Newspaper Censors the Word 'Vagina' in Vagina Monologues Ad

A tipster sent us this ad for an upcoming production of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues at the StageNorth Theater in Washburn, Wisconsin that was placed in the Ashland Daily Press, a local newspaper. Note that the word “vagina” is repeatedly X-ed out, because we live in a world where the anatomically correct word for female genitalia is dirty.

On StageNorth’s Facebook page, they’ve posted a picture of the ad they say they “intended” to run:

Besides censoring “vagina,” the Ashland Daily Press also removed the full description of the production (which, incidentally, you can read word-for-word on Wikipedia):

“Each of the monologues deals with an aspect of the feminine experience, touching on matters such as sex, love, rape, menstruation, female genital mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, the various common names for the vagina, or simply as a physical aspect of the body. A recurring theme throughout the piece is the vagina as a tool of female empowerment, and the ultimate embodiment of individuality.”

They also chose not to include a warning that the content would be explicit, describing the production instead with totally vague language and a link StageNorth’s website:

“These monologues, derived from interviews with many women, reference subjects pertaining to women’s bodies, different experiences both good and traumatic, self image and empowerment.”

I’ve contacted both StageNorth and the Ashland Daily Press for comment, and will update if we hear anything back about this interesting choice. Update: Scott B. Burchill, the Managing Director of StageNorth, sent us this statement:

“We were given a choice between running the ad that the Ashland Daily Press (ADP) ultimately printed or running no ad at all. It should be noted that we had no objections to the initial version of the ad which we posted on our Facebook page Monday morning. We appreciate our relationship with the ADP and are sorry for them, and our community, that they felt the need to censor our ad, but we decided that running the censored ad was a better choice than running no ad at all. We are committed to supporting our local daily newspaper with some of the theater’s advertising dollars. The whole mess just points to the continued relevance of The Vagina Monologes even 17 years after its debut.”

Their website says that their production of The Vagina Monologues runs the weekend of June 27, if you’re in the area.