“Mount Holyoke remains committed to its historic mission as a women’s college, Yet, concepts of what it means to be a woman are not static.”For background, read Maryland Sex Professor Demonstrates Moaning Sex in The Vagina Monologues
-- Admissions policy of Mount Holyoke College
Also read Girls College Struggles to Expel Student for 'Becoming Male'
-- From "Mt. Holyoke Cancels ‘Vagina Monologues’ Because It Leaves Out One Relevant Voice" by CBS News Boston 1/16/15
The College’s Project Theatre Board has decided to cancel its annual production of “The Vagina Monologues,” saying in an email to students the wide range of women the play includes is just not “inclusive” enough, Campus Reform reports.
The play has expanded over the years to include diverse female scenarios that highlight gender-based violence. However, the play leaves out one crucial group on campus since the college now accepts male students who identify themselves as female.
The performance has traditionally coincided with the annual V-Day campaign. Students this year will instead perform original monologues in a fashion similar to the play, but will reportedly include a piece that is trans-inclusive.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Women’s college theater group cancels ‘Vagina Monologues’ amid concerns that it could offend transgender people" by Susan Svrluga, Washington Post 1/16/15
Playwright Eve Ensler wrote the much-loved, much-hated series of short monologues after interviewing women about sex, love, birth and violence. It shocked many theater-goers with its intense focus on such an intimate part of the body; some found it feminist, thought-provoking and liberating, others found it crass and demeaning.
Now it’s got some feminists offended, too.
The student-run theater group’s leaders asked the dean of students to send out an e-mail asking whether they should continue to run the play, according to Julia Ferrante, a spokeswoman for the college, and then another e-mail this week announcing the results of the survey. Because of students’ concerns about offending transgender people, the theater group canceled the play.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE. (The above article includes the college's very lengthy definition of "woman.")
From "Mount Holyoke Cancels 'Vagina Monologues' For Not Being Inclusive Enough" by Tyler Kingkade, The Huffington Post 1/16/15
Mount Holyoke student Erin Murphy explained on behalf of the student-run theater board . . . "At its core, the show offers an extremely narrow perspective on what it means to be a woman," Murphy explained, according to Campus Reform.
"Gender is a wide and varied experience," Murphy continued, "one that cannot simply be reduced to biological or anatomical distinctions, and many of us who have participated in the show have grown increasingly uncomfortable presenting material that is inherently reductionist and exclusive."
"The student-group decision to cancel the play was made independently of the College's transgender admission policy," the college said in a statement to HuffPost. "As a women's college with a long tradition of educating women leaders, Mount Holyoke College supports and encourages students to take the lead in establishing and governing their own organizations. The College encourages students to seek peer input through open discussion and to consider and respect all viewpoints in their decision-making process."
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Vagina Monologues playwright: 'It never said a woman is someone with a vagina'" by Oliver Laughland in New York, UK Guardian 1/16/15
The playwright Eve Ensler has dismissed claims made by a university theatre group that her famed play the Vagina Monologues is “inherently reductionist and exclusive”, insisting the play is just as relevant now as when it was first written.
“I would like to believe that the play is outdated and irrelevant but sadly it isn’t,” Ensler said. “I travel the planet, I’ve just come from many countries and the United States where 51% of the population has vaginas and aren’t able to have agency over those vaginas. We know that one out of every three women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime – so we know we have a long way to go before vaginas are liberated.”
“I think it’s important to know that I never intended to write a play about what it means to be a woman, that was not what the Vagina Monologues ever intended to be,” Ensler said. “It was a play about what it means to have a vagina. It never said, for example, the definition of a woman is someone who has a vagina … I think that’s a really important distinction.”
To read all of Ensler's comments in the article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read President Obama's Eric Holder Creates Law for Transgenders
And read Transgenderism is a 'Delusion' According to Victim
