Wow! Eve Ensler's Message Transcends Politics

On February 18, Eve Ensler, the writer of The Vagina Monologues, spoke at the Student Life Center on violence against women.  Normally, on Valentine’s Day, Vanderbilt puts on a production of this play, but this year, Ensler spoke to the campus for the play’s 10th anniversary and “V-Day.”  After the success of The Vagina Monologues, Ensler proclaimed February 14th V-Day as a time of the year when people should reflect on stopping violence against women and celebrating what makes a woman feminine.

I have not seen The Vagina Monologues, something I deeply regret now that I am a senior and will not have a yearly opportunity to do so at Vanderbilt, so I came to Ensler’s speech knowing only the praises and criticisms of her play from what my friends have told me. While Ensler touched on the impact of The Vagina Monologues, such as its presentation to a group of Koreans who had served as comfort women for the Japanese in World War II and only now, because of the play, could they say “vagina” without shame, I was more struck with her work in reducing violence against women around the world.

Overall, I have few criticisms of Ensler’s speech.  Except for a couple veiled anti-Bush administration remarks, she proved to be a reasonable and passionate woman, contrasting some of the crazy feminist portrayals I have heard.  Instead, I took away a message about changing cultural attitudes toward women that I think everyone, even the staunchest conservatives, can appreciate.

While I do not necessarily agree with some of Ensler’s ideas on funding programs to halt violence against women (such as taking money from defense initiatives), some of her stories on the successes of the V-Day campaign inspire hope for the private sector to aid causes such as hers in saving women from becoming victims of violence. In one instance, Ensler provided a Jeep for a woman who had undergone female genital mutilation and was traveling throughout Kenya to convince towns to halt the practice and rescue girls who were about to go under the procedure.  With the simple act of providing a car, Ensler helped this woman protect thousands of young girls from this horrific practice.  In a perfect world Ensler’s dream of getting massive UN funding for her initiatives would be ideal, but given her track record so far, charitable contributions are likely to be most effective in preventing violence against women.

Ensler also correctly points out that violence against women is not a problem limited to locations abroad. She points out that while we may not have a widespread female circumcision problem or mass instances of gang-rapes of entire communities of women, we still harbor many attitudes which encourage a warped view towards sex and women in the United States.  She pointed out that after she wrote The Vagina Monologues she initially had some difficulty publicizing her play, namely because one could not say the word “vagina” on television. 

Today, of course, this is not the case, but Ensler demonstrates with this example the need to be able to discuss sexual issues frankly.  The libertarian perspective supports this idea; we live in a free society, so why should we feel pressured to censor ourselves when it comes to sexuality?  If we cannot discuss rape, sexuality, and yes, vaginas, openly without a sense of shame, how can we expect to halt violence against women?

Finally, Ensler’s cause merits conservative support because we, as conservatives, should respect human life.  In Tennessee right now, for example, the Senate is debating an amendment to the state constitution which would, in theory, allow the state to ban abortions immediately if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned.  Regardless of whether or not you think this amendment is reasonable, the motive behind it is one of protecting human life.  In this case, the life is an unborn child.  So many conservatives become passionate over the abortion issue, so shouldn’t these same conservatives feel just as much for a cause which aims to protect women all over the world from everything from female circumcision in Africa to making those on an American college campuses who have been victims of date rape realize it’s not their fault?

I do not agree with a lot of Eve Ensler’s personal politics, nor do I agree with some of the ways she intends to achieve her goals, but I believe her overall message is one important to everyone, libertarians and conservatives included.  With small cultural changes, such as making “vagina” acceptable on American television, or large ones that affect the lives of thousands, such as helping stop female genital mutilation in Africa, Ensler demonstrates how the world as a whole needs to become aware of the suffering of millions of women who have the been the victims of abuse and rape.  Out of concern for humanity, everyone should look at Ensler’s work, because she is making an important contribution to the world, and hopefully she can continue “until the violence stops.”