V is for Vapid

Le Petit Grignotage
Christine

Last week, Notre Dame University once again allowed The Vagina Monologues (written by Louise Brooks-look alike Eve Ensler) to play on its grounds' during Holy Week, of all times. One can only grasp the bitter irony of this timing when one considers that, during the holiest week of the liturgical year, the campus gave air time to a play promoting lesbianism, sado-masochism, and masturbation, all via a monologue coming from a disembodied vagina. The bishop of the diocese issued a strongly worded letter to Fr. Jenkins, priest of Holy Cross and president of the University, criticizing the decision:

As bishop of this historic diocese, entrusted with the spiritual welfare of all those who live within its borders, including the students at our beloved Notre Dame, I believe that, once again, I must publicly and respectfully disagree with Father Jenkins' decision.

God bless him. You can read the rest here.

Going on its tenth year, Monologues hasn't only suffered criticism from conservative circles; pro-sex feminists like Betty Dodson have complained that the play is a blast of hatred at men and heterosexuality--which it, of course, is. And Monologues supporters, happy to push their misanthropic vapidity onto unsuspecting college students, have been less than tolerant. In 2000, when Robert Swope wrote a piece in the Georgetown paper condemning the hypocrisy of one lesbian rape scene and the Monologues' so-called campaign of violence against women, the female weeping and gnashing of teeth was such that he wound up fired from his position. That's grrrl power for you!

Ah yes, Valentine's Day--that day on which tradition celebrates the gift of love between man and woman, the giddiness of romance, the swoon of ardor, the potency of amour; a day to exchange gifts: roses, chocolates, a cold bottle of bubbly shared over a warm, candlelit meal, and by a roaring fire, perhaps; and, for those Catholics among us, a day on which to pay homage to Valentinus, a Roman priest martyred for his faith, patron saint of affianced couples, lovers, and happy marriages.

Not so for these hags of war. Valentine's Day must be forever known as Vagina Day, or V-Day, a day on which the battle cry is raised against acts of horror committed against the fairer sex, the "grisly memento mori of violence", as Camille Paglia put it, of rape, incest, battery, sex trafficking--acts that rob the woman of her dignity by reducing her to an object, an item to be used, a piece of flesh, a mere vagina.

And the Monologues does its bit to promote peace by...reducing women to mere vaginas. But it is all done with humor and grace, aging hipster Ensler insists! Judge for yourself; monologues include:

--The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could, in which a thirteen-year-old girl is given alcohol and seduced by an older women, and in the end declares it to have been "a good rape".

--I Was Twelve, My Mother Slapped Me, a choir describing menstrual periods;

--My Vagina Was My Village, a compilation of testimonies of Bosnian women victimized in rape camps;

--My Angry Vagina, in which a performer rails against douches, tampons, and gynecological instruments;

--The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy, in which a dominatrix eulogizes her "love" of women, the monologue ending in a triple orgasm;

--Because He Liked to Look At It, in which¦ nevermind.

If this is Ensler at her gracious best, then I hate to think what she's like when crass.

While the above scenes were being performed under the Golden Dome of Notre Dame--a university dedicated to and named after the Woman of most sublime dignity, whose very existence embodies purity, innocence, and modesty--only several hundred yards away the Easter Octave Masses were taking place in the basilica, the sacred Gospel read, the ancient prayers chanted, the words of consecration spoken over the host that would become our risen Lord.

Some students, seeing the incongruity, staged a protest on the first night of the performance. After the opening skit, thirty students scattered throughout the audience stood up and walked out, leaving in their empty seats a flyer containing the following:

Upon leaving the play, we are headed as a group to the Grotto, where we will pray for the students, faculty and administration of the University of Notre Dame, and particularly that our institutional participation in such a demeaning cultural fad will come to an end. As loyal sons and daughters of Our Lady, we are confident that she will hear our prayer.

Notre Dame du Lac, priez pour nous.

You can read more from Christine at her own blog, Laudem Gloriae.

Comments

[Old Dominion Tory]

Expect an avalanche of hits from people looking to read this superb article. Thank you and God bless you, Christine, for writing this article.
Moreover, thanks be to God for the Notre Dame students who called the university's "leaders" to account for allowing this travesty to be staged at Notre Dame. "Loyal sons and daughters of Our Lady," indeed!

[Christine]

The thing is that Fr. Jenkins is morally opposed to the play; he believes it is antithetical to Catholic teaching. But he has bought into the fallacy that freedom of thought on a Catholic campus means one must host such drivel on its grounds. I'm sure he's received tremendous pressure from the liberal arts & sciences faculty (most of whom aren't Catholic, from what I understand--another problem Notre Dame needs to address).

[MCNS]

First off, a rejoinder: Eve Ensler http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39876000/jpg/_39876636_ensler203_afp.jpg

is no Louise Brooks:
http://library.pittstate.edu/spcoll/img/dance14.gif

That said, is there any more egregious an example of the ninny-fication of modern Western women than the V-Monologues?

It is beyond me how anyone can read this 2001 piece from the Village Voice and not think, "What nitwits!"
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0107,lerner,22272,1.html

It is beyond me how the editors of a college paper can cover an event like this and not think, "What nitwits!"
http://wings.buffalo.edu/publications/spectrum/article.php?id=36176

[Father M.]

I hope the alumni donors tangibly express their distaste for this "play" as well as for Fr. Jenkins' passivity.

[William Dempsey]

Thank you, Christine, for this compelling indictment of the Notre Dame faculty departments for sponsoring this meretricious piece of literary and moral trash and of Father Jenkins's decision in authorizing it. Father M. refers to the alumni, and I want him and everyone else to know, as you do, that a group of alumni deeply concerned about the progressive secularization of the University has organized as Project Sycamore and have been hard at work to get the facts, to inform alumni, and to express the collective voice of all members of the Notre Dame family -- alumni, students, family, friends. We already have a mailing list of over 6,000 and some 1100 have signed our petition to rid the campus of this Vagina Monologues pestilence. I add that this is but a symptom. The root problem is the precipitous decline in Catholic representation on the faculty, as you will see by consulting our home page and associated materials at www.projectsycamore.com. Our recent newsletters on the Monologues issue can be reached through the newsletter link on the home page.

I add a foonote, especially for parents, actual and prospective, but also for all who may suspect that transparency is not a typical virtue of college administrations. One of the Notre Dame Department heads somewhat recklessly confided to The Irish Rover (a fine student publication), that they were careful not to schedule the play on a Parents' Weekend for fear the parents would see what was going on. You'll find this, and more, in our newsletters -- but Christine has put it as well as can be.

[Christine]

Mr. Dempsey,
Nice to see you here. My thanks to you for all your fine work with Project Sycamore. Please continue to keep us updated...

[DefundAbortionGuy]

I was going to call the bishop heroic for his well written condemnation...but, opposing a pornographic play at a Catholic school during Holy Week seems to almost the minimum we can ask of our bishops. And yet, Bishop D’Arcy seems to be the only one meeting this measly standard. Pray for backbones for our bishps!

[Mrs. Peperium]

Christine, over the years I've developed a most dreadful tick regarding this "play". Whenever I refer to it outloud, I call it the "V------- Monocles"...

When you think about it, and look at the related material Irish Elk posted, "monocles" actually makes a lot of sense....

[MCNS]

Ms Monocle.
http://www.jamd.com/search?assettype=g&assetid=3066112&text=monocle

[Jeremy]

Excellent, Christine. Thank you for getting straight to the heart of what's wrong with that vile-- yet omnipresent--creation.

[Christine]

Mrs. P,
"Vagina Mongoloids" seems another apt description...