The Vagina Versus: Part I

The Vagina versus. THE PENIS

There would obviously be no mention of the male genitalia in a book called The Vagina Monologues. However, I thought the differences and similarities between these two sexual organs was worthy of a blog post at least. In Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, readers are first desensitized to the word itself. As Ensler mentions, "Let's just start with the word vagina. It sounds like an infection at best, maybe a medical instrument". This is the first noticeable difference between the penis and the vagina. Vagina "never sounds like a word you want to say", while the word penis is more widely accepted (Ensler, 5). There is a lot of angst attributed to the word vagina, and as Ensler discovered, women are extremely reluctant to even mention the word much less talk about their own vaginas.

Ensler interviews many women throughout these monologues, and the discomfort associated with talking about vaginas is clearly depicted in many of the encounters, "I mean...well, never mind. No. Never mind. I can't talk to you about this. What's a smart girl like you going around talking to old ladies about their down-theres for? We didn't do this kind of a thing when I was a girl" (Ensler, 26). In this excerpt, the woman being interviewed won't even refer to her vagina by its proper name, she calls it her 'down-there'. This name further distances this woman from her vagina and outlines the lack of a relationship she has with her own vagina. It is as if she is separated from it.

Ensler then goes on to describe the clitoris, which is, "the only organ in the body designed purely for pleasure" (Ensler, 51). The clitoris contains 8,000 nerve fibers, which is twice the number of nerve fibers found in the penis. The penis and vagina are both designed for pleasure, but I do not doubt for a second that if men had an organ that's sole purpose was to provide pleasure, it would be flaunted and praised nonstop. The clitoris, however, is hidden, concealed within the vagina, out of sight. There is a lot done to decrease the pleasure of women, to keep the clitoris hidden. The vagina is not treated well, exemplified when Ensler talks passionately about the things that are shoved and stuffed up there. "Like tampons - what the hell is that? A wad of dry fucking cotton stuffed up there. Why can't they find a way to slightly lubricate the tampon". Ensler also talks about how men are constantly trying to clean up the vagina, "make it smell like bathroom spray or a garden" (Ensler, 70).

Ultimately, Ensler talks about man elevating the penis above the vagina by degrading the vagina. She says of men, "Hate to see a woman having pleasure, particularly sexual pleasure...they wouldn't be able to stand it. Seeing all those energized, not-taking-shit, hot, happy vaginas" (Ensler, 72). The vagina is oppressed by the penis dominating the sexual frontier. The penis goes along suffering from little criticism, while the vagina is constantly shaved to achieve perfection, douched to achieve cleanliness, and transformed into an object of the pleasure of a man. The vagina is on a comeback, but for now the battle of the vagina and the penis goes to the penis.