Thoughts on The Good Body

The Good Body is a short play written by Eve Ensler after her work with The Vagina Monologues. Like The Vagina Monologues, the play relies heavily on interviews with various women throughout the world. But unlike The Vagina Monologues, the play focuses on a different part of a woman's (or anyone for that matter) body. Our stomachs. The chapters of the play are interviews, but in between Eve uses commentary on her own relationship to her body. The Vagina Monologues was an attempt to make peace with her vagina. But instead of doing so, she feels as if the negative energy and feelings moved to her stomach. She writes that "I suppose I had this fantasy that after finally coming home into my vagina, I could relax, get on with life. This was not the case. The deadly self-hatred simply moved into another part of my body"(Ensler, xii).

I really liked her introduction. I pulled a lot of quotes from there, and would like to share them, because I feel like they are a good reflection of what the book is about.

The play begins: "In the midst of a war in Iraq, in a time of escalating global terrorism, when civil liberties are disappearing as fast as the ozone layer, when one out of three women in the world will be beaten or raped in her lifetime, why write a play about my stomach?" (Ensler, ix).

Her answer: "I see how other women's stomachs or butts or thights or hair or skin have come to occupy their attention, so that we have very little left for the war in Iraq--or much else for that matter" (Ensler, x).
I feel like this is excellent insight! I am very involved in a social justice group on campus that is currently waging a fair trade campaign. I've been involved with it for the past year and a half, and we have worked with several different issues, ranging from the conflict in Darfur, to hunger, to the rapes in the DRC. It was through this organization that I first heart about Eve Ensler and become a member of the cast of the 2009 production of The Vagina Monologues. But, getting back on track, I have spent a lot of time trying to get the texas tech campus aware/interested/active in current events and social justice issues in our community and world. I don't want to sound cynical, but I would say that the majority don't care. And I think this is a reason! While it may not apply to everyone, I think we spend a lot of time worrying about our bodies! I do. I can completely related to Eve Ensler wanting a flat stomach, because that is something I have wanted for years (though if I had one, I don't know if I would even recognize it).

I think this also goes with the thought that in order to help others, we have to be whole ourselves. We have to work through our own issues before we can begin to help others work through theirs.
And this book is an excellent starting place for starting a dialogue about body issues.
One of the great things about theater, is that people have to gather to experience it. So, once they are gathered, why not talk?

Especially within the American culture, there are many issues concerning our bodies. Her interviews are vast and range from plastic surgery, vuvla shrinking, fat camps, intentional breast removal, acceptance of ones' body, and spiritual nurturing. I would like to go into detail about each chapter, but I think that would make this already long blog post even more obnoxiously long. So instead I am going to leave you with quotes.

Some of the quotes I pulled from these chapters that I liked are as follows:

From a 74 year old African Masai women: "We are all trees, you're a tree, I'm a tree. You've got to love your body, Eve. You've got to love your Tree. Love your tree" (Ensler, 74).

From Eve's conclusion: "Our body is our country, the only city, the only village, the only every, we will ever know" (Ensler, 91).

We must love ourselves, our bodies, to love and help the world around us. As I am writing this, I can't think of a better book to begin my journey on social justice theater with. Good body, good self, good community, good country, good world.