Textual Deviance: Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues and Catholic Campuses
Textual Deviance: Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues and Catholic Campuses
This chapter discusses reasons for staging Eve Ensler's controversial play, The Vagina Monologues, which some colleges and universities have chosen not to present, largely as a result of the Cardinal Newman Society's negative reactions to it. Investigating the reasons the play has become a cause célèbre, arousing heated debate on Catholic campuses among feminists, students, and administrators, they refute the programmatic, theological, and aesthetic grounds that have been adduced to keep the play from being produced. It is argued that an open-minded encounter with the issues the play raises can engage students in discussion about values—such as the dignity of human beings, violence against the oppressed, and solidarity with the poor and vulnerable—that are at the heart of Jesuit and feminist education.
Keywords: plays, dignity, oppression, solidarity, poor, Jesuit education, feminist education
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