Spring Break
The Daily OrangeSASSE sponsors Vagina Monologues
By Michael Lopardi
Posted: 2/11/05, 12:10 AM EST Section: News
Sticking your face in a six-foot vagina may seem unusual. Add a group of women and a camera, and things just get weird.
But when the vagina is made out of white cardboard with red tissue paper and the women are working to raise awareness about women's issues, the partial perversion quickly becomes progressive publicity.
For the past several days, members of Students Advancing Sexual Safety and Empowerment have staffed a table in the Schine Student Center, encouraging students to take a free picture with the six-foot cardboard vagina, decorate their own paper vagina or buy chocolate vagina-shaped candy.
"We don't shy away from controversy and some people have walked by our Schine table and asked, 'What the Hell are you guys doing?'" said Jess Larsen, executive director of SASSE and a junior public relations and women's studies major.
The weeklong schedule of activities was designed to remind students about women's issues on campus in correspondence with V-Day, a series of national events during the month of February that are also geared towards celebrating women's rights, sexuality and identity.
Last year it took a little help from the men's basketball team to encourage students to put their face in the giant vagina's cutout head hole. Proceeds from last year's three-dollar photo charge were added to the $10,000 SASSE donated to organizations like SU R.A.P.E. Center and Planned Parenthood in the past year.
This year, the vagina photo was free and Larsen couldn't understand why someone wouldn't want to have their picture taken in it. While she concedes that the heavy traffic and noteworthy popularity has made the six foot cardboard vagina perhaps the most experienced vagina on campus, Larsen swears by its safety.
"Our vagina is the safest vagina on campus and you cannot get a disease from this vagina, I promise that," she said.
She did admit that the towering vagina could be intimidating.
"That thing is taller than me," Larsen said.
But when the vagina is made out of white cardboard with red tissue paper and the women are working to raise awareness about women's issues, the partial perversion quickly becomes progressive publicity.
For the past several days, members of Students Advancing Sexual Safety and Empowerment have staffed a table in the Schine Student Center, encouraging students to take a free picture with the six-foot cardboard vagina, decorate their own paper vagina or buy chocolate vagina-shaped candy.
"We don't shy away from controversy and some people have walked by our Schine table and asked, 'What the Hell are you guys doing?'" said Jess Larsen, executive director of SASSE and a junior public relations and women's studies major.
The weeklong schedule of activities was designed to remind students about women's issues on campus in correspondence with V-Day, a series of national events during the month of February that are also geared towards celebrating women's rights, sexuality and identity.
Last year it took a little help from the men's basketball team to encourage students to put their face in the giant vagina's cutout head hole. Proceeds from last year's three-dollar photo charge were added to the $10,000 SASSE donated to organizations like SU R.A.P.E. Center and Planned Parenthood in the past year.
This year, the vagina photo was free and Larsen couldn't understand why someone wouldn't want to have their picture taken in it. While she concedes that the heavy traffic and noteworthy popularity has made the six foot cardboard vagina perhaps the most experienced vagina on campus, Larsen swears by its safety.
"Our vagina is the safest vagina on campus and you cannot get a disease from this vagina, I promise that," she said.
She did admit that the towering vagina could be intimidating.
"That thing is taller than me," Larsen said.
