LOS ANGELES TIMES      Wednesday, February 23, 2000

Shut Your Mouth
When it's related to cultural no-nos, even a clinical term can cause us to blush and cringe.

By KATHLEEN KELLEHER, Special to The Times

     Some words are so forbidden, so scary, so discomfiting that people will do everything in their power to avoid uttering them.
     They might avoid the subject or use elaborate euphemisms. If absolutely pressed, they might say the letters the word starts and ends with. They might whisper, or even resort to faking laryngitis.
     "Vagina" is one of those words.
     Exploding the silence shrouding the word--and the fear, shame and embarrassment that can attend it--was a goal of Eve Ensler's Obie-winning play, "The Vagina Monologues," performed last week at the Wiltern Theater. (It will be performed again Thursday through Saturday at Glaxa Studios in Los Angeles.)
     Ensler's mission is to lift women out of the darkness and secrecy surrounding their bodies and sexuality by saying the word loud and saying it proud.
     For many people, this is painfully difficult.
     One local newspaper reporter who was assigned to write a piece about the play could not bring himself to say it during conversations with the show's publicists. And Ensler tells of a television station that had tried to produce an entire show about the monologues without ever using the word "vagina."
     Even women talking to other women resort to euphemisms. One of Ensler's most poignant monologues is based on an interview with a 74-year-old woman who referred to her vagina as "down there."
     "We have been conditioned since childhood that these are private parts . . . taboo for touching, looking at or talking about," said Carol Shuherk, a communications expert at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "Each time you say 'penis' or 'vagina,' you leap over a comfort barrier. . . . You know that you and the person you have said it to share the same mental image. Suddenly, you are very intimate. It can be unnerving and embarrassing."
     Forbidden words generally have to do with scatology, sex and religion, said Timothy Jay, a psychology professor at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams. Innocuous words that have double meanings can make people uncomfortable even when they are used innocently.
     "A child has no innate view of what any of these words mean," said Jay, author of "Why We Curse" (John Benjamins, 2000). "A child learns what is taboo by being punished for saying it. Genitals do double duty. They produce things that are 'smelly, dirty or bad' but they are also for sex. We tend to talk about our genitals like they are not a part of us. That is why people name their genitals pet names."
     A culture's taboos are cloaked in its euphemisms. "You don't call people 'toucan' or 'marmot,' " Jay said. "It is always 'pig' or 'jackass.' This comes from cultural representations of what those animals are."

* * *

     Taboo words allow us to express animal passions, emotions that we are always trying to control with the logical part of our brain, said Jay, such as anger, frustration, surprise, joy and seduction. "These words not only do something to people, but sometimes it feels good to say them." Many taboos originate in the Bible and in Emily Post's guides to etiquette.
     "Emily Post always says that you never refer to body parts at all," said Jean Berko Gleason, a professor of psychology at Boston University. "Even if you were in love, you would never say 'You have such beautiful lips.' The Victorians didn't talk about legs. They would say 'limbs.' It is easier to say 'I love you' in a foreign language than in a mother tongue because your mother tongue carries a very heavy emotional load."
     Every semester Gleason has to stand before a class of 106 students to introduce Freud's ideas, using words she was taught as a child not to say. "I have to say 'Freud said that girls have penis envy,' " she said. "I am a scientist. I know I look very cool. But I know that my blood pressure is going up."
     Taboo words are also idiosyncratic. Gleason gets nauseated over "luscious" and "succulent."
     "Those words just turn my stomach," she said. "If I go to a restaurant and see those two words on the menu, I know I can't eat those things."
     There are culturally specific taboo words. In England, people will ask for "the toilet," too specific for Americans' "restroom" mentality. Saying the word "bloody" bothers Britons (one theory is that it refers to menstruation; another is that it is short for "by our lady," as in the Virgin Mary).
     Ensler would agree with Jay's assertion that saying forbidden words can be liberating.
     "As more women say the word, saying it becomes less of a big deal," Ensler writes in "The Vagina Monologues" (Villard, 1998). "It becomes part of our language, part of our lives . . . part of our bodies, connected to our minds, fueling our spirits. . . . Here's the place to practice saying the word, because, as we know, the word is what propels us and sets us free."
     For "The Vagina Monologues" information, call Glaxa Studios at (562) 972-3593. All performances are sold out, but spots are available on a waiting list for unclaimed seats.

