Art by Olivia Solomon // Daily Nexus
We are in need of nurturing our sexualities when the world doesn’t always know how to love our vaginas as anatomical wonderlands and as metaphors for our blooming femininities. We are in need of exploring our sexualities inside of sex, outside of sex and alongside sex when our sacred openings have been mistaken as lifeless objects in the name of socially constructed “shame.” Well, this shame is not inside of our wet forest landscapes or dry summer breezes flapping between labia lips. This shame is actually outside of us, where fear tries to darken the Earth’s natural light coming from our vulvas. Shame on society for condemning our lady liberation when our liberation is your liberation as well, where our parts gift life over and over again. But there is no shame in our movement to express what has always been expressing artistic creation, as the movement comes from demanding a space to be free. And we are in the revolution to liberate ourselves because our vagina liberation is the only guarantee to this rolling freedom. Our sexualities are made to rise above. Our sexualities are ours. Our sexualities might be shared with you, might love you, need you, expel you, stand alone, be together or always separate, but our sexualities are not defined by any other than the we or the “me.” But our sexualities do need other vaginas — and that is why our troupe is a troupe. Our sexualities come together as our sexuality when solidarity and true love create a union of differences founded on that same magic touch of all things vagina.
And THIS is what we have in common when asked the question: What does your sexuality mean to you?
“My sexuality represents the ownership I have over my own body, and I think that’s a pretty beautiful thing.”
“My sexuality means embracing connections with inner beings
With beauty and resilience
With passion and intensity
My sexuality playing in the light and dark
My sexuality is dancing, expressing and feeling lust
My sexuality ever evolving and creating”
“To me, my sexuality means owning my desires and prioritizing my pleasure as part of my general well-being. It is being honest about what I want and understanding why I want it.”
“To be honest, it means my freedom to own my body and to do with it as I please. I like to claim I’m open with it, but that’s just because I do what makes me feel good, and there are times when I choose to use it and there are times I just wanna keep it locked up. But at the end of the day, it’s mine, and I can do what I want with it, and that’s the important thing.”
“My sexuality is something that is constantly changing as I change as a person. It is never the same, since I am always exploring who I am and what I like. My sexuality is dynamic and ever-morphing; it has different needs and desires at different stages of my life. It is something that I am also learning to take full control of, since sometimes I feel embarrassed or ‘not normal’ to be a sexual person, whether due to pressure from society placed on women or just the way I want people to perceive me. I definitely want to be perceived as a ‘smart’ or ‘funny’ person more so than a ‘sexual person.’ I am still learning to separate the concept of sexuality from its negative connotations and learn how to be proud of pleasuring myself.”
“My sexuality means liberation. It has been a long journey, starting with shame and denial in the form of secret kisses behind the school parking lot with my former girlfriend/same sex partner. Then it was depression and doubt when my family wouldn’t accept me. I wanted their love, and I wanted to change to make them happy. Sexuality is not a choice. I discovered that I cannot (and will not) change myself for the comfort of others. It has taken years for me to be comfortable coming out to others and feel peaceful with any way they choose to respond. My self-worth is not contingent on others’ acceptance of my sexuality. I own it proudly and discuss it freely. My sexuality has given me the opportunity to be liberated in the face of judgment and discrimination. And I am so grateful for that.”
“A lot of people think sexuality only means sex. While sex is involved with my sexuality, strength and empowerment are coupled in there, too. My sexuality is my power. It gives me the power to say yes to what I like and the power to say no to what I don’t. My sexuality allows me to express myself. My sexuality allows me to feel passion, pleasure and pain all at once or not at all. My sexuality gives me the strength to be me.”
“Sexuality, for me, is my ability to come to terms with my sexual and emotional energy (my eroticism, seductiveness, sexiness and strong female energy). It’s a foundational need of mine, but can be tamed and expressed at different times in my life.”
“Frankly, I have come to terms with the fact that I am a hypersexual being, not in the sense that I want to engage in sexual acts with everyone that I meet. I am hypersexual being in the fact that I will give my love to those that earn and appreciate it. For I have learned through the hookup culture here at UCSB that not everyone has your best interest at heart.”
