Eve Ensler and Lisa Brown to read Vagina Monologues in Michigan

Eve Ensler (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

News for 16 June 2012 has been taken from The Guardian.

Award-winning playwright Eve Ensler is set to add her voice to a wave of outrage against the silencing of a state lawmaker for uttering the word “vagina” in a political debate over abortion in Michigan.

Ensler, whose best known piece is the Vagina Monologues, will now join other protesters on Monday in a reading of the famous feminist work on the steps of the state’s capitol building in Lansing.

“I can’t wait to moan!” she said in a message posted to her Twitter account.

The demonstration will be just the latest manifestation of dismay against the barring of state congresswoman Lisa Brown after she referred to her own vagina during a debate on the passing of contentious new abortion regulations.

“I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no’,” Brown said at the end of her speech on the new anti-abortion laws last week, prompting Republicans to disallow her from speaking at a different debate the next day.

When news of the censure broke it prompted a Twitter storm of protest that spread around the world, as well as vocal condemnation from women’s rights and free speech proponents.

On her own Twitter account Ensler has been furious in condemning the action. “Vagina. If you can’t say it, you can’t protest or complain when it’s violated. It never belonged to you,” she stated.

Ensler will now join Brown and other local state politicians and actors for a performance of the Vagina Monologues on Monday night.

She has also encouraged her 11,000 Twitter followers to send stories about their own vaginas to Michigan Republican leader James Bolger.

Bolger, who took the step to silence Brown, has defended the move. In a statement released to the press he claimed Brown had “failed to maintain the decorum” of the legislature.

At a news conference on Friday Brown retorted: “If I can’t say the word vagina, why are we legislating vaginas? What language should I use?”

The Vagina Monologues is work that was first performed in New York in 1996 and consists of a series of different stories that each in their way relate to women’s sexuality and their own bodies.

Each year a new monologue is added to highlight a different women’s issue, and performances of the play have become a key part of many women’s rights organisations activities around the world.

Related articles

• The Vagina Monologues at the Michigan state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan – PHOTOS & VIDEO (dailykos.com)
• Easily offended Michigan Republicans about to get Vagina Monologued (dailykos.com)
• Legislators And Eve Ensler To Perform ‘The Vagina Monologues’ On Michigan Capitol Steps (towleroad.com)

‘I relate to the Suffragettes’: Boat Race saboteur reveals his inspiration

News for 9 April 2012 was taken from The Independent.

Trenton Oldfield – the man who brought chaos to this weekend’s Boat Race – has revealed how he assumed he would be stopped before making his protest, casting doubts on whether security was tight enough during the race.

Anti-elitism campaigner Trenton Oldfield said he was surprised he was not spotted by race officials because he had entered the water early and had to wait for the Cambridge and Oxford boats.

The 35-year-old Australian-born protester managed to halt the Boat Race for the first time in its 158-year history after he swam into the path of the boats near Hammersmith Bridge. He has been charged with a public order offence and claims he was inspired by the actions of the suffragette Emily Davison.

 Mr Oldfield said he felt compelled to disrupt the race because of the economic difficulties brought about by “government cuts, inequality and elitism”. He also encouraged others to use direct action. “Standard protesting can get somewhere if the political system isn’t corrupt,” he said. “It’s not that the marchers aren’t being successful – they’re getting millions of people out on the streets. But the political system isn’t responding because of its corruption.”He said he took inspiration from Emily Davison, the suffragette who was killed when she threw herself under the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby in 1913. “Those women were amazing,” he said. “They put themselves on the line and it wasn’t that long ago. She was put down by lots of people and seen as too militant.”Speaking after his release from police custody, Mr Oldfield detailed how he was able to move into the path of the oncoming boats with relative ease, despite the strong tidal currents.

“The most difficult thing I had to do was put my wetsuit on and take my clothes off without people noticing,” he said. “I just scrambled down the wall, into the water and was away.”

But he was surprised he wasn’t spotted by race officials sooner. “I actually went early,” he said. “I thought someone was going to come along, grab me and put me in a boat. I was in there much earlier than I expected to be. I got confused by the helicopters, it’s a big bend and you can’t see around. I didn’t do it exactly as I had hoped but in the end it worked out.”

He also said he had revealed his plans online before the event, via Twitter. “I would have thought that people would have been looking for me if the security system is as good as it is meant to be.”

His comments will generate concern about whether enough was being done by race officials to scan ahead of the Oxford and Cambridge boats as they made their way along the Thames.

Critics accused him of hijacking an apolitical event. Karl Hudspith, president of the Oxford University Boat Club, told him via Twitter: “My team went through seven months of hell, this was the culmination of our careers and you took it from us.”

However, Mr Oldfield, who described the past 24 hours as “intense”, said he had also received messages of support. He was taken to Chiswick police station where he was charged under section five of the Public Order Act before being released to appear in court later this month.

Many of those attacking his stance against elitism pointed out that he had himself been educated privately in Sydney before studying at the London School of Economics. However, Mr Oldfield hit back, saying that a private education should not preclude someone from being critical of elitism.

Related articles

• Oxford and Cambridge boat race among most dramatic ever (examiner.com)
• University Boat Race 2012: towpath guerrilla sticks his oar in (telegraph.co.uk)
• Boat Race protester Trenton Oldfield says he is prepared to go to jail (oyiabrown.wordpress.com)
• Trenton Oldfield – send the plonker home! (henrytapper.com)
• University Boat Race 2012: a futile protest that was dead in the water (telegraph.co.uk)