Every mother has what I call, "developmental dreams"; for her daughter

To be happy as a child, to find a sense of love for herself early on

To find maturity through adolescence, regardless of how it grays us as parents

To find love in adulthood, tempered with respect, fidelity and passion



Back when women wore sanitary belts, girdles with garters and wore rhinestone cat eye glasses, life was so simple



We read fairy tails to our children

Of beauties that fell asleep or into comas

Only to be awakened by a prince who had claimed her

And they lived happily ever after

We put those "developmental dreams"; into our daughter's heads

But for some of our daughters

And for some of us mothers

Our princes were actually

A series of dwarves

Dopey

Drunkie

Lazy

Meanie

Untrustworth- E

Infidelit-E

And of course,

MEMEMEME-me

Snow white, if you cook and clean, mend our clothes, make our beds, tend our gardens, work outside of the home, be good to our possessive controlling mother, fend off our lush of a unfaithful father, call us off when we have hangovers, stretch the pittance of our income so we always have beer and little smokies so the guys can come over and be ready to have sex when I smell like smoke, brew and male bonding afterwards, we'll take care of you!





And our daughters closed their eyes and dreamt of such miracles, that frogs could be turned into princes by our female kisses



And when their eyes were closed, and denial had their innocent attention, the very love they so desired was the very tool used against so many of our beloved young girls



And that is why there are so many women and their children, girls AND boys, in women's shelters today.



Not because of the wonderful men who really are out there;



But because of the toads that lie and the dwarves that misrepresent their promises



My daughter made me very proud today. In the Vagina Monologues she portrayed ;the woman who makes vaginas happy;, the woman with all the moans



I think every mother should want that title for her own daughter!



Every daughter should strive to at least make her own vagina happy



If not by the wonderful touch of her own soul, then by the careful loving choice of a mate she wishes to share her vagina



And lets not stop there



I think every mother should want their daughters to be multi-orgasmic



My daughter graced this audience with a whole repertoire of orgasms Go home tonight and experiment!



And maybe

Just maybe you can discover a new one and submit it to Eve, the wonderful woman who created this play



But I have also been honored by my daughter tonight

I have been named a Vagina Warrior

From the time Liz was able to walk, we were out advocating for women

We hung flyers, held programs, worked in shelters, held fundraisers, and campaigned for education to be made a priority for ALL women



Obviously, if you are here at the Vagina Monologues, you too believe that education means so much



So here I am, a Vagina Warrior, in front of all you Vagina Lovers

And I want to share a few things with you

Some of its personal

And some of its professional

And most of it is both



I was asked to talk to this cast about women'ss issues

To bring it home for them,

To help them to internalize their role's message, the truth behind it

So I developed a monologue of my own titled

When are you going to love you as much as I do?

I would like to share this with you,

Ammended slightly to accommodate the audience and not just the caste



Shall we begin?



I like vaginas

Literally

I like the feel of the folds as they embrace an approach

The warmth of the response as the wetness seeps to allow depth

The thickening of the walls as they brace for a coming

And the shattering of reserve as ultimately, that which vibrates to WOMAN can become free



So, I like vaginas in ;concept;

(sideways smile)



But I also like my; vagina

Which awoke on the back of a horse

Riding bareback on a mare (how symbolic)

My youth and my innocence flying with us

So totally unaware

Glorifyingly kissed by the days of the sun

My inner thighs drenched in her hot sweat

Chasing the run of the sun across the meadows

When IT happened

That CLENCH;

I thought at first, something was broken

But we were caught up in the momentum of our stride and pace and mission

She loved this race as much as I and she was unwilling to stop her own sense of freedom

I went with it;

The more we chased

The deeper the clench

I swallowed my fear and decided to catch the sun with her

I did

And now I know why so many young girls love horses so much



Not only do I like vaginas in concept, and my own vagina through personal reward, I also

Like YOUR vaginas

I don't know them intimately of course

But I do indeed like them

In fact

I have spent a lifetime serving them

I have fought long and hard battles

Worked in the trenches filled with blood and wounded souls

Slept with nightmares caused from scenes I never want replayed

So that you

YOU

Can love your vaginas



Do you?



My question to you is

When are you going to love yourself as much as I do?



