Vagina Monologues in Taiwan
Just saw this on Feministing - apparantly the Vagina Monologues will be performed in Taipei in both English and Chinese! Friends in Taiwan - go see it!
When I had a look around online to see what more I could find out about it, I found this piece which was published in the Taipei Times (my newspaper of choice when I lived in Taiwan) following the first performance of the VMs in Taiwan last year:
While I applaud Mr Kuang-hui's support of the play, and having seen the play myself, I'm not sure how it really educates women on what to do to prevent rape and harassment or how preventing rape and harassment is at all in the hands of the women who experience it. I know that encouraging women to speak up about what we do and don't want, and about our sexual experiences (negative as well as positive) is both valid and valuable, but I get frustrated with assumptions that preventing rape and harassment is our responsibility rather than that of its perpetrators. That Kuang-hui focuses on this first, and tags on the responsibility of men as an "also", is a good example of this. I think his message to men is pretty interesting too - because we all know that it is men and not women who have "sexual impulses" and that it's these pesky impulses getting all out of control that results in rape and harassment. Nothing at all to do with power and control and violence. Nope.
But...I digress. Go see the Vagina Monologues!
When I had a look around online to see what more I could find out about it, I found this piece which was published in the Taipei Times (my newspaper of choice when I lived in Taiwan) following the first performance of the VMs in Taiwan last year:
Lee Kuang-hui (李光輝 ), director of the psychiatry department at Peitou Armed Forces Hospital, lauded the play for examining issues of sexuality from the female perspective and called on all men to respect women's bodies."The most important work that can be done to prevent violence and sexual abuse is to educate women what to do in order to prevent rape or harassment," Lee said.
"We also need to raise men's awareness and break some deep-seated myths about rape. When women say no to sex, it means no, and men need to learn to control their sexual impulses and instead choose to respect women and their bodies," he said.
While I applaud Mr Kuang-hui's support of the play, and having seen the play myself, I'm not sure how it really educates women on what to do to prevent rape and harassment or how preventing rape and harassment is at all in the hands of the women who experience it. I know that encouraging women to speak up about what we do and don't want, and about our sexual experiences (negative as well as positive) is both valid and valuable, but I get frustrated with assumptions that preventing rape and harassment is our responsibility rather than that of its perpetrators. That Kuang-hui focuses on this first, and tags on the responsibility of men as an "also", is a good example of this. I think his message to men is pretty interesting too - because we all know that it is men and not women who have "sexual impulses" and that it's these pesky impulses getting all out of control that results in rape and harassment. Nothing at all to do with power and control and violence. Nope.
But...I digress. Go see the Vagina Monologues!
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