The Vagina Monologues took place March 8–10, bringing together a community interested in the trials and tribulations that come with having a vagina, like having your first period, childbearing and learning about sexual abuse.
This year’s show was called “One Billion Rising” and represented the one in three women throughout the world who have been beaten, raped or otherwise abused.
Producer of UC Santa Cruz’s Vagina Monologues Cynthia Friedman said many of the topics discussed onstage in this play do not have a stage anywhere else.
“When I think about what effect the performance has on individuals, I think about how it impacted me the first year I was involved,” Friedman said. “I’ve become so much more comfortable just using the word vagina in my own life and daily speech, which I think is the direct result of this performance. That’s a very small thing, but it signifies a lot of the effect that it has because if you can’t name it, you can’t really talk about it.”
Along with the two-hour show, members of the audience were entered into a raffle for prizes from local stores Pure Pleasure and Bookshop Santa Cruz. Merchandise included multiple t-shirts, buttons with phrases like “Viva La Vulva,” pink underwear and chocolate “vaginas.”
This year two local organizations for women, Survivors Healing Center and Gemma, set up tables at this year’s production to provide flyers with information about their programs and more statistics about violence against women. Proceeds from the show will go to these two organizations along with V-Day, a global activist movement founded by Vagina Monologues playwright Eve Ensler.
“The whole point of the performance and [V-Day] in general is to work to end violence toward women by raising awareness through the [Vagina Monologues] performances and also raising money,” Friedman said.