All of you here tonight are warriors

Warriors know no gender

It is not a male or female issue

The right to be safe and free and loved is a war-cry we all can do

To honor the vaginas in our lives

Our daughters

Mothers

Grandmothers

Sisters

Aunts

Nieces

Teachers

Bus drivers

Bossses

Workers

Beauticians

Doctors

Etc etc etc



Tonight we gather as crusaders for all the vaginas we know

But * I * know

Having worked with vaginas for years

That crusaders are often in need of the very thing they fight for



If I had you count off

And divided you, by random numbers

I could statistically tell you

On the average

In this room

In this audience

How many of you have been raped

Been battered wives

Victims of hate crimes

Victims of incest

Tortured

Objectified

Mutilated

Desecrated

Denied

And what of the ones I cant include in the numbers game

Those who are dead?

How would I account for them?



But none of you here tonight are statistics

You cannot sit through an evening of the monologues

And still view women as mere numbers

You have heard the stories and my learned guess is

For many of you

Parts of this night

Hit too close to home



Look at me

See my face

I see yours

Men and women

Young and old

All colors, heights, sizes,

I see you

And in you I see all the herstory of the women in your lives

You are my world

My culture

My profession

My passion



And I know

that there are secret places that you carry things

things you wish were left unmentioned

But tonight,this night, this play

Was all about mentioning the unmentionable

To give voices to women,

voices that come straight from the core of our beings

to the core of our beings

So that we could all hear what was resounding in our own secret places



For some this will seem surreal

And to others, it will be an affirmation of what brings us together

But please

Join me momentarily

Take the hand of the warrior next to you

Male or female

Go ahead, fear not, remember we come together for a common cause





Now with hands held together, just shut your eyes and listen for just a moment



Listen to the roar of the voices spoken and those left unsaid

Shhhh



In this quiet I can hear the songs of joy

Of vaginas celebrating joys of love and pleasures



But tonight, I also hear

Children

Touched

Long before they were women

*Little ones, we hear you

you are not alone

we are all grown now and we will help you parent yourself and recover the loss of your childhood so you as an adult can rejoice in your preciousness



I hear tormented moans

Of women caught between

Wanting to leave

And wanting to stay

With someone they cannot live with

Nor can they live without

*Please listen to us as we share a wisdom with you

if you cannot live with them,

you must live without them

No one, dear ones, especially those we love, should steal so much of your soul



I hear women afraid of poverty,

Cringing daily just how close it nips at their heels

Facing seemingly unsurmountable obstables to independence

Afraid of someday living under bridges or in tenements or in shelters

*We hear you dear ones..and know how brave you are to face these fears and continue working to forever silence them. We are here, if you need us



I hear women who have been taken

Vaginally

Horrifically

By strangers

Or perhaps by those they know

And now shudder when loving hands are near them

*We hear your torment and we are proud of your insistence that NO ONE will hurt you again and we will help you to regain your power and sense of safety, refusing along with you, to allow a rapist to pirate away your life



I hear women who carry shame

From diseases brought to them

Ashamed they allowed themselves to be so naive

When all they had intended was to be free and loving

And now face potential lifetimes, or lack of,

Because they dared to believe their lovers confidence

*We carry Big Sticks, sisters, and together we will help bludgeon acts of deceptions and misrepresentations and undeclarations by educating women like yourself, innocent, guilty of nothing save lost in lies and poor education. We will work with you and all others to unveil lies



I hear women who have sold their souls on streets

Or perhaps in marriages

To have a good life

Or perhaps merely another day of life

Feeling they could not live without that which they cannot be without

Addiction is addiction no matter if its drugs, alcohol, relationships or sex

This burden is so weary

*We hear the wind whistle through you, never filled no matter how you chase what it is you think you need. We will help you with your burdens until they are not so heavy, but you must know, it's only you who can actually put them down. And when you feel you want to try, we will be there to circle our arms around you so that you may stand tall and wrapped in love and light



I hear women who struggle for loving other vaginas

you know

intimately

afraid of what they will lose if they dare to come out of their vaginal closet

*We are not afraid of your passions, and admire you for being open to love, and we rejoice with you're your capacity to love and if you suffer losses we will work to offer you our love..we are here for you;



I hear women who are afraid of aging

Of being the wrong size

Of losing their looks

Of not being the desired image

*WE desire you and we love the creation of your being as it matures or becomes fulfilled to being only who you are and not a cookie cutter mold of what is said to be acceptable



Shhh..listen quietly and really listen for just a moment

Listen to what the room is saying

What you are saying

What the women in your life are saying

Make this personal

Know that *I* know its personal

And take that strength of courage

And squeeze the hand of the warrior next to you

We are all on this stage together

We all represent all the women in our lives

And all the women whose stories were told tonight

And all those women

Whose vaginas

Were left unrepresented

We warriors are listening



Feel the warmth of that hand in yours

Imagine the words that could be spoken

If we all dared to listen