The Vagina Monologues: overcoming fear & embracing empowerment.
Today I am debuting in a play called the Vagina Monologues and it's probably one the scariest artistic decisions I've ever made. The Vagina monologues is written by Eve Ensler, a woman who has inspired me for years and whose taken it upon herself to understand women and explore how we think about ourselves, and our bodies. She empowers women through telling the stories of those who have been disenfranchised and affected by the violence, discrimination, and the effects of the male patriarchy. In the Vagina Monologues she tells the stories of women who are discovering their bodies, who have never gone "down there" and who have been through trauma. She empowers women by telling their stories, and yes, all of these monologues are from women she interviewed.
I was hesitant to do this play. And since I knew I had hesitancy to do this play then I decided to take on the role of doing the saddest and arguably the most emotionally taxable section of the play. I am describing a story of a woman who was raped during the Bosnian war. During the Bosnian war, rape and violence against women and girls was used as a tool of systematic oppression and it traumatized thousands of women for life. Eve Ensler spent years living in areas of the world were nearly every women in one village had been raped.
And therefore, telling such a gut wrenching story is extremely hard, emotionally taxing, and vulnerable, but I am determined to get every uncomfortable word out, loud and clear, because by telling every woman's story, no matter how uncomfortable it may be, you are empowering someone. Someone whose been through trauma. Someone whose never felt like enough. Someone who has never felt pleasure. Someone who deserves more. And you are empowering them to ask for more, be themselves, and live unapologetically. And therefore, I feel as though I am living empowered no matter how scared I feel.
The entire play is a scary decision. I want to be president one day, and therefore it is quite liberal for a future president to be a part of a play that has the word Vagina in it. Even the word Vagina itself sucks, and because of the patriarchy you probably won't even see this blog post because facebook and social media sites like to keep the word 'Vagina' out of sight and out of mind. But I'm writing this. I am and I'm sharing my fears. The fears of vulnerability. The fears of how this will affect my future, and the fears that society has created around expressing radical views, or just expressing womanhood in general. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of sitting by the sidelines. I'm done.
I am performing in the Vagina monologues TONIGHT at 8pm, and I am stepping into a new reality that includes me living fully and powerfully as a women whose mission is to bring about empowerment, and inspire others to do the same.
Thank you to all the other beautiful and powerful women doing this along side me!! I LOVE YOU ALL!! And lastly, thank you to my beautiful momma and director Tasha Do'zia. She has mentored me from the beginning of my creative journey and I can not thank her enough for all the productions she puts on that create a platform for telling uncomfortable but necessary stories. I love you dearly. COME OUT AND SEE IT!!!
SHOW UP!!! The show is running tonight, March 6th and tomorrow, March 7th at the Winchester Brew Works at 8pm. If you have trauma, still feel free to come. Part of the proceeds will be donated to the Laurel Center, a non-profit dedicated to helping women escaping abuse, and therefore there will be support staff there to help you with anything you need. There's also BEER! Get your tickets at the link below, and eat before you come.(Drinks are not included in the ticket price)
https://www.selahtheatreproject.org/events/the-vagina-monologues
March 10th is INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY! Best weekend ever!!!
"I'm a motherfucking woman, baby, alright I don't need a man to be holding me too tight I'm a motherfucking woman, baby, that's right I'm just having fun with my ladies here tonight I'm a motherfucker Mmm, yeah"
-Kesha, Woman
Sisterhood art for this post by https://www.behance.net/gallery/63164759/International-Womens-Day-Illustration