The Vagina Dialogues

Yesterday I attended my very first performance of The Vagina Monologues. I really enjoyed it. And I found myself thinking a lot about my identity as a woman.

But what struck me the most were the reactions in the audience, and especially some men's reactions. First of all, I found it great that the play attract women AND men.
A boy sitting next to me was really uncomfortable at some points. He and his friend were very silent and said to each other: "this is weird..."

And at first, I was angry! I wanted to tell him "no, this is not weird, this is what being a woman mean. And you'd better learn, if you want to be a decent man!"

I thought he was uptight. But then again, it hit me: he was scared. Scared of women's sexuality being out in the open. I mean, sexuality is scary. It is scary for all of us, otherwise, we wouldn't have to laugh about it to make it lighter, we wouldn't have so many studies to know more about it.

But then, I noticed other men. Older men. Those men were laughing, they were moved, most of them had a woman sitting next to them they seemed close to. These men were confident. They know that strong women do not emasculate men (as it was implied in the Dodge commercial). They simply want respect.

In a world where some of us are trying to change the rules of the game, I think we, women, need men like this. We need men who can not only accept but love strong women.
We need men who love femininity. Those men are essential. Because feminism is not about women going to war against men. It is about helping each other, understanding each other, and hopefully loving each other. Let's get to work.