“To discover and explore my needs and desires. Not something that is defined or confined, but fluid to grow and develop exponentially. Something I need to nurture and not to judge.”
“To me, my sexuality means the way I feel about my body and the way I express those feelings to the world. My sexuality gives me the choice to be a wallflower if I feel like blooming and to embrace all that makes me a woman.”
“Sexuality is one thing, but black women’s sexuality has deep roots that still continue to haunt our ability to express our sexuality without being judged for being a woman and then black. My sexuality has given me the opportunity to learn how my body allows love, but has also taught me the world of neglect as well. I believe sexuality is an ongoing path of learning who you are both physically and mentally”
“Female sexuality is difficult to navigate as a young person living within a culture that does not encouragingly foster open conversation nor genuine expression of it. It is exactly this reason that led me to actively and privately uncover my passions, desires and feelings from a very young age. My personal exploration of my sexuality is inseparable from my development as a human being, as the two paralleled each other in metamorphosis. The force of my sexuality is a testament to my insatiable yearning to connect deeply, and a roadmap of where I have been and where I will go.”
“My sexuality means … having wild desires, finding my consenting partner and acting on these desires, but also acknowledging that if those wild desires are no longer desired, “NO” is welcome as a part of that experience.”
“My version of sexuality is realizing that my vagina is mine and no one else can dictate my sexual behavior. Sexuality can express pleasure, love and, in rare cases, both. Sexuality should never be a point of shame, but a point of true empowerment”
“My sexuality means ultimate comfortability with my body. It means letting my body be free. Free to feel, free to love, free to do its thang. Especially after trauma. I’M JUST TRYNNA BE FREE.”
“My sexuality is my pussy and its right to choose
Y’all condemn feminism but wouldn’t walk in my shoes.
I wish for the day the armor we put on is no more
And we are called by our names, not slut or whore.”
And THIS is how different sexualities came together to liberate one another. It is educating in safety and craving to be educated in compassion that brings intersectional vaginas into a single light of triumph. Our sharing is power, as we are more able to understand what one sexuality could not have known about another sexuality before. Sharing will not divide and conqueror us, it shall only keep us together in an eternal springtime blossom season where no flower withers without growing back stronger. This is how we became one. We are here to actively love one another, actively engage and actively learn. Vaginas are rooted in the same Mama Earth, and it is in this Mama Earth where we shall stay rooted as one for always.
Thank you to all of the vaginas for adding depth to our depths. We love all beings <3
Love,
The Vaginas of The Vagina Monologues and Herstories productions
PS: “The Vagina Monologues and Herstories” shows are in Campbell Hall on Friday, Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 6 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale at the Associated Students Ticket Office. All proceeds of the ticket sales and fundraising go to The Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center.
Thanks for the daily dose of degeneracy to make it through the day.
Oh my goooood. Sex. Vaginas! The world is ending! AAAAAAAH!
Hate to break it to ya, pal, but sex is a part of life. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to read articles like this. Believe it or not, it’s that simple.
This represents the utter degradation of society. You people sicken me
You sicken me.
“Shame on society for condemning our lady liberation when our liberation is your liberation as well, where our parts gift life over and over again. But there is no shame in our movement to express what has always been expressing artistic creation, as the movement comes from demanding a space to be free”
Couldn’t say it better.
Hey Shadeh – again, the above comment was not me, but some White(passing) UCSB students who support the WSU and have been harassing/stalking myself and several other students on campus.
Rest assured – that comment does not represent my views, because I fully support Vagina Monologues and all of the intersectional feminist activism on our campus.
Keep fighting.
“please, Daily Nexus, have SOME oversight of who can register for comments…”
Haha what do you expect them to do? Add a checkbox for “are you a troll?”
I hope they leave you alone. Sorry you are targeted by such low life’s.
Anon – meh, they could easily set up a plugin to need a Disqus / Twitter / Facebook login to comment, and then all anon posts get moderated before being posted. Or, they could just remove the “Enter name” function for anons.
Shadeh – some people don’t have anything better to do than post hate on internet comments. It just sucks when it’s people walking around in your own community – but that’s patriarchy.
