The Vagina Monologues

A controversial play written by Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues debuted in 1996 on Broadway, at Westside Theater. It's pretty much Exactly What It Says on the Tin, being a bunch of monologues that connect the vagina to different themes, such as love, rape, sex, menstruation, genital mutilation, birth, masturbation, orgasm, and slang terms for the part. Typically, one new piece gets added every year, but here are some of the more famous monologues:


 * I Was 12; My Mother Slapped Me: A piece all about periods.
 * My Angry Vagina: Rant against tampons, douches, and OB/GYN's.
 * My Vagina Was My Village: A collection of interviews from women in Bosnia that were in rape camps.
 * The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could: The most controversial out of the set. A 13-year-old girl who was violently raped by a man as a child is seduced a much-older woman and she sees the latter experience as positive, saying "if it was rape, it was a good rape." The age was changed to 16 after the most severe criticisms were made.
 * Reclaiming "Cunt": Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
 * The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy: A story about a lesbian dominatrix. Performers of this piece often save it for last in the performance and pretend to orgasm near the end; they claim to be having a triple orgasm.
 * Because He Liked to Look At It: Story about a woman who hated her pubic area until she met a man who loved it.
 * I Was There in the Room: Eve Ensler's personal account of her granddaughter's birth.
 * Under the Burqa: Added to the original performance in 2003. It's about women in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban.

It has since become the cornerstone of the "V-Day" movement, which aims to raise awareness of rape and violence against women. As such, the play is frequently performed by colleges every year around Valentines Day.


 * All There Is to Know About "The Crying Game": When people talk about this play, is the "Coochie Snorcher" segment that is talked about the most.
 * Author Avatar, Self-Insert Fic, Author Tract: In the early days, Eve Ensler would perform the play mostly by herself.
 * Beautiful All Along: The main character of "Because He Liked to Look at It".
 * Chewing the Scenery: "My Angry Vagina" tends to be played this way.
 * Country Matters
 * Does Not Like Men, The Unfair Sex, Lifetime Movie of the Week: Those critical of this play blast it as Straw Feminist, invoking these tropes in the process.
 * Double Standard: "Coochie Snorcher" really stands out.
 * Double Standard Rape (Female on Female): Guess which one?
 * The Immodest Orgasm: One monologue (currently not listed above) is full of this trope. The performer ratted off a bunch of different moans and showed a bunch of different orgasm styles.
 * N-Word Privileges: All the monologues use this trope to some degree, but "Reclaiming Cunt" is the big standout.
 * Rape Is Love: "Coochie Snorcher", again.