 

 

 

LOS ANGELES TIMES       Friday, February 18, 2000

Star-Powered 'Monologues' Proves a Victory for V-Word

By MICHAEL PHILLIPS, Times Theater Critic

     Eve Ensler has managed a lot of money-, eyebrow- and consciousness-raising with a disarming theatrical phenomenon. As she reported with a wry touch Wednesday night at the Wiltern Theatre, it began as a series of "casual vagina interviews" before turning into "The Vagina Monologues."
     Her interviews with women revealed a world--often wrenching, sometimes obvious, frequently riotous--of experiences "down there," to use a code phrase. What's in a euphemism? Why do so many people sound like they're talking about Australia when they're talking (or avoiding talking) about their genitalia? Such are the questions informing Ensler's work.
     The sellout Wiltern edition of the show was an extremely starry two-hour, 45-minute affair. According to author and co-star Ensler, who happens to be a fine, spiky interpreter of her own material, it raised about $250,000 for the nonprofit Step Up Women's Network, an organization in sync with Ensler's mission: to heighten awareness of the staggering rates of physical, sexual and ritual violence perpetrated against women.
     The awareness, according to Ensler, begins with calling a vagina a vagina, chronicling its synonyms, acknowledging its power, symbolic and otherwise.
     "The Vagina Monologues" is a pop culture ringer, and Ensler is an impassioned wit, which has certainly helped the monologues travel as widely as they have. And the celebs haven't hurt. As in New York and London, Wednesday's Wiltern gig showcased some big names new to Ensler's solos, along with many who have graced the show elsewhere.
     A partial list: Ensler, Gina Gershon, Rita Wilson, Annie Potts, Shirley Knight, Gillian Anderson, Lara Flynn Boyle, Kathy Najimy, Lisa Bonet, Kirstie Alley, Brittany Murphy, Winona Ryder, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Marisa Tomei, Roseanne, Kristen Johnston, Diane Lane, Alanis Morisette (subbing for Calista Flockhart) and Melissa Etheridge.
     Some appearances were short and sweet, such as Boyle's ode to the clitoris, or Lane's "I Asked a Six-Year-Old Girl," a question-and-answer summary. ("If it could speak, what would it say?") Other, longer segments settled for the crowd-pleasing rant, as did Alley's "My Angry Vagina."
     The best of the batch dove under the surface yuks and came back with some true, gorgeous theatrical pearls.
     In "The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could," Hamilton enacted a woman looking back on her 13-year-old self, at the time she met a lesbian who ultimately helps her overcome a horrendous childhood of abuse and shame through sexual healing. It was an exquisitely realized performance. (Ensler has modified the ending of this monologue somewhat from the published version. The line in which the woman says ". . .if it was a rape, it was a good rape then" has been replaced by more generalized language about the relationship not being "politically correct.")
     Najimy had a wonderfully sweet way with "Because He Liked to Look at It." In just a few lines, Johnston reclaimed the dreaded c-word with marvelous vocal brio.
     And Anderson really must consider doing a full-length play soon. Sporting a just-so dialect reminiscent of Julie Andrews, "The X-Files" star created an effortlessly blithe dispatch from "The Vagina Workshop," a real-life class taught by a woman who has helped many women get in touch with their vaginas in highly practical ways. Anderson's innate, bemused reserve served the writing brilliantly, yet the piece (one of Ensler's best) was more than a nice match of performer and material. Anderson's a potential stage star, if one monologue can reveal as much. Her work was precise, beautifully controlled yet fully alive.
     Although the all-star Wiltern edition is history, at least for this year, "The Vagina Monologues" continues in two different productions:

* * *

     * Glaxa Studios, 3707 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, today and Saturday and Feb. 24-26, 8 p.m. A V-Day College Initiative program sponsored by Cal State Long Beach Women's Resource Center and Self magazine. $15. (310) 891-2887 or (562) 972-3593.
     * 24th Street Theatre, 1117 W. 24th St., Los Angeles, today and Saturday, 8 p.m. A V-Day College Initiative program sponsored by USC School of Theatre and the Women's Student Assembly. Donations welcome. (213) 745-6516.

 

 

 

 

LOS ANGELES TIMES      Tuesday, February 15, 2000

Women: As They Roar. . .or Choose Richer Over Poorer
'The Vagina Monologues' confronts taboos in the name of feminism.

By SUSAN FREUDENHEIM, Times Staff Writer

     "Let's talk about vaginas," Kristin Johnston says bluntly on the other end of the phone. Unapologetic, ready for whatever.
     It was a dare, sort of. What Johnston really wants to talk about is Eve Ensler's play "The Vagina Monologues," one of the most forthrightly graphic pieces of literature ever to discuss the subject of women's anatomy. Through more than 200 interviews with women, whose myriad voices the play assumes, Ensler discards the notion that talking about female genitalia is evil or even unpleasant and insists that the world would be a better place if women's sexuality were held in higher esteem.
     And she makes it funny, with topics like "If your vagina could talk, what would it say, in two words?"
     Since Valentines Day 1998, "The Vagina Monologues" has been the focal point of a series of celebrity benefits designed to raise money to aid abused women. The first one, in New York, raised $150,000. The latest, sponsored by the Hollywood group Step Up Women's Network, takes place in Los Angeles at the Wiltern Theatre on Wednesday night. A remarkable A-list of two dozen actresses and singers, including Winona Ryder, Calista Flockhart, Roseanne and Shirley Knight, have signed on to perform the short solos that make up the play.
     Also among them is Johnston, the brazen alien-from-outer-space beauty on "3rd Rock From the Sun." She'll deliver a piece about "reclaiming" a four-letter word, unprintable here, that begins with C.

