Newswise — NEW LONDON, Conn. — A Connecticut College senior asked 100 fellow students – all men – why vaginas are important to them. The resulting video, posted to YouTube, is a powerful, provocative and sometimes awkward 8-minute piece that has sparked conversations about vaginas, women, sex and consent on college campuses across the country and even across oceans.
The men’s answers alternate between funny, sweet and empowering. Responses include “Because vaginas have the power to save the world” (4:14) and “Spent some time in a vagina in '92 — it was homey” (1:18), for example. Another often-quoted answer, “Vaginas remind me of Sunday morning breakfast” (2:40).
Buzzfeed says the “endearing and uplifting” video “forces us to think of women and vaginas as something more than sexual objects,” while the Huffington Post says “… we love that these young men were willing to share, on-camera, what vaginas mean to them outside of sex.” The now-viral video has also been reported by Jezebel, Cosmopolitan UK and several other media outlets.
“I had absolutely no idea it would be this successful,” said the video’s creator, Connecticut College senior Alia Roth. The initial goal of the project was to raise awareness about Connecticut College’s production of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues and get men involved in the effort.
Roth says she is receiving emails and Facebook messages from students at colleges and universities across the country who say their campuses are buzzing with excitement about what they can do now to get men involved or how empowering it has been for their women’s groups to see so many men standing up for women.
“As an activist, I am constantly trying to think of innovative ways to reach those who may not pay attention to these issues – and get them to care,” said Roth.
Connecticut College's production of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues is Feb. 22-24, 2014.
About Connecticut College Connecticut College is a private, highly selective liberal arts college with 1,850 students and more than 40 majors in the arts, sciences, social sciences and humanities, as well as the option for students to self-design majors. The College offers a high level of intellectual challenge, a campus culture that supports students to tailor their educational experience to their own interests and goals, and a four-year career development program that teaches students how to translate a liberal arts degree into a first job or graduate school admission. Connecticut College is situated in the small New England seaport of New London. For more information, visit www.connecticutcollege.edu.
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