The Vagina Monologues was produced off-off-Broadway in 1996 and was hailed by the New York Times as “the most significant piece of political theater of the last decade.” Arguably, that is still the case 22 years later. The play explores consensual and nonconsensual sexual experiences, body image, genital mutilation, abortion, miscarriage, sex work, and other topics relating to the female experience, as seen through the eyes of women of different ages, races, sexualities, and other differences. Author Eve Ensler watched Donald Trump mock Christine Blasey Ford on television and the reactions of the women behind him moved her to write them this open letter. Time Magazine:
Dear white women who support Brett Kavanaugh,
Last night when I saw Donald Trump mock Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, I couldn’t help focusing on the women behind him who cheered and laughed. I felt like I was falling into a familiar nightmare. It compelled me to reach out to you.
When I was a child my father sexually abused and beat me. My mother did not protect me. She sided with my father, just like these women sided with Donald Trump, and I understand why. She sided with him because he was the breadwinner. She sided with him because of her need to survive. She sided with him because the reality of what was happening in front of her was so terrible, it was easier not to see.
She sided with him because she was brought up never to question a man. She was taught to serve men and make men happy. She was trained not to believe women. It was only much later, after my father died, that she was able to acknowledge the truth of my childhood and to ask for my forgiveness. It was only then, too late, that she was able to see how she had sacrificed her daughter for security and comfort. She used those words. I was her “sacrifice.”
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It took my mother 40 years to see what her denial has done and to apologize to me. I don’t think you want to apologize to your daughters forty years from now. Stop the ascension of a man who is angry, aggressive, and vengeful and could very well be a sexual assaulter. Time is short. Call your senators. Stop laughing and start fighting.
With all my love,
Eve
Well, that didn’t happen, did it? But we ain’t down yet. Please read this in its entirety. This is beyond a letter. This is an epistle, one that we need all heed. We may have lost this battle, but we made some gains in this war — and we will win that.
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