This week on “In My Own Words,” Glenn Epps discusses the social implications and criticism surrounding “The Vagina Monologues” with its director Suzannah Van Gelder. The play, which is a compilation of monologues told from the perspective of people with vaginas, is performed annually at the college and rarely in its entirety. Van Gelder discusses her difficulty finding actors of color to perform monologues. The play has long been criticized for its exclusion of a transgender perspective; Van Gelder addresses the criticism and shares what she hopes the monologues will evolve into in the future. The two also analyze some of the language in the book that inspired the play, as well as the dangers of mystifying the vagina and the long-term impact of negative experience with one’s vagina.

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