Part 1 Summary

This book is an expansion of a play originally written and performed in 1998, with both book and play anchored by the author's intent to break down the barriers of secrecy and shame surrounding both the use of the word "vagina" (both in public and in private) and the violence perpetrated against those who have one. Drawing upon both personal experiences and those of women whom she interviewed as source material, the author creates a wide-reaching, multi-faceted portrait of both the positive and negative aspects of being a woman in contemporary society.

Introduction - In her introduction to the Tenth Anniversary Edition of the Monologues, the author describes how the ideas in, and motivations for, her original writing of the stage presentation of the monologues (first performed as a "downtown" play in New York City) have expanded into the ideas behind, and motivations for...