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Feminists take the stage

Sammie Miller, For The Miami Student

It's time to talk about vaginas, ladies and gentleman.

Feminists Working on Real Democracy's rendition of the Vagina Monologues hit Miami this past weekend and triumphed by meshing feminism and theater in one hysterically powerful performance.

As guests walked into the auditorium at McGuffey Hall, they were greeted with energy and blaring music. Upbeat jams like Beyonce's "Run the World (Girls)" appropriately set the tone for the show centered around girl power and a new kind of liberation: talking about your vagina.

Tables with merchandise, a photo booth and representatives from Women Helping Women lined the entryway. The show's profits went straight to Women Helping Women - a philanthropic organization housed in Cincinnati.

"I was proud to be a part of the show because of its amazing cause," sophomore Emily Miller, one of the performers, said. "Women Helping Women helps so many women with counseling and other resources for victims of sexual assault and abuse."

Miller auditioned for a role in the show not quite knowing what to expect. However, she said that the show went better than expected and loved the entire experience.

"I thought the show was a huge success," sophomore Julia Rivera, who attended Friday night's performance, said. "There was so much talent and I loved the overall message of the play."

The show, originally scripted by Eve Ensler, is composed of a series of 16 short monologues hitting on rather bold subject matter. Everything from pubic hair to rape to sex left the audience with a memorable time. There were moments of hysterical laughter from everyone in the room to utter silence and even a few shed tears during the more emotional scenes.

The university's production of The Vagina Monologues is part of an international campaign called V-Day. According to V-Day's website, V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery.

The auditorium was packed and had a surprisingly diverse mix of people in attendance. Shockingly, about a quarter of the audience were males.

"I came to the show because a lot of my friends were performing in it," Nathan Ihm, one of the male students in attendance said. "But I also think it's for a really great cause and I heard you get to yell expletives."

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And yell explicative words the audience did. During the monologue "Reclaiming Cunt," performed by Carleigh LaFrance, the audience was asked to scream the word "cunt" as a call for reclaiming sexual power and pride in being a woman. In this moment, as a room full of men and women screamed at the top of their lungs a word typically only whispered about in private, the Vagina Monologues left a lasting statement about female empowerment.