How do you feel about "cunt?" If you are anything like me you regard it as a foul word, filthy slang for a beautiful part of the female form. There are others though, an entire legion of people, including about 50 here at ASU, who want that word to enter your daily vocabulary. They are the women behind "The Vagina Monologues."
"The Vagina Monologues" are a gritty diatribe filled with female sexual and biological misadventure, exploration and tragedy. Written and originally performed by Eve Ensler, the stories of female puberty, childbirth, sexuality, both abusive and consensual, and basically anything and everything having to do with the vagina have gained international prominence.
What started as an off-Broadway play has spawned a worldwide movement called V-Day, a day of action that uses "The Vagina Monologues" as a vehicle to end violence and injustice against women.
These are noble goals that, as one might expect, have many ardent supporters on college campuses. As a result, colleges have become hotbeds for V-Day activity.
For the past three years, the V-Day celebration at ASU has included collegiate performances of "The Vagina Monologues," as well as a hodgepodge of related community outreach programs.
If you are faint of heart, you might do well to steer clear of Neeb Hall this weekend. That is where the performance will be held and the virtuous goals of "The Vagina Monologues" and V-Day will become muddled in a torrent of vulgarity.
From the onset of the performance the audience is asked to appreciate the beauty and intricacy of the vagina and to understand the way women perceive their bodies throughout their lives. The underlining message is one of acceptance and understanding; however that message is quickly overshadowed by performances that emphasize shock value over substance.
The worst of these offenders is "Reclaiming Cunt," which dissects the word cunt and attempts to cast it in a positive light. But the result of using a word wrought with such negative meaning, the very negativity the rest of the monologues aim to overcome, is self-defeating.
Words like cunt remind the audience of the very sort of grotesque, misogynistic ignorance that V-Day endeavors to correct. It is akin to chanting "nigger" from the stage and expecting people to accept such foul speech as healthy art that somehow redefines our understanding of the word.
Even if you disagree with my interpretation of the word cunt, even if you think it is a beautiful word that we should all be chanting, you cannot disregard human nature.
When women chant the word cunt, timid audience members easily become embarrassed and disgusted to the point of tuning out the rest of the performance; the most tentative (and therefore the most important) audience members are left with a negative feeling about an otherwise positive show.
The result is an audience divided into zealots who cheer along with the cast and shy folks who are ever more convinced that the whole V-Day movement is not for them.
Perhaps my sensitivity to the word cunt speaks directly to the need for such language in the Monologues. If I or other conservatives cannot abide the sound of such words, then maybe it is time we finally get used to them.
But is it not the goal of V-Day to educate the public, thereby helping battered and abused women avoid further injury? I know at least one audience member (other than myself) who might lose the message because of the wanton vulgarity.
That is my problem with "cunt." I am not fond of the term, but I cannot bear the thought of anyone walking away from "The Vagina Monologues" without a renewed appreciation for women.
The monologues have a beautiful message to deliver. But it will be forever lost to those who need to hear it most, unless words like cunt are left in the back alley where they belong.
James Manley is a journalism sophomore. Reach him at james.manley@asu.edu.