PHENOMENA Laurencya Hellene Larasati Ruruk & Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani 46 The Resistance of Women towards Sexual Terrorism in Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues Laurencya Hellene Larasati Ruruk & Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani puturosi@yahoo.com Department of English Letters, Sanata Dharma University Abstract In this present time, women are still oppressed and considered as the inferior class to men. One of the literary works containing the evidence is The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler. The monologues inside it share the experiences of various women who have been physically, mentally, and sexually terrorized. From those experiences of the women in the monologues, this study tries to identify the sexual terrorism that is experienced by each woman in each monologue, and at the same time, tries to examine the resistance of the women towards the sexual terrorism. Men use sexual terrorism as a tool to control women’s autonomy over their own body, sexuality, and reproduction. It occurs to any woman in any situation. Sexual terrorism is there to keep women in the subordinate position. The awareness of the women towards the sexual terrorism triggers their resistance towards it. Each woman experiences different situation of sexual terrorism, therefore their ways of resisting the terror are also varied. Feminism approach is used in this study in order to see the accurate analysis of the condition of the woman in each monologue. Keywords: sexual terrorism, women, resistance Introduction According to Carole J. Sheffield, there is a different kind of terrorism, the kind that is more familiar and seems natural to all societies, it is sexual terrorism. The targets of sexual terrorism are women. Sexual terrorism is the common characteristic of rape, wife battery, incest, pornography, harassment, and all forms of sexual violence (1984: 3). Most of the people forget about the horrible cases that women can or still encounter in everyday life. Consciously or unconsciously, women are still considered to be in a state of being weak targets.For some people, the opinion that women are still considered weak might be seen as a pessimistic idea, however some facts, whether from the news or literary works, prove that women are still vulnerable and are still being the target of violence and terror. Women are still being the victims of sexual terrorism. As shared by Carole J. Sheffield through her article, men use violence as the tool to control women, “Violence and its corollary, fear, serve to terrorize females and to maintain the patriarchal definition of woman’s place (1984: 3).” The intention is to make women frightened, and therefore it is easier to dominate them physically and psychologically. She also said that, “Violence and the threat of violence against females represent the need of patriarchy to deny that a woman’s body is her own property and that no one should have access to it without her consent (1984:3).” The other evidences of sexual terrorism are presented by Deborah L. Madsen through her examples of misogynistic practices in several literary works such as, Possessing the Secret of Joy, a novel by Alice Walker, which exposes the reality of sexual mutilation and Vol. 15 No.1 – April 2015 47 the imprisonment of women in their bodies,Maxine Hong Kingston’s description of Chinese foot-binding in China Men, and earlier corsetry in Western society that represents the same kind of women violation in which women are physically torturedin order to be called a beauty. The threat of being rape and violently assaulted keeps women confined in terms of where they can go and when, because women as victims can be accused to be in a wrong situation. “Intimidation, terrorism, fear – these strategies keep women in a subordinate position where they are dominated by men (2000: 153).” In this study, the writer chooses The Vagina Monologues as the object of the study because this study aims to reveal the resistance of the women that have experienced sexual terrorism, and Eve Ensler provides the evidences needed by the writer to conduct this study. This study tries to reveal the fact that actually women still experience sexual terrorism and they resist it. By trying to see the resistance of those women, this study also aims to show the strength of women. As also stated in the book, “Ending violence against women means opening to the great power of women, the mystery of women, the heart of women, the wild, unending sexuality and creativity of women – and not being afraid (2008: xxiii).” Sexual Terrorism According to Carole J. Sheffield, sexual terrorism is a system by which men frighten women, and by frightening, men control and dominate women. It can be