Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2012 Eve Ensler's The aV gina Monologues as Feminist Activist Ecology Rebecca Christine Lee Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the English Language and Literature Commons, Theatre and Performance Studies Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Lee, Rebecca Christine, "Eve Ensler's The aV gina Monologues as Feminist Activist Ecology" (2012). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 12763. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/12763 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues as feminist activist ecology by Rebecca Christine Lee A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Major: English (Literature) Program of Study Committee: Kathy Hickok, Major Professor Linda Shenk Gloria Jones-Johnson Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2012 Copyright © Rebecca Lee, 2012. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES AS FEMINIST ACTIVIST 1 ECOLOGY CHAPTER 1: THE SOCIALITY OF READING THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES 15 CHAPTER 2: NEGOTIATING INTERSECTIONALITY, TRANSNATIONALITY, 44 AND REPRESENTATION CHAPTER 3: PEDAGOGY, PERFORMANCE, AND POLITICAL CHANGE 71 CONCLUSION 96 WORKS CITED 98 1 INTRODUCTION: THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES AS FEMINIST ACTIVIST ECOLOGY Since Eve Ensler debuted The Vagina Monologues (TVM) in New York City’s HERE theater in 1996, thousands of women have experienced the play and subsequently found a community of feminist activists using literature to reclaim their bodies, share their stories, and integrate discussion of the vagina into public discourse.