I think one of the problems here is that there are so few things that are just for cis-women that deal with our issues. There are so few things that actually celebrate having a vag and all of the baggage and pain and loss that entails. Being a woman with a vagina is just not talked about in our culture. We get white…

Gender dysphoria is NOT a mental disorder, and is only considered a "condition" because it's often correlated with stress and depression due to external factors.

"I think you'd have a hard time arguing that society is just as cruel to cis-women as it is to trans women" Seriously?? Thousands—yes, thousands—of women die (not counting those in slavery, beaten, etc.) *every single day* across the globe. I support and defend my trans* friends, sisters, and brothers, and they…

I didn't say it's as cruel. It doesn't matter if it's as cruel. What matters is that cis-women also deserve and need a space to talk about specifically cis-women things, or talk about general things in specifically cis-women ways. Really I'm disagreeing with 'can't blame them for being frustrated.' I wouldn't say…

Thanks so much for this. This is something that has always troubles me vis-à-vis the relationship between trans women and cis women. I do my best to be an ally, including acknowledging when I'm wrong and have fucked up and adjusting my behavior and views accordingly, but there are some things that I just have trouble…

Well, since the author has apparently included a monologue for a transwoman, and I'd love to see her add more, then this criticism isn't applicable, is it?

this is a good comment. I don't agree with it 100%, but it's a good comment.

I can see a time when cis women are going to be intimidated into not dealing with their issues if it doesn't include trans women. This isn't right or fair. Whatever one says, the biology isn't the same (I think I can generalise) and there will always be a vast amount of things that cis women have to talk about that…

Seriously? As a trans woman alumna of a women's college, I was with you kinda sorta until "RIP women's colleges." My personal view is that anyone with any experience of womanhood, whether applied or internalised should be welcome at a women's college. And that includes FAAB non-women (trans men and non-binary folks).…

I think that is an entirely valid perspective, and I don't think you should be made to feel badly about your work. At all. I suspect that the lady who was cross about your choice to focus on cis-gendered women is likely in the minority, and she was probably just having A Very Bad Day. Or week. Or month. Or year. I…

According to Wikipedia, the transgender additions to the Vagina Monologues were first performed in February 2004, so nearly a decade ago. Plenty of time for a university drama department to hear about them.

The play does not state "women must have vaginas." It is not a transphobic play. It is not transphobic for a cis woman to talk about her vagina. Everything doesn't have to be everything for everyone.

I have zero problems with transgender men or women but I am also a woman's pelvic floor therapist and vagina advocate. I was recently accused of being anti-trans by a trans woman who did not like my female empowerment talks. She felt like they were too vagina=woman focus and I can see why. Most of my talks are…

Vagina-focused, but not necessarily blatantly transphobic, though? I can absolutely see why vagina talk might make trans women (and trans men) feel a bit uncomfortable, but that kind of discussion isn't inherently hateful towards women who don't have vaginas. Or is it?

It certainly spends a lot of time on woman == vagina, which can feel uncomfortable for trans women who may not have one and trans men who may - and people with any variety of gender identities and bodies. As a (trans) man, I found the one performance I saw of it (at Mount Holyoke, in fact) to feel sort of gross. Since…

Yeah, apparently changes are made all the time. And I'm just reading the Wikipedia page right now, and it says:

Reminds me of the people at my Catholic college who want us to not display a nativity. Some people just can't get beyond this odd conception that "being inclusive" means removing everything rather than welcome all to add their own culture/viewpoint/traditions.

I do not consider the Vagina Monologues to be trans-phobic in the least.* It includes monologues about vagina pet names, menstruation, sex, rape, war, love and self-love, even about men who love vaginas. At the time they were written, it was not mainstream at all to talk about your vagina or your experiences with your…

Reaching back to my dim brief memories of college before I dropped out, there is nothing transphobic in the monologues. One of them does get criticized sporadically because it's spoken by a woman recounting the first positive sexual experience of her life in circumstances that are technically statutory rape (an older…

Is the Vagina Monologues blatantly transphobic? It's been a hell of a long time since I saw it, so I'm blanking on what that might be. Can anyone here point me in the right direction?