Keep writing, keep fighting, and don’t be afraid! :)
Hi everyone – please disregard the above comment in my name (please, Daily Nexus, have SOME oversight of who can register for comments…). That’s the lovely UCSB White Supremacists / WSU trying to slander me, again.
Don’t let the hateful comments get you down.
Vagina Monologues is a HUGELY important project for advancing intersectional feminism, and you should all be very proud of your hard work.
Excellent article, excellent activism.
For some reason I just hate you Tim. the way you write makes me want to spend my day trolling you. I can’t image being in the same room with you and actually listening to to you speak.
that’s funny then that you spend so much time seeking out him and anything that he posts.
Hey Timothy. A year ago, when the sexual assault sit-in occurred, I expressed concerns about due process and I was very rudely insulted by a bunch of SJWs including yourself. Later, on the Nexus story, an anonymous commenter (not me) also expressed concern about due process and got like five comments saying “I bet this is Jason Garshfield.” “This is definitely Jason Garshfield.” You didn’t stand up for me then when comments were being falsely attributed to me. But now that someone leaves a comment making fun of you, you’re the first one to complain about being “stalked” and “harassed”… Read more »
Jason G, when I see you walk around campus I realize you don’t make eye contact, then I realize the way you walk is as if you shit your pants. I understand now.
And here we see on display the thoughtfulness and depth of your typical campus liberal.
I thought my question was valid why do you waddle around like you shat your pants I just wanna kno :/
For fuck’s sake, stop living in the 1950s. Society largely celebrates the sexuality of women, the only people who don’t are 1) sex-negative feminists, and 2) religious fundamentalists. But I repeat myself. Really though, it’d behoove you to find an identity that isn’t based upon self-aggrandizing, self-pity, and just overall self-absorption. You’re not a victim, grow up and take responsibility for yourself.
How does our society celebrate women’s sexualities in your opinion I’m curious :)
“Really though, it’d behoove you to find an identity that isn’t based upon self-aggrandizing, self-pity, and just overall self-absorption.”
They they would have no identity left. They define themselves as victims of oppression.. a silly fictitious oppression that shows that they have no idea what real oppression is.
I think it’s safe to say that “socially constructed” is officially over now.
So a feminist way of properly manifesting female sexuality in a modern society is for a woman to knowingly characterize herself as a talking vagina and -as you did in your photoshoots- strip naked in order to raise money for a cause?! And that cause is rape which is the epitome of female objectification?! George Carlin said “fighting for piece is like screwing for virginity”… or he might have rephrased it to self-objectification for rape-pervention or something equivalent, had he been alive today. Fix your methods. P.S. I had actually written an opinion piece and sent it on January 25th.… Read more »
it’s obviously not worthy of publication since you spelled “peace” wrong, dipshit.
We are in need of nurturing our sexualities when the world doesn’t always know how to love our penises as anatomical wonderlands and as metaphors for our blooming masculinities. We are in need of exploring our sexualities inside of sex, outside of sex and alongside sex when our sacred penises have been mistaken as lifeless objects in the name of socially constructed “shame.” Well, this shame is not on of our skin swords or dry summer breezes flapping between hairy testicles. This shame is actually outside of us, where fear tries to darken the Earth’s natural light coming from our… Read more »
I can’t stop laughing. This is hilarious.
lolz for someone who hates this article so much you sure are spending a lot of time looking at it.
Vaginas are wonderful. Men like them too. I was wondering why none of the writing even reference the vigina’s function in procreation, and the birth of child. It’s almost as if vaginas have absolutely nothing to do with a fairly central and meaningful purpose. Says something about the self centered nature of the writers here. Are all these women takers and not givers?
No Bob, I’m sure these ladies realize vaginas have the ability to procreate, but it’s also okay to just enjoy your genitalia aside from procreation. Do you cry every time you cum due to having lost potential children? If so, you do you Bob .
I think Bob’s point is that they didn’t care enough about it, across the board, to even mention once among the many statements. It’s not part of their values or self-identity as people here.
Lisa you’re missing the point, like completely the Vagina Monologues and these compilations are a chance for women to celebrate their genitalia and sexuality outside of what society has dictated to them, instead of feel ashamed to be so explicit about enjoying themselves. And if you actually knew any of what you were talking about, the Vagina Monologue has a piece on a woman giving birth and how beautiful she perceived it to be, but a woman celebrating her body doesn’t have to be restricted to celebrating it for its reproductional capabilities.
