Road to the Monologues Part 1: 2006

In anticipation of V-day, we here at The Word Warrior will be running a series of guest posts on the history of the “Vagina Monologues” at Marquette, told by senior and empowerment chair, Caitlin Madden. Here is part one:

The very beginning of the ongoing struggle to bring “Vagina Monologues” to Marquette’s campus isn’t really my story to tell; I jumped on board late enough to avoid the real frustration of trying to understand Marquette’s decision-making process.  In the winter of 2006, then-chair of the Marquette organization JUSTICE Dominique George signed up online at www.vday.org, the official website for the V-Day campaign.  She then started the exciting rigmarole of forms and meetings required for putting on events at Marquette.

Now, when you sign up for an event on the V-Day website, they post the information (date, time, contact persons) so anyone looking for a V-Day event to attend can easily find one nearby.  This is where the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) comes in.  CNS’s mission in life is “renewing and strengthening Catholic identity at America’s 224 Catholic colleges and universities”.  To fight the evils of secularism and differing opinions, they police the country to make sure everyone’s being Catholic enough.  Every year, CNS compiles a list of Catholic universities putting on the Monologues, posts the information for that university’s president and other officials online, and barrages them with negative publicity.

So that’s what happened to Marquette.  CNS got a lot of people to contact Fr. Wild, and in late February, Office of Student Affairs officially rejected the JUSTICE proposal to put on the Monologues, stating that there wasn’t enough time to put the production together and that there were better ways to raise awareness about sexual violence.  Check out the Marquette Tribune article about the decision here.

Luckily, this was not the end of the road.  Carol Hirschi, the proprietor of the Brumder Mansion, a B&B on 24^th and Wisconsin with a tiny blackbox theater in the basement, heard about Marquette’s refusal to let the play be shown.   She offered the use of her theater free of charge and even helped direct the show.  It was performed three times in late April with a requested donation of $10/person.

That’s where I got involved, as reader of monologues and writer of angry viewpoints.  Participating in that reading was one of the formative moments of my college career.  The women I met in that reading amazed me with their strength and commitment, and the talkbacks we held following the performances opened my mind to all sorts of new ways to look at violence, sexuality, and gender relations.  I also really liked the first reading, which boasted the attendance of several Jesuits right smack in the front row (and in a 50-seat theater, that means a collared priest sitting three yards away while your friend is demonstrating the combo clit-vaginal moan).  At our last performance, we smashed fire codes to put over 100 people on the floor and on the stairs.  In all, we raised over $1000, which was then donated to HAVEN.

What would happen next year, when these intrepid Vagina Warriors attempted to drag the show eight blocks east onto Marquette’s campus?  Stay tuned to find out….