The Feminist Collective hosted their annual Vagina Monologues show to a packed audience in the NEIU Auditorium on Tuesday, March 9. Positive exclamations about the quality of the show, along with requests for t-shirts, panties, and ‘vagina pops,’ flooded the auditorium lobby. Both women and men spoke about being empowered and informed by the monologues, tickled by the guileless humor and amazed by the performers’ repeated use of the word “vagina.” NEIU students and executive board members, Tara Brinkman and Julia Gutierrez organized the event. The Independent had the chance to talk with Brinkman and discuss the Vagona Monologues. Independent: “What made you want to host the Vagina Monologues at NEIU?”
Brinkman: “We felt it was important to continue the tradition of having the Vagina Monologues here at NEIU because it, of all the events that the Feminist Collective/FMLA does on campus, reaches the widest audience and addresses the topic of violence against women in an entertaining, sometimes funny, and compelling way. In our society, oftentimes the subject of women’s bodies and sexual violence is seen as taboo, so not a lot of people will talk about them openly. I feel that the Vagina Monologues opens up a dialogue about these important issues, which is necessary for change to happen.”
Independent: “Has this always been a women led, women casted show? Or can men help in planning or participate in a show?” Brinkman: “According to V-Day rules, anyone who lives their [life] as a woman on a daily basis is welcome to participate in the monologues. Men are able to help plan and promote the event, just not act in it. The V-Day campaign does have a workshop that groups can choose to put on titled V-Men, which addresses violence against women from a male perspective. This year we did not opt to do one, primarily because we are a small group on campus, but I would love if we could do so in the future.” Independent: “Tell me about the 2010 V-Day Spotlight campaign and your benefactors CAASE.”
Brinkman: “This year’s spotlight campaign was about young women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who experience repeated rape and sexual violence at the hands of the outside militias. The current estimate is that 500,000 women and girls have been raped or sexually tortured. We chose the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) to be out beneficiary this year because of the work they do towards ending sexual violence through advocacy and legal work, public policy as well as through community engagement in order to gain strong allies who work against sexual exploitation.” The show was performed and organized successfully this year. If NEIU is lucky, this nationwide movement will continue to return here for years to come.