The Vagina Monologues was hosted by Rio Hondo College Thursday February 27, 2020 at the Wray Theatre. This event is going on its fourth year, presented by the Violence Intervention Project and Student Life. The Monologue spotlighted controversial topics such as domestic violence, mental health, victim support, rape, and female genital mutilation. It brought more awareness to how difficult it is for LGBTQ+ community to come out to express themselves, freedom of expression, and digital harassment. This monologue began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that one billion women will be beaten or raped during their lifetimes. Furthermore it spotlighted a wider lens to issues including violence impacting women in the context of state sponsored wars, and militarization.

The production highlighted serious issues

The Monologue also included worsening internal and international displacement of millions of people, in addition to violence created by capitalist greed, among so many other topics. Rio Hondo student Manuela Placencia was in charge of the event. “Among the many topics, we tried to focus mostly on domestic violence more than sexual assault,” Placencia said of the production’s main focus this year. “This semester we are trying to bring up sexual assault because there is a lot of judgment when girls wear short skirt, crop tops, or anything slightly revealing. Men get harassed too so its not just women. Ultimately we are trying to bring more empowerment to any woman out there.”

LGBTQ Community was also represented

The monologue presented that women should be free. Free to wear what they want without the judgement or express what they feel without harassment. Placencia also brought up why this event is unique saying, “There’s a lot of stories that are not known. For example the last three stories I put in brought more awareness and more relevant today. We normalize that woman should be okay with being harassed by phone calls and social media. A lot of people don’t know that happens. We also brought up the struggle of how the LGBT community comes out, because a lot of people don’t know the stories.”