Anon, I’m very familiar with the play. The fact that none of the vignettes shared in this editorial speak to a fundamental of womanhood is telling. These descriptions of their vagina’s have been mocked with other commenters replacing them with male anatomy for a reason. These women see their vaginas the way men do – as sexual objects to pleasure themselves. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s missing a big part of what it means to be a woman. You might want to read Our Bodies, Our Selves. It’s not so narrow in the interpretation of womanhood. It’s a little… Read more »
LOL at the people getting mad over women wanting to feel empowered. Seriously get over yourselves, I advise you take the Human Sexuality class here at UCSB with the Baldwins and you’ll learn about how young women statistically are more shamed for their sexuality than men. Our society is more normalized towards male sexuality and self pleasure, but scandalized at the mere mention of a woman masturbating. Women are more likely to be referred to as “sluts” and “whores” and objectified if they assert sexual freedom, while men are “players” “bosses” and “real men” when they do. Give me a… Read more »
Don’t listen to whoever was posting those hateful comments, I’m the real Carlos Flores, and I just want to say vaginas are amazing. Even though I haven’t had the pleasure or privilege of being near one let alone see one. I support the fact that you ladies want to write to express your sexuality!
HA. I always knew you were a secret SJW Carlos!
Hey man, I don’t understand why you’re hating on the Vagina Monologues when you glorify the right of freedom of expression as if it’s the only thing you fap to at night.
I’m not trying to censor The Vagina Monologues, just criticizing it. That’s a subtle but important distinction that they probably don’t teach you in your Marxist Studies classes.
what do you have against it? that it says the word “vagina”?
“If it was rape, it was a good rape.” -The Vagina Monologues
You do realize that if you actually go to the Vagina Monologues nobody is doing that piece.
Also Ensler’s quote in saying that was meant to portray our society’s obsession in enacting violence on women. Her whole point of creating the Monologues was to stop the violence against women, but sorry you don’t understand basic literature you incompetent fuck.
That’s what I don’t like about The Vagina Monologues. I don’t believe that our society is obsessed with enacting violence against women. I think that most men are good people and The Vagina Monologues (and a lot of modern feminist theory) spreads hate and fear between men and women.
Men are the most common victims of violence, I’m sorry but that’s just a statistical truth. If anything, our society is far more obsessed with violence against men. Violence against women, on the other hand, is condemned across the board as a horrible wrong. Even right-wingers like Trump invoke “rape” to perpetuate suspicion of minorities, just like the Ku Klux Klan would lynch falsely accused black men a hundred years ago.
Just because a woman or feminist talks about violence enacted by SOME men, that doesn’t imply or mean to spread hatred or negative stigma about men. Instead it is meant to raise awareness about the socialized behavior of SOME men that needs to be remedied. Such as catcalling, harassment, and rape because we socialize men when their young to believe that they are entitled to women. We tell our little girls “if a boy hits you or picks on you it means he likes you.” Our society has conditioned men into believing that if a woman dresses a certain way… Read more »
You say that feminists don’t believe that most men are bad, but when I took a feminist studies class at UCSB we were taught that violence against women is a systemic means of oppressing women. Feminist Susan Brownmiller said that rape is “a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear.” How can you possibly say such rhetoric doesn’t attack men?
I don’t disagree that men encounter violence, but the thing is, when a man does encounter violence he is ashamed for feeling sad, or speaking about it, because he won’t be perceived as “manly” This is what feminism fights AGAINST. Feminism wants to fight against the stigma that men can’t talk about their feelings, and the way in which society has conditioned the genders into believing certain ideologies pertaining to them. Feminism isn’t some man hating idea, it wants equality for all.
Just because you encounter extremes in a movement that doesn’t REPRESENT the movement. Just because you have the Westboro Baptist Church, that doesn’t mean that is the epitome of Christianity. Just because you have the KKK that doesn’t represent all White people, in this case just because you have some women who hate men and identify as feminists that doesn’t mean feminism is man hating Now you might counter and say well just because you have ingrained patriarchy and sexism that doesn’t represent all men, but I would counter and say that rape culture and sexism are widespread ingrained ideas… Read more »
**man
I’m not talking about radical feminism. I can’t define the term for everyone and I don’t know what it means for you, but the type of mainstream feminism that’s taught in our universities (at taxpayer expense, no less) does teach suspicion and hatred of men. That’s a verifiable fact.
