Students in BC’s Observer newspaper recently wrote an open letter to Boston College President, Fr. William Leahy, regarding an ongoing performance of the controversial play The Vagina Monologues.

Open Letter to Father Leahy

Dear Fr. Leahy,

The Women’s and Gender Studies Program’s recent production of The Vagina Monologues– a play that has been widely performed on Catholic campuses despite its controversial exploitation of human sexuality – undermines the mission of this university as a Jesuit, Catholic institution of higher learning. The play’s immorality and concomitant affront to our religious principles regarding the dignity of the human person, especially in relation to the female body, are an overwhelming cause for concern.

Having viewed the play ourselves, we have come to the conclusion that the campus of a Catholic university is not the appropriate venue for such a production. We respectfully request that you again examine this issue, for we are aware that this play has been performed on this campus for the past ten years and, therefore, presume that you have made prior evaluations of it and are thus familiar with its contents.

Two points of particular concern to us, among the very many problematic components of the play, are (1) the radical reduction of the female person to her sexual organs and (2) the lauding of the statutory rape of a sixteen-year-old girl as not simply good, but in fact salvific and heavenly for her. In the light of recent Church history, it is incomprehensible how a play that praises sexual intercourse involving a minor can be permitted to continue on this campus.

Despite the protest of students and faculty, the show continued…

Students and faculty at Boston College appealed to the college to discontinue its 10^th annual production of The Vagina Monologues, which took place on Sunday, Feb. 10 in McGuinn Hall. Despite a petition, signed by both students and faculty, and an open letter to the College’s president, the show still went on.