Vagina Monologues - Report Example

Running Head: VAGINA MONOLOGUES The Vagina The Vagina Monologues: “Hair” Date The Vagina Monologues: “Hair” The Vagina Monologues (Ensler, 2007) is a compilation of a series of stories about women and their relationship with their genitals. More so, it is a discussion of the patriarchal society and the position of female sexuality within that state of oppressive dynamics between the genders and within the female perspective of her role within gender relationships. The monologue “Hair” reveals a sense of fetishism, control, and denial of adulthood by men towards women. The monologue discusses that in order to love a woman, one must love the hair around her vagina. Current fashion now dictates otherwise, that women should not only shave their legs and armpits, but now their genital region as well in order to meet expectations of hygienic living. The monologue, however, is about more than hair removal as it reveals how society expects women to behave in their roles as wives and how the desires of men often are considered more important than the comfort of women. It also discusses the patriarchal imposed childhood that often occurs in heterosexual relationships. The monologue “Hair” represents the social expectations that are imposed on women as wives and the patriarchal oppressions that work towards keeping women as children under their control. The monologue based upon Hair and its association with hygiene, age, and maturity reveals the female natural sensation of hair on the genital region in contrast to a male desire which asserts that it is ‘cluttered’ and that it should be shaved. This unnamed male presence, discussed as her first and only husband, enjoys that she is shaved, partly because it made her little – like a little girl. The monologue explores a series of dynamics between men and women, exemplified by the domination concept which desires to keep women as forever children, an imposed trap in which the male oppressor dominates the female through infantilism and control. The first sentence asserts the opposite claim, that “You cannot love a vagina without loving hair” (Ensler, 2007, p. 9). From the beginning, the monologue asserts female independence from the male representation in the piece. One of the first reasons that the male gives for wanting the vagina shaved is that it is more hygienic. He calls it ‘cluttered’ and that it was ‘dirty’ (Ensler, 2007, p. 9). Valenti (2007), in her book about why feminism matters to young women, discusses the beautification of the vagina through the removal of hair. While Ensler’s monologue focuses on removal through shaving, Valenti (2007) offers a discussion about the practice of removing the hair through waxing or sugaring. These processes require putting on an agent that will stiffen as it cools around the hair, then pulling it quickly away in order to remove the hair from the follicle. The torture of the female genital area can be related to the lengths to which women will go to do meet expectations of cleanliness and beauty. Caroll (2010) discusses that this has become a common practice among young women who are removing hair through creams, shaving, waxing, and laser treatments in order to get rid of what they think of as dirty or smelly. In relationship to Ensler’s (2007) monologue and its initial claim, women are falling into a conflict with their own genitalia. Valenti (2007) relates this to a porn culture, not related to hygiene at all and for the desire to have the ‘dirtier’ version of the female genitals available for male use. The relationship of the female genital without hair to porn is significant. Pornography began showing the female genital area without hair for a number of reasons. One which is not the least is that it allows for a more detailed view of what is happening during the act of sex. Emulating women who are in pornography gratifies the male desire to control women, suggesting that this ‘fashion’ has become a way of male assertion of control. Removing hair on this sensitive area of the body can be painful and at the least uncomfortable because after removal it becomes irritated as the hair begins to grow, thus a constant reminding of a lack of ‘perfection’ (Carroll, 2010). This cycle of looking to attain perfection and the constant reminder that it is not being met is the imposed view that women should be young and perfect to be valuable. Part of what is discussed through the monologue is the male domination that asserts that women should remain children under their patriarchal control. The speaker discusses how the removal of her hair makes her feel little, like a child engaged in a sexual act with a man. She becomes infantilized, her language style emulating the nature of her feelings about her sexual physical presence as it is without the hair that comes with puberty. This sort of control reminds the audience of the Ibsen play A Doll’s House, the lead female role played by a woman whose husband talks to her as if she has no more sense than a child, her own role defined by her submission to a husband that she must manipulate in order to get what she wants in life. His adoration of her is shadowed by his need to treat her as if she is a willing possession, under his protection because in the world she would lost and without the maturity to operate as is necessary (Wynne, 2010). The monologue turns to the expectation that a woman must do what is necessary to please her husband in order to be deemed as a good wife. The therapist suggests that in order to complete her half of the marital bargain she should agree to the shaved vagina in order to please the man she married. That he had an affair is put upon her as the instigator of the behavior, her refusal to remove what she views as a part of her adult sexuality an affront to her role as a wife. One of the therapeutic exercises that is sent home with them is to allow him to shave her. This results in her being cut and light trails of blood appearing in the tub. This image is reflective of her position as a wife, that her comfort and needs are immaterial and she is literally bleeding to safe a marriage in which the husband is doomed to cheat on her once again. She is responsible, and she must suffer in order to fulfill her role as a wife. Part of her must be sacrificed in order for her to please him and gain his appreciation. Gordon (1996) writes about the theories of patriarchy and women as it relates to the position of men oppressing women in order to maintain control of the lines of procreation. Women are the subject of procreative control because through that control, men are able to control their immortality within the world through the knowledge that the women that they control have borne their children. Gordon (1996) writes that “As part of the subjugation of women, variable forms of patriarchal organization are developed, such as sexual division of labor, the division of public and private life, and motherhood ideologies that define women as emotional and dependent” (p. 17). In creating a dialogue about patriarchy, the theme of hair removal reflects the patriarchal mandates, placing her as infantilized, physically harmed, and placed under the control of her husband as a wife. The discussion that is made through the monologue of “Hair” is defined by the overtones of patriarchal control that is revealed in this imposition upon the speaker to appease her husband through an action that is revealed as uncomfortable both physically and psychologically. From the beginning, the independence the speaker has attained since her marriage asserted as she states that to love her genitalia is to love the hair that protects it. The story of her experience reveals that society has placed upon women the need to go to extreme lengths to please their husband in order to perform the role of wife. The role of wife is revealed as a sacrifice of the self, the submission to the patriarchal control of a husband meaning that the female is less of herself, dependent in a childlike way, and has displaced her own sense of self in order to give over to his wishes. She resents this, as she should. The result is that her husband continues his objectionable behavior even though she has worked to appease him. In the end, the marriage is over. References Carroll, J. L. (2010). Sexuality now: Embracing diversity. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth CENGAGE Learning. Ensler, E. (2007). The vagina monologues. New York: Villard. Gordon, A. A. (1996). Transforming capitalism and patriarchy: Gender and development in Africa. Boulder: Lynne Rienner. Valenti, J. (2007). Full frontal feminism: A young womens guide to why feminism matters. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press. Wynne, D. (2010). Women and personal property in the Victorian novel. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Pub. Read More