Just because a professor made one oversimplified statement that you may have misinterpreted or taken out of context doesn’t mean all of mainstream feminism should be discarded. Plenty of people in academia make statements I don’t agree with doesn’t mean you throw out the entire original ideology they were trying to interpret
Anon, the concept of “male privilege” is a pretty blanket criticism of men. And there’s no concept of “female privilege” in today’s feminism. feminism sets up men as perpetuators of crimes and discrimination against women. Women have no agency in these concepts, so the machinery of the state must be used to either bring men down, or help women up.
I used to feel ashamed about my penis because it’s abnormally small, but I’ve learned to feel empowered instead of taking it out on others, I would like to share a poem I wrote about it:
My Small Dick:
My small dick
no bigger than a match stick
I’d look down and I’d feel sad
and sometimes I’d just feel mad
but I’ve come to love my small dick
even though it’s too small to fuck a tick
Ha! Wow guys, you’re gonna cyberbully a Mexican POC? I think I’m going to have to report this to the Bias Response Team and try to get you all banned from the internet forever. #Cruz2016
You sir are an IMPOSTER, nobody listen to this degeneracy, I am a sweet sweet man, you can tell by my profile picture look at how nicely dressed I am in my suit and yellow tie, excuse my facial expression I’m not mad I promise I was just holding in a fart, I’m a really really nice guy! #feelthebern2k16
Admit it: it’s a good profile picture, isn’t it.
Why thank you sir, I personally like the picture of me shredding on my guitar for a racial equality concert :)
Why is associating shame with sex/uality a “social construct” while the effusive celebration of vaginas is simply The Truth? It seems that for you “social construct” is just a fancy way of saying “something that doesn’t feel right to me but against which I can’t argue persuasively.” I recommend you reread Foucault, with whom all this nonsense began. He himself said in History of Sexuality that sexual liberation is the new form of oppression.
News flash. You’re just as much if not more under false consciousness, what with the social constructs of academic leftist ideology. Grow up.
Hey so, equating shame with sex IS a social construct because what inherently is shameful about sex and sexuality? It is something natural that people enjoy and engage in. These women in these poems are challenging this, yes “social construct” by being overt and explicit about what constitutes their sexuality. OP if you feel like sexual liberation is a form of oppression, cool. Nobody is forcing you to masturbate although it sure sounds like you need to.
They aren’t challenging anything. They’re just a bunch silly people doing silly things that normal people laugh at.
Its all about the feels
Wonderful argument Victor, astounding in fact, you should be a rhetorician. I’ve never heard such a detailed precise argument, it’s as if you weren’t even thinking when you wrote such a masterpiece.
I, the REAL Jason Andrew Garshfield am a strong advocate of freedom of speech and expression, thus I wholeheartedly embrace the fact that these women are feel the need to express their sexuality and are taking the first amendment right in doing so. We as Americans have so much more to focus on than squabbling over the comment section of a perfectly legitimate article. I feel as if our founding fore fathers (granted if they weren’t ingrained in their sexist and or ideologies of their time) would look down upon us in disgust.
^This isn’t me. Just for anyone who was wondering.
FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO who in the Capitol Hill are you, you Benedict Arnold I am the real Jason Andrew Garshfield!
bless the constitution I do believe I’ve made a few spelling errors: negate the “are” after “the fact that these women”, and insert “racist” after “or” in the sentence that states “in their sexist”
You’ve made more than a few spelling errors my friend. Although that alone should be enough to tip people off that you’re not me. If someone tried to censor The Vagina Monologues, I’d be the first one to speak up for their right to free speech. But nobody’s being censored.
Who in the William Howard Taft are you?
May I have your attention please?
May I have your attention please?
Will the real Jason Garshfield please stand up?
I repeat, will the real Jason Garshfield please stand up?
We’re gonna have a problem here..
