Edited by author 03-10-2004 08:30 PM
Although I understand where Kathy and Jessica are coming from with the privacy issue (or lack thereof), I side a bit more with Lauren on this one. I do not think that this book was at all intended as an exploitation or intrusion of/on a woman's vagina. I think the point was that we can talk about our elbows and feet, even our hearts and our heads without shame, but for decades, if the word "vagina" was mentioned, "SHHH!" was all we heard. This word alone and all of its glories were pushed behind a Private door and locked up, and i feel that Ensler's mission was to get it out in the light. Perhaps some of it is shock value, but if you think this book is pushing the privacy, start reading Cunt now...That is a shocking book, but also very essential to the progress of body image and acceptance. I think that all of our discussion and agreement/disagreement just proves how important this book is. Yes, i do have ceratin issues with it (My strongest being the rhetorical issue of how this book was written through a one woman tunnel vision) but i firmly believe that it is an important work and has extreme potential to open our eyes up to problems and issues that have, for years, been seen as "Private."