Today, I went to see the show 窶弖agina Monologues.窶� It is a series of events that take place around the Valentine窶冱 Day in order to keep women and girls from the violence. This show is performed all over the United States and some other countries by not only college students but also other professional organizations. It has passed four years since this show started here at Coe. All the cast, 20 actresses, were female students. Their majors vary from one another; some are music or theater, some are English or education. After the over three -month preparation, today was the first day of three-day performance.

It was a so impressive show. The actresses told their monologues one after another. Although I don窶冲 really remember each of the stories exactly, overall I enjoyed the show. Topics were so broad; they dealt with almost all the discussion regarding to the vagina; rape during the war, sex-workers, an inerasable experience, educational process inside the family, date rape and female genital mutilation. Some were so depressed and miserable stories. Some sounded like full of love.
I expected that the very last story would be a tragic one, since that kind of story gave us such an impact that we could realize the seriousness of the problem. Contrary to my expectation, it wasn窶冲 tragedy, but it was about the procreation. I felt that I kind of figured it out what the director wanted to say after the last monologue; vagina is not an object of any sexual exploitation, but it should be like, say, a kind of the symbol of the profound activity that finally gives a birth to a new baby. Through the some monologues that dealt with the unfair or undesired, it seemed to me that it emphasizes the women窶冱 rights or choice.

A friend of mine who came here at Coe as an international student two years ago (and she also joined in this production) recommended it to me. After her study in the United States, she wanted to introduce the production into Japanese college, I actually talked about that once with her, but we couldn窶冲 do it at last. Two years later, I came here and saw the show which deeply impressed her. I was deeply impressed as well. If the same show is performed in Japanese college, it would definitely create a new certain kind movement. I don窶冲 know exactly what will be, but I think it is important to get awareness of the sexual matters at the college, because, frankly speaking, having sexual intercourse becomes more popular among college students. In addition, sometimes it could cause the date rape or unwanted pregnancy. This remarkably impressive show will urge the audience to reconsider their vaginal and sexual experience. It might be something that is needed to build the mutual respective society.

V-Day: Until the Violence Stops
http://www.vday.org/