Anti-Feminism in 'Vagina Monologues'

[Posted per Levi's request. Published in the Skidmore News, 14 April 2005, volume 80, issue 22, page 4.]

Dear Editors,

Now that this year's V-Day Campaign to end violence against women is behind us, with a successful run of the Vagina Monologues and plenty of awareness raised around campus, it's time for the Skidmore community to address the discourse surrounding the campaign, and feminist organizing at Skidmore generally.

The V-Day Campaign and the Vagina Monologues are an important tool for feminist activism, and a great introduction for both activists and spectators to women's issues. [Anything else I can say about them in this vein?] At the same time, some attitudes expressed by the individuals within the campaign have been troubling.

Certain fliers posted in association with the V-Day Campaign, featuring actual quotes from Skidmore students on "why we love women," seemed disturbingly ANTIfeminist. It disturbs me that Skidmore students who said these were expressing their idea of what it means to love women as a group. Even more disturbing is the fact that some women at Skidmore College found these statements appropriately supportive of women and feminism. If these statements were publicized as satire, in order to shock the community at what subtly antifeminist sentiment lurks in the hearts and minds of Skidmore students, the satirical aspect of this tactic was not made clear. Members of the V-Day campaign I spoke to seemed, for the most part, unaware of how these fliers could possibly be insulting.

Statements about loving the stereotypically feminine, heteronormative features of women, and writing as if these characteristics apply to all women, and are the reason d'etre for valuing women as a group, is antifeminist and offensive -- not just to women, but to gender variant people, non-heterosexual people, people who choose not to have children, and just about everyone with human agency. Praising women for their reproductive capacity, for being pretty, or for being companions to men is what feminism was fighting against in the first place.

These problematic aspects of feminist discourse are not limited to Skidmore College, but as an institution of higher education where "Creative Thought Matters," we should take the opportunity to address these pitfalls in innovative ways.

Editor's note: To view examples of the fliers in questions, please visit http://taxishoes.blogspot.com/2005/02/your-vagina-is-angry.html.