Activist for female rights Eve Ensler was originally a playwright. Her more famous work is The Vagina Monologues—an empowering and unconventional play consisting of skits based on interviews with women of all backgrounds about their vaginas. The Vagina Monologues came to UB in March of 2006, and called upon a group of outspoken, jovial, and intelligent female students to perform. Now, they’re back at it again with performances on March 26 and 27.
Ensler also founded “V-Day,” a grassroots movement on a mission to end violence against women. She is currently touring college campuses promoting the V-Day event of the century, held in the Superdome of New Orleans in April. She came to UB to talk about her relationship with men, the war in Iraq, and why women are the eternal resource of the planet.
Generation: What is your favorite part of your vagina?
Eve Ensler: Well, the clit is pretty good.
G: What is your sexual orientation?
EE: Haha, gender fluid.
G: During your excursions around the world, is there any one story that greatly impacted you?
EE: While I was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), I met this little girl named Noella. Noella was eight years old and had fistula. For those who don’t know, fistula is a fairly rare condition that usually results after childbirth where a kind of hole develops inside a woman between the vaginal wall and the bladder. And as a result, the woman can’t control her urine, everything leaks out. Noella developed it after militiamen raided her village and killed her parents. They kidnapped her and she was continuously raped. And it’s amazing that this girl still acts her age. I remember I bought her some new clothes and she was so happy telling me about the house she wanted to have when she grew up. Then she soiled herself. And the boys made fun of her.
G: Can you share your feelings about women?
EE: I know in my heart that women are the primary resource of the planet. And they are being destroyed one by one systematically every day, every hour that we’re living. The violence has gotten so bad in some places that people don’t even recognize it anymore! We’re dealing with a daily holocaust and we don’t want to make it front and center and it impacts every single thing about our lives. I hoped this was accidental, but the extreme physical and mental abuse of women, examples of femicide, happens every single day.
G: And men?
E: I’m not saying that all men are bad, evil and violent; I love men! But look at the statistics. What are we teaching our boys about being men? We’re teaching them that they shouldn’t be women. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s fabulous to be a woman—fabulous. The fact that we’re telling boys they shouldn’t be allowed to express their feelings is devastating to little boys. They have to keep their emotions intact and those tears turn into violence.
G: With all the death and violence you experience first hand, how do you resist giving into despair?
E: I cry a lot, I do. I have to take in a lot of people’s sorrow and pain. But at the same time I see resilience, inspiring stories like Noella, who at eight years old experienced so much and still retains her innocence. I’ve been to a lot of countries and I have seen nothing like what is going on in the DRC. I met Dr. Denis Mukwege there. He is an angel. He formerly delivered babies and now helps sew women up as fast as the militiamen are tearing them apart.
G: As a nation, what would you suggest would be the solution to end the atrocities around the world?
EE: We are a nation obsessed with security. This isolates us and leaves us defensive and lonely. Not only that, but we have to hold leaders responsible. You know the other day I was reading a statistic that $4- $6 billion is spent every ten minutes in Iraq. I also read that the war will cost us $2 trillion. That money could have been spent nurturing and caring instead of maiming and killing. Call me crazy but I think that would have ended violence. With that money we could feed all the people in the world, we could provide them drinkable water, and educate people; don’t you think that might have an impact? If we fed people and provided them places to live and educated them and loved them, it is that simple. People say “Oh, it’s not that simple,” but it is! If you feed people and love people and nurture people and care for people, they won’t kill you!
