, “The piece isabout a time and place where women had nochoice (2008: 135).” Since the beginning of52
Vol. 15 No.1 – April 2015satisfy the sexual needs of the Japanesesoldiers.Patriarchal society keeps shaping womento be what is perfect in their perspective, thatis submissive, obedient, and other femininetraits that attached to women; however,women as represented by the woman in thismonologue, are aware that their vagina isperfect already. This anger and rejectionshow her resistant towards the manipulation,torture and control of men.The Resistance of the Women towardsthe Sexual Terrorism1. Physical and Verbal Resistancea. “Hair”The wife actually resists the terror fromher husband. She refuses to shave her vaginahair after knowing that it causes so muchdiscomfort to herself.c. “The Little CoochiSnorcher thatCould”This monologue shows the horribleexperiences of a girl in her early stages of life.The experience then influences her to think ofher vagina as a bad thing or a bad areabetween her legs. However, that does notmean that she does not try to resist the sexualterror done to her, as a ten years old girl, sheshows resistance toward Alfred who wasraping her, “I try to fight him off, but healready gets it in (2008: 79).”When he made love to me, my vagina feltthe way a beard must feel. It felt good torub it, and painful. Like scratching amosquito bite. It felt like it was on fire.There were screaming red bumps. Irefused to shave it again (9-10).Her refusal, her questions and realizationreveal that at the end of the day she is awareof the sexual terror that she experiences andshe actually resists it. She shows it clearly byrefusing to obey her husband’s order to shaveher vagina. She also shows it by questioningthe connection between shaving the vaginaand her husband having affairs. She alsorealizes her own value and that hair isimportant and is there to protect the vagina.Her decision to take control over her ownbody and sexuality shows her resistancetowards sexual terrorism.Moreover, as she was turning into asixteen years old girl, she finally met a twentyfour years old woman in her neighborhood.This woman teaches her to appreciate herselfand influences her to value her vagina. Thewoman influences the girl to be sexuallyindependent and to be more grateful of whoshe is and what she has on herself. Thewoman triggers her to be aware of hervalues.This shows that the women’s miseriescame from the interaction with men, andwomen’s revolution came from theirinteraction with themselves and otherwomen.b. “My Angry Vagina”The woman is against the way mensecretly try to control and manipulatewomen.d. “I was There in the Room”.You need to work with the vagina,introduce it to things, prepare the way.That’s what foreplay’s all about. You gotto convince my vagina, seduce my vagina,engage my vagina’s trust.Stop shovingthings up me. Stop shoving and stopcleaning it up. My vagina doesn’t need tobe cleaned up. It smells good already. Notlike rose petals. Don’t try to decorate it’ssupposed to smell like pussy I don’t wantmy pussy to smell like rain. All cleaned uplike washing a fish after you cook it (7071).In this monologue, there is no experienceof sexual terrorism. However, somestatements in this monologue suggest theresistance of women through showing thestrength and the capability of a woman andher vagina in the process of giving birth.I saw the colors of her vagina. Theychanged. Saw the bruised broken blue, theblistering tomato red, the gray pink, thedark; saw the blood like perspirationalong the edges We forget the vagina, allof us. What else would explain our lack of53
Laurencya Hellene Larasati Ruruk & Ni Luh Putu Rosiandanimale particles as they died The feminineis in your face And my vagina is so muchfriendlier. I cherish it. It brings me joy It’slike when you’re trying to sleep and thereis a loud car alarm; when I got my vagina,it was like someone finally turned it off(141-147).awe, our lack of wonder I was there laterwhen I just turned and faced her vagina. Istood and let myself see her all spread,completely exposed, mutilated, swollen,and torn, bleeding all over the doctor’shands I stood, and as I stared, her vaginasuddenly became a wide red pulsing heart(122-124).So much hatred and rejection of herexistence lead them to kill her boyfriendbecause he loves her, he falls in love withwhat people call as ambiguity. At this point,by brutally torturing her feeling, people try toconvince her that she does not belong andthat she has chosen to live in a wrongdecision.It can be seen how the laboring womanand her vagina was in so much pain andstruggle, in order to give birth to a new life.She was able to overcome a great deal of painandsuffering, and then eventually healsherself. At the end of the monologue, thespeaker relates the vagina to a heart.The heart is capable of sacrifice. So is thevagina. The heart is able to forgive andrepair. It can change its shape to let us in.It can expand to let us out. So can thevagina. It can ache for us and stretch forus, die for us, and bleed and bleed us intothis difficult, wondrous world. So can thevagina (124-125).They beat this girl out of his head. Theydidn’t want him dating a foreigner. Eventhough she was pretty, and she listenedand was kind. They didn’t want him fallingin love with ambiguity. They were thatterrified of love (147-148).However, no matter what happened to herand the people she loves, she always believesin herself and she chooses to live on and stickto her decision to live
The Vagina Monologues. by Eve Ensler. The monologues inside it share the experiences of various women who have been physically, mentally, and sexually terrorized. From those experiences of the women in the monologues, this study tries to identify the sexual terrorism that is exp
