Analysis of TVM

   I really enjoyed reading TVM by Eve Ensler. It was unlike anything I've ever read in my entire life. I never knew there was so much violence in the world, especially towards women. I never looked at us "girls" in such a powerhouse like way. I never really paid attention to the fact that without women and their gift for expanding the world's population, no one would be here! From this book, I also started to appreciate the unspoken, grotesque word and meaning of "vagina." Something that helped me relate to the book and the topic of vaginas was her own personal story.
  The last monologue in TVM is one based on Ensler's up, close and personal experience with vaginas entitled "I Was There In The Room," dedicated to her daughter-in-law, Shiva. The experience touched upon the birth of Shiva's daughter, Colette, and her vagina itself. The monologue touched upon different aspects and feelings women may have about the vagina. On page 122, Ensler writes, " I was there when her vagina changed from a shy sexual hole to an archaeological tunnel, a sacred vessel, a Venetian canal, a deep well with a tiny child stuck inside, waiting to be rescued." I never looked at the birth of a baby as a rescuing mission. Ensler strongly morphs the vagina from being a "shy sexual hole," representing something women were brought up to keep innocent and never discuss, into "an archaeological tunnel," something so big and important that only through this "tunnel" something so beautiful can come out of it, i.e. a baby. It is for the vagina and women that they have this ability, this "superpower" that no one other than the woman could understand that they can create lives, and "rescue" those leaving the body, like Shiva giving birth to her daughter. Ensler makes the experience very empowering for the woman, something I never looked at as being more than extremely painful and gross! On page 124, Ensler compares the vagina to a heart. When I first read this, I was in complete confusion and shock, thinking to myself how crazy it was a woman was comparing a heart to a VAGINA! But then I got what Ensler was trying to say. One page 124, she writes:
  "The heart is capable of sacrifice. So is the vagina. It can change its shape to let us in. It can expand to let us out. So can the vagina. It can ache for us and stretch for us, die for us and bleed and bleed us into this diffuclt, wondrous world. So can the vagina. I was there in the room. I remember."
  What this beautiful and deep quote is saying is that like the heart, the vagina can go through many sacrifices and risk pain, also, such as giving birth, or being raped, genitally mutilated, so on and so forth. Like the heart, the vagina can "let us in and let us out." The vagina can allow and reserves the right as to what enters it, and what is let out (like a baby.) We, as women, have that right. Like the heart, the vagina can "bleed us into this world", meaning we possess the power to expand the population. From reading this book, and this monologue, it only furthered my belief that women keep the world going around, and our bodies truly are temples. Without us, life as we know it would not exist, so respect is crucial. Thank you, Eve Ensler, for helping me realize this.