The Vagina Monologues

Content Warning: The source text and this study guide feature graphic depictions and discussion of rape, sexual assault, suicidal ideation, and domestic and systemic violence against women.

The Vagina Monologues purports to promote a culture of agency through naming and sharing experiences and building community. Because the text is a compilation of interviews, the speakers represent a multitude of voices speaking to both common experiences of womanhood and those specific to geographical locations, points in history, and even age. This effect becomes a tool to empower women to share their own experiences, counteracting the culture of silence that surrounds topics related to women’s bodies and their violation.

In the Introduction to the 2018 edition, V recounts her experiences after performing the play in the 1990s: “At the end of each show of The Vagina Monologues there would be long lines of women who wanted to talk […] they were lining up to anxiously tell me how and when they had been raped, or assaulted, or beaten, or molested” (xiv). These responses support her premise that there is power in breaking the silence surrounding women’s sexual experiences, thus contributing to the sense of community that The Vagina Monologues began to ignite.

Empowerment functions as an antidote to shame in the play.