Eastern Kentucky University gave out “Vagina Warrior Awards” last week, honoring four women on campus for their feminist work.
The Vagina Warrior awards were originally conceived by Eve Ensler, author of the Vagina Monologues, in the late ‘90s as a way of recognizing activists who work toward ending violence against women and girls.
But here at Heat Street, we’re wondering whether days are numbered for this provocatively named award. Already, the Vagina Monologues has come under fire on several campuses for failing to mention transgender women.
Eastern Kentucky University is far from the only college giving out the awards. Duke, the University of California Berkeley, the University of Southern California, Lehigh University, Hamilton University, Chatham University and several others have also named “vagina warriors” in recent years.
This year’s recipients at Eastern Kentucky University received the honor because they had done activism for Planned Parenthood, helped organize the Kentucky chapter of the Women’s March on Washington, volunteered in the community and helped stage past performances of the Vagina Monologues.
But nationwide, some liberal activists are pushing back on feminism that links womanhood to genitalia, calling it trans-exclusionary.
“One of the greatest failings of the Vagina Monologues is its premise that women’s experiences of sexism and empowerment center on the vagina, even if they aren’t born with one,” blogged one feminist who acted in three productions and directed a fourth.
She decried Ensler’s “gender essentialism,” saying her anti-violence activism leaves out not only transgender women “but also, many transgender men and people who do not identify within the gender binary: people who share many of the sexual and health concerns outlined in the play.”
And already this year, some have decried the use of vagina-related messages and imagery at protests. One Mic writer said they “sent a clear and oppressive message to trans women, especially: having a vagina is essential to womanhood.”
Just as some universities have begun performing transgender pieces alongside the Vagina Monologues, some activists have started giving the Vagina Warrior to transgender people.
Past transgender recipients of the award include Robyn Learned, an HIV program coordinator at the Gender Health Center in Sacramento, as well as Marisa Richmond, a professor at Middle Tennessee State University and the longtime president of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition.
But as the feminist left becomes more obsessed with gender and inclusion, it’s hard to see these awards staying en vogue much longer.