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Debra Rae
Just When You Think You've Heard It All: V-Day
Part II
©2007 Debra Rae
Promoters
of the Monologues (VM) purpose to end violence against women—ultimately,
against all people everywhere. To this noble end, playwright Eve Ensler has
called for every country with a military budget to donate one percent of it.
Every year on or around Valentine’s Day Ensler provides a platform for this
worthy cause by sponsoring what she calls V-Days. Even the Mayor willingly
participated in a well-attended press conference at Ensler’s
A
lesbian couple, Rossana Abueva and her partner Monique Wilson, organized V-Days
in the
Today’s
feminist agenda, as promulgated through the Monologues, provides a handy
framework for expanding a radical, not-at-all-family-friendly cause; and their
presence at mainstream stores makes them all the more available. V-Day activists
correctly bemoan a “culture of silence” and violent practices directed at
women; but, then, a New Hampshire theater has earmarked proceeds from the
Monologues for the Portsmouth Feminist Health Center, a first-trimester abortion
provider (as if abortion isn’t violent). Moreover, one monologue in Ensler’s
play actually portrays sadomasochism as a female form of glorious sexual
expression.
Dr.
Murray Straus explains: “…
social scientists tend deliberately to close their eyes to excesses and
incorrect statements by feminists because they do not want to undermine feminist
efforts to bring about a more equitable society. Thus, avowedly feminist
scholars have suppressed data on violence by women.” The truth be told,
self-defense accounts for only 10-20% of female partner aggression. While both
sexes initiate domestic violence equally, and more women suffer injury because
of it, men are more likely to die in its wake.
Culture
of Obscenity
One
previously hesitant enlistee, now promoting Eve Ensler’s Monologues, is from
True,
zoologist Alfred Kinsey ostensibly “proved” that humans are sexual from
birth; but to do so, Kinsey and associates violated infants. Mary Eberstadt
believes that sexually awakening a child, no matter her age, contributes to
erosion of the social consensus against sexual exploitation of children. I
agree. Already, the average age of exposure to pornography is eleven. Given that
ours is a culture of self-fulfillment, students might as well be directed to
1-800-dial-a-porn.
That
a woman can pleasure herself with no need of a man defines the feminist ideal of
non-exploitive sexuality. Pair that with the hundreds of millions of dollars
that our federal government funnels each year into “safe sex” programs, and
even very young girls awaken to sexual activity—with or without boys. A
disturbing finding of the National Marriage Project report was the majority of
young people who said that having a child outside of marriage is “a worthwhile
lifestyle.” Moreover, Dr. James Dobson has documented an astonishing number of
adolescents who have had bi-sexual relations or believe them to be okay.
In
their sex education classes, elementary-aged students in Washington State public
schools discuss sexual fluids and styles (vaginally, orally, and anally); and
“liberated” grade-school teachers freely display condoms. Presumed to be
sexually active middle-schoolers study teen parenthood, and high schoolers learn
homosexual “refusal skills.”
Because
“feminism” “stresses the indistinguishability of marriage, prostitution,
and rape”—this, according to attorney Catherine MacKinnon—wholesome
traditional relationships are belittled, even vilified. A societal upshot is
that the
For
its “benign neglect,” Western culture pays a dear price. Samuel Adams once
cautioned: “A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely
overthrow the liberties of
Celebrity
Sells
Never
mind that ours is “a material world” made up of “material girls.” At
every Ivy League school (except one) “women’s studies” courses outnumber
economic courses (often two-to-one). This is much the same at every major
college and university, as noted by the late Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth Hage.
Resources
available for study of respectable women role models are ripe for the picking,
but the halls of academia all but bury noteworthy legacies of the likes of Clara
Barton (Clara WHO?), Florence Nightengale, Clare Boothe Luce, and Margaret
Thatcher. Today’s heroines hale from
Be
sure, Eve Ensler’s Monologues have captivated esteemed actresses—Isabella
Rossellini and Glenn Close, to name two. At a Madison Square Garden V-Day event
that featured the wit and wisdom of pioneer feminist Gloria Steinem, the latter
read the “reclaiming” section and led its accompanying “c”-word chant.
In 2000, Steinheim championed raising our children to believe in “human
potential, not God.” This mandate when coupled with “the journey of truth
telling” that has been ongoing for three decades begs the fitting question,
“How is that working for you?”
Apparently
it’s good for
Not
surprisingly, Jane Fonda once again has taken center stage. She boldly gives
voice to “her most core part” and pledges undying loyalty to V-Day with her
presence, not to mention her hefty seven-figure donation to the cause. You go,
girl!
Daytime
TV’s own Oprah Winfrey is about as mainstream as it gets when it comes to
endorsing Ensler’s work. The CEO of Lifetime, Carole Black, likewise hopped
the VM bandwagon when, at an international V-Day gathering, she passed around
sterling heart bracelets from Tiffany. Snuggled up on red cushions, feminist
“sisters” followed suit by exchanging red or heart-shaped gifts.
One
journalist described this comfy-cozy gathering as “
The
late feminist pioneer Betty Friedan wrote that “no woman should be authorized
to stay at home and raise her children.” Hardcore feminists, as Friedan, liken
stay-at-home moms to “parasites” and “prostitutes.” No doubt influenced
by feminist mentors, as Eve Ensler reputed for her Monologues, about half of our
young, unmarried women by the end of the millennium had lived together with a
partner. Never mind that cohabitation increases the risk of domestic violence
toward women and children (Dr. James Dobson). Feminist cohabiters nonetheless
praise the Monologues and V-Day for their spurious put down of violence.
In
fostering a victim mentality, as modeled in the Monologues, feminists convince
young women to accept that men purpose only to use them, harm them, or hinder
them from success. Is it any wonder that the
All
the same, just last year Catholic educators grappled with the question of
performing the Monologues on their colleges and universities as part of V-Day.
President of the University of Notre Dame, Father John Jenkins, S.S.C., decided
not to ban the play from campus. Fruitful dialogue following each performance,
he reasoned, serves as “a good model for the future.” Notre Dame Theology
Professor M. Cathleen Kaveny agrees that the church needs to listen to human
experience.
Unfortunately,
the “open and free debate we’ve always cherished in university life is
rationed at some of our finest universities.” Case in point: “Paradise
Lost” is characterized as no more than “a monument of patriarchy” and a
“manifesto for resistance” (Susanne Fields, The
Washington Times, 18 November 1999). Politically incorrect views to the
contrary are unwelcome.
You
won’t find Ensler showcasing promise of a happy, monogamous heterosexual
marriage. Why not? Because in Ensler’s limited lesbian viewpoint, a woman’s
private part rules her world and is best enjoyed in isolation or in same-sex
scenarios. Prominent feminist activist and “intellectual” Andrea Dworkin
goes so far as to relegate all heterosexuality as “rape.” A good model for
the future?—I think not.
Debra Rae is an author and educator who has traveled extensively throughout the United States and abroad. Having authored two books—the ABCs of Globalism and ABCs of Cultural-Isms (the latter highlighted at the 55th Annual CBA International Convention, 2004)—Debra contributing columnist for News With Views. Debra has been a speaker on numerous radio shows aired across the nation, the Western Hemisphere, Russia, and the Middle East. This past year, she co-launched and now co-hosts WOMANTalk, a special edition of Changing Worldviews TALK Radio, for which she writes weekly commentaries.
www.debraraebooks.com, www.womantalk.us,
www.newswithviews.com/Rae/Debra.htm