All-Female Holyoke Cancels 'Vagina Monologues' Over Trans Exclusion

Students at the all-female Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts cancelled the annual Valentine's Day production of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues," citing concerns that the play wasn't friendly toward transgender individuals. Ensler countered that the play isn't about the concept of gender, but rather about what it means to be a person who has a vagina.

The New York Daily News reports that the college theater group decided not to perform their "labor of labia love" because they didn't think the play gave enough attention to transgender students. Instead, they'll perform the original play, "The Student Body," which includes monologues on sex and gender.

Ensler's play, which debuted in 1996 and has added new scenes ever since, features in-your-face monologues about sexual discovery, homosexuality, rape and even pedophilia. But even now, most of these fiercely feminist monologues have yet to give a voice to the vagina-less.

"At its core, the show offers an extremely narrow perspective on what it means to be a woman," Erin Murphy, a rep for the school's Project Theatre Board, wrote in a campus-wide email posted in Campus Reform. "Gender is a wide and varied experience, 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 group also wrote in a Facebook post it thinks Ensler's play "fails the trans community in a lot of ways."

At Holyoke, a school that recently decided to admit transwomen (biologically male students who now identify as women), the decision to ditch "The Vagina Monologues" hasn't been met with acceptance among all students.

"I love how people who have never been able to discuss or embrace their vaj-wahs aren't going to find an avenue here, either, since female-validating talk about vaginas is now forbidden. That's so misogynistic under the guise of 'progress,'" one student wrote.

Ensler also sounded off, telling The Advocate that "The Vagina Monologues was never intended to be a play about what it means to be a woman. It is and always has been a play about what it means to have a vagina. In the play, I never defined a woman as a person with a vagina."

Ensler also noted that a group of transwomen staged the play in 2004, which inspired a new trans-centric monologue, "They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy," that is available for inclusion in performances. Below, see transwoman Calpernia Addams perform the show at a benefit for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

"Offering the monologue to our activists around the world was a deliberate decision on my part to encourage communities to address the needs and realities of the transgender community," said Ensler. "Trans women and trans men have been welcome to perform in 'The Vagina Monologues' throughout its history."

But despite her disappointment, Ensler praised the students' ideals, saying, "I stand in solidarity with students at Mount Holyoke in their fight against transphobia. I believe this is a beautiful opportunity for us to hear each other's stories in this ever-evolving journey toward liberation."