identified through rape, wife battery, incest, pornography, harassment, and all forms of sexual violence (1984: 3). Still according to Sheffield, there are five components of sexual terrorism: ideology, propaganda, indiscriminate and amoral violence, voluntary compliance, and society’s perception of the terrorist and the terrorized (1984: 5). First, ideology, it is a united set of beliefs about the world that explains the way things are and provides a vision of how they should be (1984: 5). Sheffield argues that patriarchy is the ideological foundation of sexism in almost all societies. The focus of patriarchal ideology is the superiority of men and the inferiority of women, which at the same time provides the justification for sexual terrorism (1984: 5). Second, propaganda, it is the systematic distribution of information for the purpose of promoting a particular ideology (1984: 5). The propaganda of sexual terrorism can be found in all expressions of the popular culture such as films, television, music, literature, advertising, pornography, and also in the ideas of patriarchy conveyed in science, medicine, and psychology (1984: 5). Third, indiscriminate and amoral violence, they are the heart of sexual terrorism. According to Sheffield, every woman at any age, at any time and in any place is a potential target of violence (1984: 5-6). In order to make sure the continuance of sexual terrorism, the forth component that is voluntary compliance, is used as a strategy (Sheffield, 1984: 6). Sexual terrorism is maintained by a system of sex-role socialization that in effect instructs men to be terrorists in the name of masculinity and women to be victims in the name of femininity(Sheffield, 1984: 6). The last component is society’s perception of the terrorist and the terrorized. So far, this final component is what differs sexual from political terrorism. According to Sheffield, in sexual terrorism, society blames the victim and excuses the offender. The offender is believed to be either ‘sick’, and therefore in need of consideration from the society, or is acting out normal male desires (Sheffield, 1984: 6). Resistance StellanVinthagen in his research stated that, “Any activity of the subordinated which, in the view of power holders, causes a problem or is a threat to power, could count as resistance (2007: 5).” Still according to Vinthagen, “…resistance is the kind of actions which dissolve, undermine, question or challenge such subordination – and ultimately, produce non-subordinate relations (2007: 6).” Laurencya Hellene Larasati Ruruk & Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani 48 As mentioned by Vinthagen in his research, “He divides resistance into two forms (public and disguised) which corresponds to three forms of domination (material, status, and ideological), resulting in six types of resistance (2007: 8).” Resistance exist in the public form as public declared resistance (open revolts, petitions, demonstrations, land invasions, etc) against material domination; assertion of worth or desecration of status symbols against status domination; or, counter ideologies against ideological domination. And, resistance exists in the disguised form (low profile, undisclosed or “infra-politics”) as everyday resistance (e.g. poaching, squatting, desertion, evasion, foot-dragging) or direct resistance by disguised resisters against material domination; hidden transcripts of anger or disguised discourses of dignity against status dominator; or dissident subcultures (e.g. millennial religion, myths of social banditry, class heroes) against ideological domination (Vinthagen, 2007:8). Moreover, Vinthagen also shares seven basic forms of nonviolent resistance, they are: discursive resistance (example: fact findings), competition (example: building new society and social system instead of which is being resisted), non-cooperation (example: boycotts), selective cooperation (example: helping the opponent with relief work during a sudden natural catastrophe), withdrawal (example: escape to other areas), hindrance (example: interventions), and humoristic undermining (example: self-irony) (2007: 12). As concluded by Vinthagen: Resistance is not necessarily directing people, telling them what to do but enable them to make their own choices…Thus, resistance doesn’t annihilate the social bonds of society, it simply, construct new ones while deconstructing others – and, in the best of cases – opens the space for a freer choice (2007: 21). Sexual Terrorism Seen through the Experiences of Women in The Vagina Monologues 1. Inside the Family and Within Marriage a. “Hair” This monologue shows the experience of a wife that is forced to shave her vagina hair by her own husband. In his opinion, vagina hair is awful, “My first and only