The Vagina Monologues

Samina:

``...Then you have the desi aunties who will shift their ample bottoms and go watch a play like this and think they are very cool and with it. Hypocrites. ...``

Glass houses, my friend, glass houses... ``

I stand by the texture and tensile strength of my butt. As far as ample bottoms of desi aunties are concerned, I really do not live in a glass house. Feel free to come and grab. :)

Stuka #65,

``I stand by the texture and tensile strength of my butt``

Didn`t know that butts could have tensile strength. Compressive, i can understand.

I do get amazed by desi aunties` high compressive strength butt and their gravity defying bust. I`m sure scientists looking for the fifth fundamental force in nature (anti-gravity), might benefit from observing desi aunties.

Khadija,

A pleasent and refreshing article. Ever heard of tantrik sub-culture in our sub-continent? I guess its hardly there anymore, but you`ll be pleasently surprised when you learn a little about it.

Adios

Could anyone hailing these great monologues in Pakistan educate me as to what is the purpose of staging these shows? If the purpose is to show that it can ``happen in Pakistan``, no problem. If the purpose is to reaffirm the faith of the liberated, I am sure it serves the purpose. But if it is to improve the life experiences of the ordinary suffering Pakistani women, especially those who live 25 miles away from any of the places where such a play can be staged without causing a lynching frenzy, I have my doubts. Yes, they will be shocked, but shocked not into changing their thinking but making sure their daughters and sisters do not get the kind of schooling which would ``corrupt`` them and would send them, instead to places where they get a firm grounding in ``sharm, hayya and quraan``.

dost-mittar
...the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step:)

with minor changes i suspect what you wrote could apply to anywhere on the subcontinent

...t

Somehow I thought interacts on this board will be more interesting than that.

Stuka,

Yes...``tensile`` would be characteristic of Rep males of color...dems redefine ``tensile`` as ``uptight``...and my question remains: are you implying that the women who wrote in favor of the VMs are overweight aunties? Please, take responsibility for your comments.

Dost Mittar,

To some extent, any work performed on stage whether it be the VMs or Ibsen`s The Doll House reaches a theatre going audience.

My questions are:

1. given that reality, does that render VM or The Doll House meaningless?

2. Are the themes and ideas expressed in the VM unrecognizable to women of varying classes, should agrarian or working poor Pakistani women see it? Can we assume that each community of women do not create/perform/disseminate their own versions of the VM though various means?

3. Isnt the criticism that the VM is preaching to the converted a kind of ``top down`` argument-i.e. the masses at the ``bottom`` need to be educated in order for art performance like the VM to have any effect?

4. Can you name one play that has emancipated/liberated male working classes? Why then, this expectation of the VM?

5. Can it not be argued that the VM begins a dialogue between Eastern-Western feminisms - and in light of anti feminists who claim there is no such dialogue, it should be acknowledged as Temp Bhai pointed, such?

My CUNY college-a very working class, conservative, people of color student pop performed the VMs last year-young female students acted it out. I heard that it was sold out for every performance.

Khadija:

To some extent I agree with your analogy on shock and its value, but let`s not forget your surroundings.

Dear Nand Uncle:

- Your assessment of the topic under discussion is partially inaccurate. Mainly because you are not aware of the Pakistani Society and its exposure. Your memories and exposure are of pre-partition days. Probably, you should care to visit Pakistan on your next trip.

Regards.

#35 Saimashah
To all those who think that Vagina`s are dirty and not suitable to be discussed in public settings--and there are many among us--swear words like behen chod, chutiya, mother fucker--are an indication of what we think about women`s bodies--used quite often in public settings and private.

What you say may be true - that some men are contemptuous of women`s bodies, but the examples don`t quite cut it. The abuses are not to denigrate the female body per se but to insinuate moral depravity.
The discussions have been interesting. I tend to agree somewhat with Sac that the attraction of the play to the audience, which must certainly come from a certain social class, is perhaps its ``phorenness`` rather than a shared sense of solidarity or identity. My guess & I could be wrong.

Samina:


``Yes...``tensile`` would be characteristic of Rep males of color...dems redefine ``tensile`` as ``uptight``...``

God knows I have tried to not discuss politics with you but hey, you can`t reason with fanatics can ya?? If Dems define ``tensile`` as ``uptight`` I guess it is a result of their piss poor command of the English language, accentuated no doubt by attending Bilingual ed.


``and my question remains: are you implying that the women who wrote in favor of the VMs are overweight aunties? ``

I do not need to imply anything because I say what I mean. I certainly do not mean that the author is an overweight aunty. I certainly do state that overweight aunties of metropolitan South Asian cities will go see a play like this and do ``wah wah`` over it because it is outrageous, shocking and of western origin.



``Please, take responsibility for your comments. ``

I do. It would be nice of you took your own advice in various columns.

re: this article
Interesting discussion so far. So, after centuries (nay, millenia) of penis-vagina dialogue, we have some womenfolk getting all excited about VM. I am sure it will get boring eventually and we will go back to the glorious days of the dialogue.
Pun aside, i read about a similar play many years ago. It was a stage adaptation of a Greek play (Lissastrass?) called ``Aaj se pyar bandh hai``. It dealt with womenfolk in general getting fed up of all men, the violence, politics and everything and deciding not to have any sex with them in future! Pretty soon they bring all men to their senses and grovelling to them on their knees! Anyone in Chowk remember or seen that play? It was i think staged in Bombay, among other places.
Sridhar

PS by some of the stuff I meant some of the stuff being said against the play...

Naqshu ji and other soldiers of Islam,

GO TO THE PLAY! It is GOOD!

My last incarnation was known to have some distinct differences with people like Saima Shah and Sameena Shah etc... however on this one even he would have gladly agreed with the womenfolk... The Vagina Monologues is a liberating experience in a country which is increasingly repressive when it comes to issues of sexuality....

I found VAGINA monologues to be refreshingly out there and honest about stuff...
And I can`t believe some of the stuff that is being said...

-Manto

Reply # 65

[``I stand by the texture and tensile strength of my butt. As far as ample bottoms of desi aunties are concerned, I really do not live in a glass house. Feel free to come and grab. :)``]

We ignore the miscellaneous vaginas for the time being and take note of the khatri bottom which is literally up for grabs on chowk today. We would like to express our interest in testing the texture and tensile strength of this butt. Khatri beware though, in our seven on one setting, it will be stretched and stress tested far beyond its original specifications and this testing might render it unusable for its intended functions for several days thereafter.

Best Regards

Your loving friends in San Francisco

Ali_1:

Hey dude, your Gaydar seems to be on high alert. I haven`t seen you around at Chowk for a few months now. Yet, no sooner has the conversation turned to my butt, you come sniffing away like a hound dog. What`s up with that :)

BTW, The tensile butt was up for grabs to one specific left wing progressive feminista female (I hope) Chowk interactor.

stuka:

a lesson we learn from a very early age is that we should not leave ourselves exposed like this. (you can guess the reason why).

mantolives:

``in a country which is increasingly repressive when it comes to issues of sexuality``

are you kidding? or were you born post-zia and thus were not around in the days when women newscasters were fired for not wearing a dupatta on their heads? and did you read in todays dailytimes, the story of khushboo dancing in a public theatre in lahore without her shirt?

Rsridhar,

You are referring to Lysistrata.

Sac, Soy, etc. (except Stuka)

Sill waiting for some answers to my post to Dost Mittar. The rest of you are more than welcome to give it a go.

But no one trying to answer these questions confirms my suspicions that y`all have been outfoxed