Oh my stars and stripes Eminem it is a Bible Belt BLESSING that you are here, I am the real Jason Andrew Garshfield!
Okay, this is pretty funny.
It is quite sad to see what feminism has done to women. Not long ago women carried themselves with self-respect, grace, decorum, dignity and decency. Now women parade around with dyed hair, armpit hair, and with overweight bodies whilst they profane and obsess over their genitals, seemingly always wanting to bring the subject up (feminism has, in a way, reduced women to their sexual organs in a way that they might (falsely) accuse “the patriarchy” of doing). Feminists encourage women all of this and in addition to throw decency out of the window and sleep around with as many men… Read more »
It is quite sad to see what meninism has done to women. Not long ago men carried themselves with self-respect, grace, decorum, dignity and decency. Now men parade around with beer bellies, armpit hair, and with overweight bodies whilst they profane and obsess over their genitals, seemingly always wanting to bring the subject up (meninism has, in a way, reduced women to their sexual organs in a way that they might (falsely) accuse “feminism” of doing). Meninists encourage men all of this and in addition to throw decency out of the window and sleep around with as many men as… Read more »
“But there is no shame in our movement to express what has always been expressing artistic creation, as the movement comes from demanding a space to be free. ”
I had a movement this morning.
I had no shame in my movement: it was my creation, my expression. I stood up and looked down on my movement.
Then I thought about the feminist movement, but I flushed.
Then I felt free, like a flower, or a summer’s eve. I was liberated; and lighter.
As “t” the OP stared down at his creation it was indeed the reflection of his tormented soul that he saw staring back at him. “Meninism has done this to me,” he whispered softly as shit ran down his legs, the saxophone to Careless Whisper played gently in the background. OP saw that he was indeed alone, “it’s alright,” he whimpered as he pulled out his beloved photograph of Donald Trump, “Meninism is love, Meninism is life”, he moaned as shit streamed down his leg, and came in a moment of haggard ecstasy.
Actually, menism has made me recognize that 85% of all the art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art was done by men. 95% of all operas were written and scored by men. Ditto for Ballet. The names of men are on roughly 98% of all equations in physics, chemistry and math. Men created the computer (but feminists are obsessed with Ada Lovelace who Babbage helped: she was a nut job who did little). Men designed nearly every work of architecture. And men built them. Men have written nearly every major novel, play, poem. So, no, I did not see menism.… Read more »
How funny, that men ban women from receiving an education, the right to vote, were scandalized when a woman advocated for her right to be recognized for her innovations, banned from government, then turn around and say, and why haven’t you done anything? And those statistics that you so carelessly stated are the real turd you so carelessly dropped from your loose asshole.
No, those statistics are real.
The history of men is the history of civilization.
The history of feminism is the history of the toilet.
also women did accomplish A LOT but because they were banned from receiving credit and because they weren’t allowed to be taken seriously in academia that’s why you don’t hear about accomplished women nearly as often as men. You’d know that if you weren’t such an uneducated, uncultured fuck.
Call in the band… ONE MORE TIME!!!!
Men did it all.
The history of men is the history of civilization.
The history of feminism is the history of the toilet.
You can lead a dumbass to facts, but you can’t make them stop being a dumbass
Lol OP needs to admit the only reason they hate feminism and are pulling untrue shit out of their ass is because they aren’t getting laid and blame women for the fact that they are a piece of shit.
Homophobic much? What makes you so sure I am not gay?
At what point did I even mention your sexual preference? I said “they hate feminism and are pulling untrue shit out of their ass is because they aren’t getting laid” THEN I stated “and blame women for the fact that they are a piece of shit”. I suggest you brush up on reading comprehension you illiterate pelican.
So you admit that feminist guys are only doing it to get laid, then?
No not at all, but I heard you did Jason and then went feminist to ultra-conservative real quick after nobody wanted to look your way.
Oh you have no idea, my friend ;)
And even when I used to be more liberal, I was never really a feminist.
Some of the disputes on here sadden me. Primarily because of the ignorance they exude, and partially because i can’t believe that people have the audacity to flaunt that ignorance. This a post about justice in the pursuit of self discovery and self acceptance. Why would you be opposed to either of those things?