Vagina Monologues Author Begins Her Quest For a "Girl Revolution"

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Ensler believes in the dramatic medium of a monologue. "You can allow the interior world of the character to speak and be revealed, which is very difficult to do with a journalistic piece. You can explore the poetry of the character, you can explore high emotions, low emotions." Going deeply inside to understand motives and fears, she says, "is the crucial step if we are going to find a way to transform consciousness."

In the introduction to I Am an Emotional Creature, Ensler describes the power of girls as one of our "greatest natural resources." Look at the girl in Africa, says Ensler. Her father sells her into marriage for "maybe a thousand dollars at most. But if she is educated, she will take care of that family forever. Girls’ empowerment is not going to take things away from people. It’s going to feed people and make sure we stop destroying the Earth. It’s going to be responsible for ending wars and bringing up children in more holistic ways. It seems so crazy to me that people don’t understand this." Unleashing their energy would create "a new wind healing the world."

Beginning This Month ...

Ensler premiered the play, I Am an Emotional Creature, in Mumbai last November, a city where The Vagina Monologues had enjoyed great success. The experience was “fabulous,” she says. “It was so much fun.” Beginning this month, the play is being performed in assorted venues around the United States -- all as fundraisers for V-Day programs -- including a New York City performance last week by teenage girls directed by actress and V-Day Board member Rosario Dawson. Also in February, a V-Girls campaign will debut, which will include a comprehensive curriculum developed with experts in various fields to accompany the book when it is distributed to schools. V-Girls will create their own web site, "a place where girls can use the tools and the book and whatever they need to engage in a dialogue, empower themselves and become the next leaders." For more information, visit V-Day.