husband hated hair. He said it was cluttered and dirty. He made me shave my vagina” (2008: 9). Shaving her vagina hair is necessary in order to please the husband sexually. However, for the wife to shave her vagina hair is actually torturing. It makes her feel uncomfortable and even causes a physical pain for her during sexual intercourse with the husband. When he made love to me, my vagina felt the way a beard must feel. It felt good to rub it, and painful. Like scratching a mosquito bite. It felt like it was on fire. There were screaming red bumps…I felt little when my hair was gone down there, and I couldn’t help talking in a baby voice, and the skin got irritated and even calamine lotion wouldn’t help it…when my husband was pressing against me, I could feel his spiky sharpness sticking into me, my naked puffy vagina. There was no protection. There was no fluff (2008: 9- 11). b. “I was Twelve. My Mother Slapped Me.” Menstruation is known as the mark of a girl’s changing phase from a girl to a young adult woman. Many myths surround the menstruation phase, and parents usually becomes more concern about their daughter. Parents are expected to be supportive and caring,especially the mothers because she has had her menstruation experience. However, there are also cases that parents are afraid and worried, even uncomfortable with the menstruation phase of their daughter. …Second grade, seven years old, my brother was talking about periods. I didn’t like the way he was laughing… Vol. 15 No.1 – April 2015 49 …My mother gave me codeine. We had bunk beds. I went down and lay there. My mother was so uncomfortable… …My friend Marcia, they celebrated when she got hers. They had dinner for her… …Fifteen years old. My mother said, “Mazeltov.” She slapped me in the face. Didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing… …I was twelve. My mother slapped me and brought me a red cotton shirt. My father went out for a bottle of sangria… (35-40). From the above quotation, it can be seen that according to those experiences, the daughters become confused of their conditions. Their thoughts tell about the uncertainty whether menstruation is good or bad for them. c. “The Little CoochiSnorcher that Could” This monologue consists of a girl’s experiences from when she is five years old, until when she is sixteen years old. At the early stages of her life, she always encounteres with unfortunate things related to her vagina. …Memory: Ten Years Old I’m playing alone in the basement and I’m trying on my new white cotton bra and panties that my father’s girlfriend gave me. Suddenly my father’s best friend, this big man Alfred, comes up from behind and pulls my new underpants down and sticks his big hard penis into my coochisnorcher… (79). This memory can be said as the peak incident that influences how she thinks about her vagina. This incident of her being rapped is the one that traumatized her most, assuring her thoughts that her vagina causes many negative experiences in her life. …Memory: Thirteen Years Old My coochisnorcher is a very bad place, a place of pain, nastiness, punching, invasion, and blood. It’s a site for mishaps. It’s a bad-luck zone… (79) It shows that at the age of thirteen years old, she finally feels certain that her vagina is a bad thing, a bad area between her legs.She thinks that her vagina only brings suffer and pain towards her life. d. “The Memory of Her Face (Part I)” This experience in Islamabad shows how a husband feels like he has the right to torture his own wife even when she has done nothing wrong, that even if there is anyone knows about the torture, they could not and would not do anything to save the wife. They all knew something terrible was going to happen each time he came home…They heard her screams, they heard her beg, they didn’t, wouldn’t intervene. She was his unwritten law…Don’t ask what she had done, it was just her face that pissed him off. Just her needy face waiting for more… (129-130). This story clearly shows that the husband is intentionally assaulting and torturing his wife.He might have been angry of his own incapability of providing a living for his family, so that he unleash his anger to his wife by brutally torturing her. The scale of violence performed by the husband is increasing towards the end of the monologue. e. “Crooked Braid” This monologue shares the experience of a woman who is a victim of her husband’s abusive behavior. As the time goes by, the abusive behavior of the husband gets worst. …I looked up and he slapped me, my husband. Not a blast that knocks your eyes blue. That came later. It was a smack, a hard domestic smack… …I woke up in the hospital after five brain surgeries. My hair was gone…I had to relearn to talk and move my arms…It took me four months to remember how to cook breakfast… …Eighteen years he beat me…Then he’d go forgetting that the bruises on my face were his handprints…I was just a piece of meat to him, a hole… Laurencya Hellene Larasati Ruruk & Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani 50 …He elbowed me, jerked me, pulled me up…He picked me up like I was a rag…My husband beat the shit out of me… (150- 156) From the ending part of the monologue, it can be seen that the husband is actually desperate. He is oppressed by some power above him, and it makes him hopeless. He batters her in order to feel strong again and appear a winner. 