A Different Perspective on "The Vagina Monologues" ... This One by the Jesuit President of a Jesuit University

[The following item was brought to my attention today, after Rick kindly responded (here) to my inquiry (here).]

Letter from the president of Loyola University, New Orleans- Kevin Wildes, S.J.

Dear Members of the Loyola University community, I have had questions from a number of people about the production of “The Vagina Monologues” on the Loyola University campus so I thought that I should write to you about it. While there are some legitimate questions, there are also a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding of the Monologues, so I thought it is important for me to speak to the production at Loyola University. Any university ought to be a place of learning and discussion. I have said before that universities provide protected space in our society for the exploration of diverse ideas. It follows that universities will often be places where very different and sometimes contentious ideas are exchanged passionately yet peacefully.

While academic debate may be intense, it ought to be done in a way that women and men can express different views. Loyola University, like any university, is committed to the free expression of ideas and the rigors of debate. Loyola University, as a Jesuit university, is rooted in a tradition of Christian humanism that seeks to understand the human experience. To understand that experience - and to improve it in the long term - we must first listen to it. For too many centuries "human experience" has been seen through the eyes of a few individuals and small groups of people. Today, we are more conscious of the diverse views of human experience that are present in different races, cultures, ethnic groups, and religions. We are conscious of the voices that have not been heard in the past. Among these voices are the important, and for too long overlooked, voices of women. When it was developed a number of years ago, “The Vagina Monologues” was done as a vehicle to empower women to speak of their experiences as women. The play raises very important issues particularly about sexual violence toward women. The play often makes people uncomfortable. Some of the discomfort may come from the language of the play. And some of the discussions are important to raise issues of violence against women and the exploitation of women in society. There are people who say that the play has no place on a Catholic campus. But this position misses the reality that the play has provoked a good deal of conversation among women and has helped them to name the dehumanizing attitude and behaviors which reduce them to sexual objects. To exclude the play from a Catholic campus is to say, either that these women are wrong, or that their experience has nothing important to say to us. I would argue that these are voices that a Catholic university must listen to if we are to understand human experience and if we are to be faithful to the One who welcomed all men and women. The play affords an opportunity for everyone to think critically about the social issues involved in the treatment of women. I do not think the play alone is the complete answer to these questions. A single play cannot do or say everything. That is why Loyola has been involved in programs to educate people, on our campus and beyond, about the issues of sexual violence. In the Loyola community we have professional services to help women address these issues when they have been victimized. We have an excellent resource in the Women's Center. And, of course, we have a long history of participating in programs like "Take Back the Night." Our Women's Center and the Office of Counseling and Career Services, along with Xavier University and Dillard University, received a grant from the Violence Against Women Program of the United States Department of Justice. The production of the play at Loyola does not mean that we endorse all of the contents of the play. It does mean that as a university we are grappling with very difficult issues. And it means that we are living in our Jesuit heritage by discussing and arguing about aspects of the human experience. These are difficult and tragic aspects of human experience. But, they are dimensions that ought not to be ignored if we are to build a better world.

The Society of Jesus points out the need to be attentive to the experience of women, to achieve solidarity with them, and to work to correct injustices toward women. As a Catholic university we follow a Lord who welcomed all men and women, and it is important for us, in honoring our calling as a university within his Church, to listen to them.
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