* * *

     "They sent me the monologue, and I read it, and I said, 'Are you kidding? What is this?' " she recalls thinking when she received a copy of the script. But with the encouragement of friend Joe Mantello, who staged the play's current off-Broadway production, Johnston saw Ensler perform the show solo in New York. After that, Johnston quickly signed on.
     "It's almost indescribable," she says. "It's an amazing rejoicing of femininity. There's no male bashing, which I would hate, and it takes itself so lightly and yet so seriously.
     "Women, even though we can rah, rah, burn all our bras, we're still afraid of our sexuality. I left that theater with the message 'Please don't be afraid.' "
     When Ensler, 46, performs the show, it has been described as close to stand-up comedy, a simple presentation that relies on perfectly timed delivery. "I bet you're worried" is her opening line. And no doubt many in the audience are.
     The direct, humorous approach to a topic--let alone a word--that is generally unwelcome in polite company requires a certain kind of attitude. And Ensler herself has plenty of that: "I think one of the things that happened the first go-around of feminism--which I think was a great failure--was we didn't incorporate our sexuality in it. So it wasn't experiential," she said in a recent conversation. "If there is a new feminism, for me, I hope it is the feminism of the body, where the body catches up to the head."
     Abused as a child, Ensler now unabashedly talks about taboos. "Before I started doing the 'Vagina Monologues,' I'd heard for years that people who have been raped or abused will, as a result, live only kind-of lives. I don't believe that anymore. 'The Vagina Monologues' is what told me that that was nonsense."

* * *

     Ensler's word is spreading. In addition to shows in which she performs--she will introduce each actress in L.A.--a nationwide coalition of volunteers has organized performances of "The Vagina Monologues" at 150 colleges this week for Valentine's Day, which they've dubbed "V-Day." Because Ensler believes in raising money for women's causes with a big bang, she's called on some big-name actresses to get her message across. And for recent shows in New York, London and now in L.A., they've agreed.
     Why?
     Lisa Bonet said she sees "Vagina Monologues" as an opportunity to lend her name to a cause she believes in. Bonet, who will perform a piece in which women recall their first experiences of menstruation, said she will be bringing her 11-year-old daughter to the show as a way of saying "Welcome to the club!"
     Kathy Najimy ("Veronica's Closet") also spoke of her daughter as a reason for getting involved: "I've been a feminist my whole life," she said. "And it's become even more an issue for me now that I have a 3-year-old daughter. All I want is for her to feel so comfortable with her body."
     A friend of Ensler, Najimy appeared in the original V-Day celebration in 1998, which she remembers as "one of the best performing nights of my life." A sold-out Broadway theater saw a cast that included Gloria Steinem, Whoopi Goldberg and Susan Sarandon perform the show.

* * *

     Gillian Anderson of "The X-Files" fame flew to London to do the show last year and will do it again at the Wiltern. When she first got the text, she says, it fell open to "The Vagina Workshop," about a class for self-discovery. She said she agreed to perform only if she could do that piece. As it turned out, that was Ensler's choice for her.
     Kirstie Alley, star of "Veronica's Closet," will perform "My Angry Vagina," which, among other subjects, talks about the indignities of visiting a gynecologist. "I could relate to it," Alley says with her characteristic throaty laugh.
     A newcomer to "The Vagina Monologues," Alley responded to a query about celebrity involvement in the cause with defiance: "It has to be celebrities, because otherwise no one will listen. People will think it's a bunch of angry feminists and no one will listen to it."
     Perhaps sounding a bit angry herself, she added, "They're damn lucky to get my vagina making its debut on stage in Los Angeles!"
     "The Vagina Monologues" is being presented this week at three venues:
     * Wiltern Theatre, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, Wednesday, 8 p.m. A one-night benefit program with a celebrity cast that also includes playwright Eve Ensler is sponsored by Step Up Women's Network. (213) 365-3500 or (714) 740-7878. Available tickets are $500 to $2,500.
     * Glaxa Studios, 3707 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, Thursday through Saturday and Feb. 24 through 26 at 8 p.m. A V-Day College Initiative program sponsored by the Cal State Long Beach Women's Resource Center and Self Magazine, with proceeds going to Sexual Assault Crisis Center and the Cal State Long Beach Women's Resource Center. (310) 891-2887 or (562) 972-3593. $15.
     * 24th Street Theatre, 1117 W. 24th St., Los Angeles, Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m. A V-Day College Initiative program sponsored by USC School of Theatre and the Women's Student Assembly. (213) 745-6515. Donations welcome.