2. Outside the Family and Marriage a. “The Flood” This monologue shows the experience of an old lady who has experienced sexual terrorism in her young age. She was sexually harassed by the boy named Andy Leftkov. According to her, he is a tall-good-looking boy who is desired by many girls, and he is rich. …Andy was very good-looking. He was a catch. That’s what we called it in my day. We were in his car, a new white Chevy BelAir…I was looking at my big kneecaps when he just kissed me in this surprisingly “Take me by control like they do in the movies” kind of way. And I got excited, so excited, and well, there was a flood down there. I couldn’t control it. It was like this force of passion, this river of life just flooded out of me, right through my panties, right onto the car seat of his new white Chevy BelAir…Andy said, that it smelled like sour milk and it was staining his car seat… (2008: 27). Knowing that, the boy thought it was dirty and smelly, so he labeled her “a stinky weird girl (2008: 27).” After the incident, she becomes afraid of opening herself to other men. …Andy drove me home and he never, never said another word and when I got out and closed his car door, I closed the whole store. Locked it…I dated some after that, but the idea of flooding made me too nervous. I never even got close again (28). This shows that actually she was verbally and sexually harassed in the past and that incident makes her ashamed of herself. b. “The Vagina Workshop” This monologue shows the experience of a woman who joins a vagina workshop. This woman is the exact example of the women who have never seen their own vagina, and only fantasized about it. …I don’t know why, but I started crying…Maybe it was knowing that I had to give up the fantasy, the enormous life- consuming fantasy, that someone or something was going to do this for me – the fantasy that someone was coming to lead my life, to choose direction, to give me orgasms. I was used to living off the record, in a magical, superstitious way… (48). From the above quotation it can be seen that she has been terrorized by her own fear and anxiety. It is built and influenced by the society, so that a woman like her believes that she needs men to depend on. The social condition makes her live in a fantasy that someone will help her and satisfy her, but not herself. Society teaches her to be dependent and afraid, making her believes that talking about her sexual parts is wrong and inappropriate. c. “Because He Liked to Look at It” This monologue shows the experience of a woman who hates her vagina. …I thought it was incredibly ugly. I was one of those women who had looked at it and, from that moment on, wished I hadn’t. It made me sick. I pitied anyone who had to go down there…I began to pretend there was something else between my legs…I got so accustomed to this that I lost all memory of having a vagina… (54). And one day, she believes that a guy, whom she went to bed with, named Bob, changed her hatred towards her own vagina. …I watched him looking at me, and he was so genuinely excited, so peaceful and euphoric, I began to get wet and turned on. I began to see myself the way he saw me. I began to feel beautiful and delicious Vol. 15 No.1 – April 2015 51 – like a great painting or a waterfall. Bob wasn’t afraid. He wasn’t grossed out. I began to swell, began to feel proud. Began to love my vagina…(57). This monologue shows that actually women are indeed vulnerable, and they still need the opinion of men in order to value themselves sexually. d. “My Angry Vagina” The woman in this monologue shares her thoughts about the unfair things that she feels as a woman. It represents the condition of women even in this modern time. Many opinions and rumors are spread in order to shape women’s thinking about themselves in a certain way, a way that the society wants them to be, to see, and to feel. …All this shit they’re constantly trying to shove up us, clean us up–stuff us up, make it go away…Like tampons…As soon as my vagina sees it, it goes into shock… …he tells you it smells like rose petals…That’s what they’re doing–trying to clean it up, make it smell like bathroom spray or a