A Culture of Vaginas: Representations of the Vagina in the 21St Century America Kyra M

Union College Union | Digital Works Honors Theses Student Work 6-2016 A Culture of Vaginas: Representations of the Vagina in the 21st Century America Kyra M. DeTone Union College - Schenectady, NY Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons Recommended Citation DeTone, Kyra M., "A Culture of Vaginas: Representations of the Vagina in the 21st Century America" (2016). Honors Theses. 238. https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/238 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Union | Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Union | Digital Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “A Culture of Vaginas” Representations of the Vagina in 21st Century America By Kyra M. DeTone * * * * * * * * * * * * * Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Honors in the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies UNION COLLEGE March, 2016 Contents Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………………..iii-iv Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………v-vi Chapter 1: The Vagina Thesis – An Introduction………………………………………...........1-27 Chapter 2: The Vagina in Print….............................................................................................28-53 Chapter 3: The Vagina as Image……………………………………………………………..54-87 Chapter 4: More than Just “Down There” – Union College, Social Media, and Euphemisms for Genitalia…..............................................................................................................................88-115 Conclusion: Assessing a “A Culture of Vaginas”……….......…………………………….116-120 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………….122-127 Figures……………………………………………………………………………………128-131 ii With Profound Appreciation and Affection A thesis is like a written journey. It begins with an idea that grows into a framework, and with much time and effort it comes to an end. There are many people in my life that have helped me find my way throughout this process and I wanted to take this moment to thank them. For my friends and family, who have seen me through this journey from beginning to end, allowed me to speak aloud my jumbled thoughts and ideas, and provided encouragement not only through kind words and warm hugs, but also through their genuine interest in my topic of research, I am forever grateful. I am especially grateful to my sister, Alana, whose devotion to her own academic endeavors provided to me an ideal role model and fostered within me the initiative and determination to pursue this thesis. For Professor Andrea Foroughi, whose support and encouragement has seen me through the entirety of my college career, I extend my most heartfelt of thank yous. I first met Professor Foroughi as a prospective student at a panel on the humanities during an admissions open house. Her excitement at hearing my interest in the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies program struck me in a way the rest of Union had not. Two weeks following our meeting a brochure from the department came in the mail and I was sold. From my first day on campus to the day I completed this thesis, Professor Foroughi has surpassed any expectation I had for a college professor. She is my role model and my mentor. For her guidance, unwavering support, and understanding as a thesis advisor I am eternally grateful. Without her insight and input, “A Culture of Vaginas” would not be the finished piece it is today. Her guidance as an academic advisor and willingness to sit in hour long meetings (following a two-hour long class) lead me to discover a new passion within myself and has allowed me to spend four years at Union pursuing a major that I love. Professor Foroughi – you have had profound impact on my life that I cannot begin to properly put into words, I will never forget your kindness as it is something I will hold on to for the rest of my life. For Jamie Bolles, whose thoughtful counseling helped me cope mentally and emotionally with challenges of the past term, I offer my sincere gratitude. The comfort you have provided me in the most stressful of moments has lasted far beyond our conversations. I am very grateful for your time and for the ability you have given me to admit to myself that I am enough. For Union College Faculty, Staff, and Students, thank you for your support whether expressed verbally or through your participation in my thesis survey, every bit has contributed to this thesis in some way. I especially want to thank Professor Suzanne Bennack for her patience and understanding during the creation and distribution of my survey and Gale Golderman, who ensured that the same survey reached the inboxes of my peers. iii This thesis has proven to be one of the most difficult journeys I have made during my time at Union and I will never forget all of the hands that reached out in support along the way. Thank you, a thousand times, thank you. iv ABSTRACT DETONE, KYRA “A Culture of Vaginas”: Representations of the Vagina in 21st-Century America In 1996, Eve Ensler opened her acclaimed, off-Broadway performance of The Vagina Monologues in New York City with these lines: “I bet you’re worried. I was worried. That’s why I began this piece. I was worried about vaginas.” These lines and Ensler’s monologues as a whole pose a provocative question for the modern woman, one that has been present in feminist dialogue since the late 1960s: Does the vagina have a community in American society? Nearly three decades after the first production of The Vagina Monologues, in what is argued to be a “postfeminist” period, scholars, writers, artists, and filmmakers still grapple with this question. In order to determine successfully the presence and quality of America’s “culture of vaginas,” questions of language, representation, and reception have to be assessed from their appearance in society during the Women’s Movement through present day. Recognizing the lack of discussion and appreciation of female genitalia in relation to their lived experiences, feminist activists associated with the Women’s Health and Liberation Movements of the 1960s and 1970s encouraged women to develop new societal dialogues, often through consciousness raising, to remedy this absence. Feminist groups such as the Boston Women’s Health Collective and the Fresno Feminist Art Movement created spaces in which women could vocalize their concerns regarding their bodies, motherhood, sex, and sexuality. In doing so, these communities equipped women with the tools to develop dialogue on these issues from within institutions of patriarchal society. The result was a variety of cultural materials, literature, film, and art, meant to introduce the vagina into public conversations. “A Culture of Vaginas”: Representations of the Vagina in 21st Century America examines academic scholarship, advice literature, and multiple forms of visual media that re-evaluate the v presence of the vagina in social dialogue of the twenty-first century. Like the work of the Women’s Health and Liberation Movements, as well as subsequent waves of feminism, the efforts of these scholars, artists, and independent activists have attempted to counter the taboo surrounding female genitalia with unambiguous conversation and representation. What makes twenty-first century efforts different from those forty years earlier is the nature of the societal landscape, which has not only been influenced by the pervasiveness of conservative ideology and divisions within feminist discourse, but also by growing generational dependence on technology. To study the influences of such cultural phenomena on the way students talk about the vagina, “A Culture of Vaginas” features an analysis of Union College student responses to a survey on social media and language usage. Trends among student responses to the survey alongside examination of societal representation of the vagina suggest that non-taboo appearance of female genitalia appear in accessible yet private niche communities. These niche communities, while available to the greater public, also maintain a sense of privacy as they must be sought out on a website, or in a bookstore, gallery exhibition, or film screening. These communities’ existence suggests a demand for safe environments in which women and men can address issues related to female genitalia. Such communities’ prevalence as well as attempts to maintain anonymity point to the lingering taboo of openly discussing female genitalia, specifically the vagina. Though these topics are relevant to the twenty-first century American woman’s experience, analysis shows that women must give themselves permission to participate in the conversation. Until women are able to speak about these issues without such hesitation, the taboo surrounding open discussion of female genitalia will endure vi Chapter 1: The Vagina Thesis - An Introduction “My vagina’s angry. It is. It’s pissed off. My vagina’s furious and it needs to talk. It needs to talk about all this shit. It needs to talk to you.” – Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues, 1996 In 1996, Eve Ensler opened her acclaimed, off-Broadway performance of The Vagina Monologues in New York City with these lines: “I bet you’re worried. I was worried. That’s why I began this piece. I was worried about vaginas.”1 The beauty of her opening does not lie solely in her allusion to the purpose of the monologues themselves, but also in her frank way of addressing women’s concerns. By referring to both the audience’s and her own anxieties surrounding the vagina, Ensler clearly attempts to publicize a seemingly individual feeling as one understood by a much greater number of women. Ensler lingers on the feeling of individual experience as isolating, as she continues her in introduction: “It [her vagina] needed a context of other vaginas – a community, a culture of vaginas.”2 This line prompts thought-provoking questions for the modern woman: Has the vagina ever had a community? Does American society provide context or culture for the half of the population with vaginas? These are some of the questions this thesis aims to address.

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