What does the word "vagina" mean to you? Dirty? Shameful? How about charming and beautiful? A forum held yesterday to celebrate the successful debut of an internationally acclaimed play invited people to end violence against women, by loving and respecting a woman's vagina.
Celebrating the successful debut of The Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler's award-winning play was performed in theaters and on university campuses last month.
The Garden of Hope Foundation and Zonta International held a forum called "Vagina, Valentine, Violence" yesterday.
Famous TV personalities, women's rights advocates and academics joined together to discuss issues ranging from sexuality, sexual abuse and violence, and to promote "V-Day," a global movement to end violence against women and girls.
Before the forum, pop star Aya (
"I think it is important for women to love their bodies and become more conscious of themselves. Talking about what is traditionally deemed taboo and a dirty part of the female body in a positive way can be a good start," Aya said after reading the excerpt.
Su Tsu-chung (蘇子中), an English professor at the National Chi Nan University, introduced the play to his students and held a performance on campus, and said that students told him the play had raised their consciousness and understanding of women's bodies by talking about something they are usually ashamed of talking about.
Bih Herng-dar (畢恆達), a member of the gender equality education committee under the ministry of education, said that sex has always been a taboo and something parents never know how to talk about with their kids.
"As a result, our boys turn to pornography for sexual education, and so patriarchal thinking -- which objectifies and belittles women -- ?will continue to thrive in society," said Bih, a professor at National Taiwan University.
Lee Kuang-hui (
"The most important work that can be done to prevent violence and sexual abuse is to educate women what to do in order to prevent rape or harassment," Lee said.
"We also need to raise men's awareness and break some deep-seated myths about rape. When women say no to sex, it means no, and men need to learn to control their sexual impulses and instead choose to respect women and their bodies," he said.
Chief Executive Officer of the foundation Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) said the play provides excellent material on sex education.
"In addition to adding more of the Taiwan experience in the Vagina Monologues, I think it would be wonderful to have the "penis monologue," which would allow men to share their stories and also raise their consciousness about their own bodies," Chi said.
The Vagina Monologues is a collection of personal accounts from various women interviewed by Ensler. From the retelling of a rape experience to tips on masturbation, the monologues address serious issues while attacking conventional, often dated, definitions of sexuality.
The play has made a major impact around the world since it was first staged in New York in 1997, and made its debut in Taiwan last month.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
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