garden… …more tortures: dry wad of fucking cotton, cold duck lips, and thong underwear. That’s the worst. Thong underwear… …Hate to see a woman having pleasure, particularly sexual pleasure… (69-73). It can be seen how she feels toward the torturing things invented to control and suffer women. At the same time, she reveals the doer that is always trying to torture and control her as a woman is in fact men. e. “The Memory of Her Face (Part II)” The experience of a witness seeing what happens in Juárez shows how women mean nothing in the eye of the sexual terrorist that they are regarded as an easy target to be kidnapped, tortured, ruined, and murdered. …There is one girl missing for ten months. She was seventeen when they took her away… …Whatever they did to her, it went on and on. You can tell from the others, who showed up without hands or nipples… …When she finally reappeared, she was bone... (132-134). The evidence clearly shows that in Juárez, girls are easily targeted, kidnapped, and tortured until they die in such an upsetting condition. f. “They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy…. or so They Tried” This monologue shares the experience of a transwoman.Being a woman for her is something that she was always longed for, it was her purpose of life. …They beat me for it. They beat me for crying. They pummeled me for wanting to touch, to pet, to hug, to help, to hold their hands…For carrying purses to kindergarten, they kicked the shit out of me every day on my way to school. In the park, they smashed my Magic Marker painted nails. They punched my lipsticked mouth. They beat the girl out of my boy… (143). Although the earlier process was tough, and the journey of becoming a woman was long, in the end she succeeded on becoming a woman. Even after she became a woman, she is still terrorized. This time, the terrors took form in an indirect assault to make her suffer and to make her realize that whatever she did, she will never be fully accepted. …But you know how people feel about immigrants...They don’t like it when you mix. They killed my boyfriend. They beat him insanely as he slept, with a baseball bat. They beat this girl out of his head. They didn’t want him dating a foreigner…They didn’t want him falling in love with ambiguity… (147-148). Seeing her experience, it is obvious that even as a woman, she will never be fully accepted by the society. Laurencya Hellene Larasati Ruruk & Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani 52 3. Within the Situation of War a. “My Vagina was My Village” This monologue shows the experience of a woman who was raped at war.Before she was raped at war, she describes her vagina as something which is beautiful and cheerful. She identifies her vagina with the feelings of excitement, happiness, richness, and hopefulness: …My vagina was green, water soft pink fields, cow mooing sun resting sweet boyfriend touching lightly with soft piece of blond straw… …My vagina singing all girl songs, all goat bells ringing songs, all wild autumn field songs, vagina songs, vagina home songs… (61-62). And it changes drastically after she is being sexually tortured and raped by the soldiers. She describes her vagina as something which is ruined beyond repair and all the good feelings about it has gone. …There is something between my legs. I do not know what it is. I do not know where it is. I do not touch. Not now. Not anymore…Not since the soldiers put a long thick rifle inside me. So cold, the steel rod canceling my heart...Not since I heard the skin tear and made lemon screeching sounds, not since a piece of my vagina came off in my hand, a part of the lip, now one side of the lip is completely gone…Not since they took turns for seven days smelling like feces and smoked meat, they left their dirty sperm inside me. I became a river of poison and pus and all the crops died, and the fish… (61-63). From her description about her vagina before and after the rape, it can be clearly seen that she was drastically changed her thoughts about her vagina. b. “Under the Burqa” Before the beginning of this monologue, there is a statement saying, “The piece is about a time and place where women had no choice (2008: 135).” Since the beginning of her life, it seems like she does not have a choice whether to wear or not to wear the burqa. The only marriage she has ever committed was also an arranged marriage, “the only man you ever loved, even though it was an arranged marriage (2008: 136).” She cannot even choose to live or die. She is forced to live inside the ‘cage’ that is the burqa. Wearing a burqa is usually connected to religious reasons, however, in this monologue, it becomes a way to dominate women. Women are treated as animals and put inside a ‘cage’, “imagine muttering and screaming