I attended the Vagina Monologues last week. This is the fourth year in a row that I’ve seen it; I’m a big fan of the ideas behind it, of the play itself, and of the activism it entails. This year is also the tenth anniversary of the play; you can read more about it here.
One of my favorite sketches is “The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy.” It’s about some woman who used to be a lawyer, but is now a sex worker who works exclusively with women because she likes the way they moan. In the sketch, she describes and mimics different types of moans. At one point, “Jewish,” “black,” and “Irish Catholic” women get their own moans.
While Muslim women are present in other sketches depending on the year (almost every year, “My Vagina Was My Village” is included; this sketch is about Bosnian women who were systematically raped by Serbs. In past years, sketches about Iraqi women and Afghan women have been included when the Monologues’ spotlighted these women’s stories), I always feel a little bit disappointed that we’re not included in the moaning sketch.
Even when Muslim women are included, you can bet the skit revolves around war conflicts and war-related acts of violence against women. These are important issues and they need to come to light. But I know there are Muslim women out there who have positive encounters with sexuality in general and their own sexuality specifically. That’s important, too.
Anyway, back to the moaning skit. The Jewish and black women get a “Oy, vey” and an “Awwww, shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit,” stereotypical though they may be.
The Irish Catholics get a “Ohhhhhhhh, Jesus…Mary…JOSEPH!!!” coupled with a frantic cross.
But we don’t get anything! Not a
“Eyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Khodaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
or a
“Yaaaa…yaaaaaaaa….yaaaaaaaaaALLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
People are sexual, and we are reminded of that we as women are sexual all the time with all that jazz about nine parts of desire and covering up our beauty, blah, blah, blah. But when it comes to the Vagina Monologues, we don’t need to hide our light under a bushel.
hmmm…I think saying eeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyy khudaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa might be a little combersome. But for some reason saying yaaaaaa……yaaaaaaa Allaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh seems wrong…but MUCH easier:DGood post. It would be nice to see Muslim women as normalized in this sense. Muslim women do have sex and enjoy it. And the wonderful thing is that Islamically having sex for pleasure is perfectly fine.
I’m a fan of the The Vagina Monologues, hell I even volunteered for it just so I could see it for free. It would have been nice to see the one with the Muslim women. Eve Ensler interviewed many women for all over, which I think is kinda cool.
It’s been performed in Muslim countries as well including Pakistan.
what the hell does “khoda” mean? what language is it? i’ve been wondering for some time. incidentally…there is an egyptian profanity called “aha” – the guttural h. this i have heard is meant to symbolize the sound women make during sex…anyway i don’t think that many muslimahs would like to be included in a skit where they are being pleasured by a woman prostitute. the american univeristy cairo has an ongoing vagina monologues like project called the bussy project – bussy means “look” in arabic and also rhymes with pussy (so lame) but anyway i’ve been to one of their performances and was not pleased. hardly any reference to sex or pleasure cos undergraduest – who sumbit most of the sotries – don’t really have much of it in egypt as they are unmarried. anyway check out the fb group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2258173120
“Khoda” means “God” in Farsi, but also in Urdu and perhaps other Indo-European languages. “Khoda” is most often used in Central and south Asian countries. (giggle) Maybe “bussy” is an attempt–Arabic doesn’t have a “p” you know!
true! read my review: http://forsoothsayer.blogspot.com/2007/05/i-wasnt-in-best-of-moods-immediately.html. and a better review by a friend: http://legoleaves.blogspot.com/2007/05/thoughts-on-bussy.html
Forsoothsayer,I don’t think the issue is compatibility of religion and prostitution but rather the fact that the lack of Muslim women (while other religious groups are included) implies that Muslim women do not or cannot have sex for pleasure. The strict Catholic position on sex is procreation only — and I highly doubt the Vatican would approve of this skit — and yet this group is still reflected in the skit. Muslim women are not.
Also, thanks for the links to the reviews!
I saw the Veiled Monologues this fall at the Yale Rep and loved it… but I agree that more integration is needed in the original Vagina Monologues. It’s nice that there’s even such a thing as the Veiled Monologues, but you won’t hear those stories unless you go see it specifically, whereas having Muslim women included in the Vagina Monologues exposes it to a much larger audience.
Readers, you know, I’ve been thinking.We shouldn’t have our own moans. Nobody should. I think that moaning is something that sort of transcends cultures and religions (I hope so, anyway), and picking out moans based on ethnic or religious stereotypes doesn’t do anybody any favors. Now, I think it’s important to note that all women are sexual beings (except those who are asexual) and there may be a time when mainstream outlets need to be reminded that just because you don’t openly display your sexuality doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy it.
(I know I’m waaay late on this, but I’m doing research for my moans & came across this conversation. I am compelled to respond…. but iIs anyone still out there talking about this?)
As a performer of “the woman who loves to make vaginas happy”, I had to assume that this monologue is directly from Eve’s interview with this woman, and it is this woman’s personal story, not Eve’s. She is a real person, not a caricature, and I doubt that Eve needed or wanted to add anything to her story. Eve herself says, “this woman blows my mind!”. That makes me think that this woman told Eve about moans that she has either experienced or enjoys (or both!), in a very matter-of-fact way. Remember, she is PAID by women to dominate them. I don’t believe that some women “got their own moans” in this monologue just to be inclusive. I’d guess this woman hadn’t been with a Muslim woman, or else she did not distinguish a specific “Muslim moan” in her experience. ??
I’m just sayin’….. The integrity of this entire play rests on the fact that these are true stories from women Eve interviewed. They are not made up. They’re funny, sad, disturbing, uncomfortable, and not necessarily all-inclusive, on their own. I’m confident that when & if Eve interviews a Muslim woman who is willing to express her passion for sex through her own personal “moan”, it will be included in some wonderful way, perhaps not in this specific monologue, but somewhere in the show. That is Eve’s gift.
Personally, I think the moans are funnier when they’re more realistic with some very subtle stereotypical undertones, not overdone. And in order to “blow your mind”, I imagine her describing them with great confidence, not satirical. That’s what makes her sexy and funny.
enjoy the show!!