inside a cage” (2008: 138-139). She is restricted andtortured, her freedom is entirely raided from her, “imagine you are begging in this bedspread reaching out your hand inside the cloth which must remained covered, unpolished, unseen, or they might smash it or cut it off” (2008: 136). This monologue obviously shares the experience of a woman who is severely terrorized for life, “imagine you could no longer distinguish between living and dying, so you stopped trying to kill yourself because it would be redundant” (2008: 138). c. “Say It” This monologueis the compilation of the experiences of the Comfort Women. The Comfort Women refers to young women and girls who were abducted and forced into sexual slavery to service the Japanese military from 1932 to 1945 (2008: 176). The Comfort Women was living in such a horrible terror at that time. What we saw: A girl drinking chemicals in the bathroom A girl killed by a bomb A girl beaten with a rifle over and over A girl running headfirst into a wall A girl’s malnourished body dumped in the river To drown… (161-162). They were barely fed, that they were extremely malnourished at that time.Even so, they were still forced to do sexual intercourse with tons of Japanese soldiers. They were brutally tortured and treated as a thing to Vol. 15 No.1 – April 2015 53 satisfy the sexual needs of the Japanese soldiers. The Resistance of the Women towards the Sexual Terrorism 1. Physical and Verbal Resistance a. “Hair” The wife actually resists the terror from her husband. She refuses to shave her vagina hair after knowing that it causes so much discomfort to herself. When he made love to me, my vagina felt the way a beard must feel. It felt good to rub it, and painful. Like scratching a mosquito bite. It felt like it was on fire. There were screaming red bumps. I refused to shave it again (9-10). Her refusal, her questions and realization reveal that at the end of the day she is aware of the sexual terror that she experiences and she actually resists it. She shows it clearly by refusing to obey her husband’s order to shave her vagina. She also shows it by questioning the connection between shaving the vagina and her husband having affairs. She also realizes her own value and that hair is important and is there to protect the vagina. Her decision to take control over her own body and sexuality shows her resistance towards sexual terrorism. b. “My Angry Vagina” The woman is against the way men secretly try to control and manipulate women. ...You need to work with the vagina, introduce it to things, prepare the way. That’s what foreplay’s all about. You got to convince my vagina, seduce my vagina, engage my vagina’s trust...Stop shoving things up me. Stop shoving and stop cleaning it up. My vagina doesn’t need to be cleaned up. It smells good already. Not like rose petals. Don’t try to decorate…it’s supposed to smell like pussy…I don’t want my pussy to smell like rain. All cleaned up like washing a fish after you cook it…(70- 71). Patriarchal society keeps shaping women to be what is perfect in their perspective, that is submissive, obedient, and other feminine traits that attached to women; however, women as represented by the woman in this monologue, are aware that their vagina is perfect already. This anger and rejection show her resistant towards the manipulation, torture and control of men. c. “The Little CoochiSnorcher that Could” This monologue shows the horrible experiences of a girl in her early stages of life. The experience then influences her to think of her vagina as a bad thing or a bad area between her legs. However, that does not mean that she does not try to resist the sexual terror done to her, as a ten years old girl, she shows resistance toward Alfred who was raping her, “I try to fight him off, but he already gets it in (2008: 79).” Moreover, as she was turning into a sixteen years old girl, she finally met a twenty four years old woman in her neighborhood. This woman teaches her to appreciate herself and influences her to value her vagina. The woman influences the girl to be sexually independent and to be more grateful of who she is and what she has on herself. The woman triggers her to be aware of her values.This shows that the women’s miseries came from the interaction with men, and women’s revolution came from their interaction with themselves and other women. d. “I was There in the Room” In this monologue, there is no experience of sexual terrorism. However, some statements in this monologue suggest the resistance of women through showing the strength and the capability of a woman and her vagina in the process of giving birth. I saw the colors of her vagina. They changed. Saw the bruised broken blue, the blistering tomato red, the gray pink, the dark; saw the blood like perspiration along the edges…We forget the vagina, all of us. What else would explain our lack of Laurencya Hellene Larasati Ruruk & Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani 54 awe, our lack of wonder…I was there later when I just turned and faced her vagina. I stood and let myself see her all spread, completely exposed, mutilated, swollen, and torn, bleeding all over the doctor’s hands…I stood, and as I stared, her vagina suddenly became a wide red pulsing heart (122-124). It can be seen how the laboring woman and her vagina was in so much pain and struggle, in order to give birth to a new life. She was able to overcome a great deal of pain andsuffering, and then eventually heals herself. At the end of the monologue, the speaker relates the vagina to a heart. The heart is capable of sacrifice. So is the vagina. The heart is able to forgive and repair. It can change its shape to let us in. It can expand to let us out. So can the vagina. It can ache for us and stretch for us, die for us, and bleed and bleed us into this difficult, wondrous world. So can the vagina (124-125). This monologue is related to the power of women, the power of the vagina. The great capability of women and their vaginas can be manipulated, and used by the patriarchal society in order to control women. By forgetting their strength, women are made vulnerable and dependent.The vital source of women’s power is in their reproduction capability. This is the only power that women possess that men do not and men try to control this power in order to keep women in the subordinate position. e. “They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy…or so They Tried” No matter what the people do to them, no matter how people brutally bullied her, she proves herself to be able to defend her point and life decision. I saw her vagina. I wanted one…I ached to belong. I ached to smell like my mother…I ached to be completed…They assigned me a sex…I always knew I was a girl…I ran away from home, from school, from boot camp…Got my first hormone shot, got permission to be myself…I would count the male particles as they died…The feminine is in your face…And my vagina is so much friendlier. I cherish it. It brings me joy…It’s like when you’re trying to sleep and there is a loud car alarm; when I got my vagina, it was like someone finally turned it off (141-147). So much hatred and rejection of her existence lead them to kill her boyfriend because he loves her, he falls in love with what people call as ambiguity. At this point, by brutally torturing her feeling, people try to convince her that she does not belong and that she has chosen to live in a wrong decision. They beat this girl out of his head. They didn’t want him dating a foreigner. Even though she was pretty, and she listened and was kind. They didn’t want him falling in love with ambiguity. They were that terrified of love (147-148). However, no matter what happened to her and the people she loves, she always believes in herself and she chooses to live on and stick to her decision to live as a woman. She respects herself and fully embraces her femininity. f. “Crooked Braid” The last part of the monologue indicates that the reason of the husband’s changing behavior is because of frustration and anger toward the people who oppress them, and his wife was made to be his only outlet of anger. Now he calls me in the middle of night, weeping. He didn’t mean to beat his wife...He’s suicidal. He knows what his mother went through. But he can’t stop…They took our land. They took our ways. They took our men (157). It can be clearly seen that the wife is actually a lot tougher than him. She is awfully beaten and abused, and is made sex object, but she is not weakened, she resists the terror from her husband, she defends herself. She fights back through verbal refusal and also physical retaliation. She dares to run away from him so that he can no longer abuse her and dominate her. This monologue also Vol. 15 No.1 – April 2015 55 shows the strength of women and even reveals the hopelessness of men when faced with oppression compares to women. g. “Say It” This part will try to identify whether they resist the sexual terrorism done to them or they are actually just accept their condition at that time. What we are: ...Ready outside the Japanese Embassy every Wednesday No longer afraid… (164-165). What we want: Now soon Before we’re gone and our stories leave this world, Leave our heads Japanese government Say it Please We are sorry, Comfort Women Say it to me We are sorry to me ...To me… ...Say we are sorry Say me See me Say it Sorry (165-166). It can be seen that even though they could not resist the awful treatment, now they expect the Japanese government to state their apology for what they have done to them in the past. This proves that eventually, the Comfort Women gather their angerand turn it into courage to demand the terrorists to take responsibility for what they have done. 2. Mental or Inner Resistance a. “The Flood” By trying to be open to other woman and share her bitter experience show that the woman is actually aware of her situation. Though it cannot completely erase her trauma of sexual harassment, it definitely helps her feel better. You made me talk – you got it out of me. You got an old lady to talk about her down-there...[Turns away; turns back.] You know, actually, you’re the first person I ever talked to about this, and I feel a little better (30). Another statement that indicates her resistance is when she was in the process of being harassed by Andy Leftkov that she actually defended herself. ...well, frankly, I didn’t really smell anything at all, but he said, Andy said, that it smelled like sour milk and it was staining his car seat. I was “a stinky weird girl,” he said. I wanted to explain that his kiss had caught me off guard, that I wasn’t normally like this (27). She cannot debate him outspokenly, so she debates him inside her thoughts.Therefore, this might be seen as her mental or inner resistance. b. “My Vagina was My Village” She actually resists the sexual terrorism by withdrawing from the memories and by evading her connection with her sexuality. She could not verbally or physically resist the sexual terrorism, however, she mentally resist it by saving herself out of that situation. My vagina a live wet water village. They invaded it. Butchered it and burned it down. I do not touch now. Do not visit. I live someplace else now. I don’t know where that is (63). The experience of being rape at war is forever terrorized her, however, she manage to resist it by not engaging with her sexuality. This might not be seen as a clear resistance, and could be seen as devastation, however by withdrawing from the activity and from the connection with her sexuality, she survives the downfall of her life after the rape. Laurencya Hellene Larasati Ruruk & Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani 56 c. “Under the Burqa” She resists the abuse and terror from the men, and she even tried to protect her husband, “because they came and shot him with the gun…and you tried to defend him and they trampled you... (136).” She represents her inner thoughts through this monologue.She describes how vulnerable and defenseless she was, however, at the same time she shows that she survived the torture and she wanted to show that men are the source of her painful experience. i am caught there i am lost there inside the cloth which is your head inside the dark we share imagine you can see me i was beautiful once big dark eyes you would know me (139). In the last part of the monologue, she indicates that if she was given a choice, she might have a different life and experience, and this is her resistance. Conclusion It can be concluded that, in this present time, women still experience sexual terrorism. The reason behind the sexual terror is varied depending on the terrorists. It can happen within the family, within marriage, it can be done by a total stranger, it can be done by lovers, and it can happen to young-adult women and to old women. It can happen to any kind of women in any situation, and in any socio-economic line. The similarities between these women in The Vagina Monologues are that they experiences sexual terrorism, though varied; and that these women show resistance towards the sexual terrorism by sharing and giving voice about their experience on sexual terrorism. It can be concluded from this analysis that basically, all women is eventually aware of their own oppression that is depicted through sexual terrorism; and that those women fights against it through resistance, and the form of the resistance is also varied depending on the form of sexual terrorism they experience and also based on the context of their situation. In the end, what these women try to achieve is actually their independence and freedom over their own body and sexuality. References Ensler, Eve. The Vagina Monologues Tenth Anniversary Edition. New York: Villard Books, 2008. Print. “Eve Ensler”. http://www.eveensler.org/ about-eve. Web. 28 June 2014. Madsen, Debora L. Feminist Theory and Literary Practice. London: Pluto Press, 2000. Print. Sheffield, Carole J. “Sexual Terrorism” in Women: A Feminist Perspective Third Edition. ed. Jo Freeman. Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1984. Print. Vinthagen, Stellan. “Understanding ‘Resistance’: Exploring Definitions, Perspectives, Form, and Implications”. http://www.resistancestudies.org/files/ VinthagenResistance.pdf. Web. 21 May 2014. http://www.eveensler.org/