We Live in a Good Body: Review of Eve Ensler’s The Good Body
Ainsley Kendrick
Sunday. While many couples are cuddled on the couch, sipping tea, and watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, my partner Dian and I had the fortunate opportunity to attend a performance of The Good Body, a one-woman show written and performed by Eve Ensler. This was her final performance after a week-long run in Toronto and after reading, attending, and being a personal slave to the Vagina Monologues (my ex produced a version of the monologues last year), I knew I had to see what else she was up too. I was not at all disappointed.
In the genre of the Vagina Monologues, Ensler has moved from one of our most sacred and least talked about parts, to our most discussed and hated. As Ensler says at the beginning of the piece "The Good Body began with me and my particular obsession with my ‘imperfect’ stomach." She goes on to explain when she was a little girl, all she wanted was to be "good." Being "good" meant being the perfect, stereotypical, homemaking wife. Nowadays much has changed. However, what has stayed the same is "good" seems to come with our own self-deprivation and alteration.
Eve's journey of "stomach" discovery takes viewers on a worldwide trip through the life choices of many unique women. Her ability to change character and form by a simple placement of clothing or change of expression is a true testament to her brilliance. Each character has their own personality, their own life; she is merely the vessel from which they speak.
For those of you who may not have the opportunity to see the show live, I urge you to pick up a paperback copy. It is worth every penny. While some may find the book useful, with informative tips on how to suck away those extra layers of fat, how to please your husband through vaginal laser rejuvenation, or even which fat camps are the best for your child, others, like myself, may receive a feeling of wholeness.
I am someone who has looked in the mirror everyday and hated what I saw. I never liked getting my photos taken because I didn't want to see what I looked like. People thought I was being modest when I would receive compliments. I never said anything because I never believed they were true. But as Leah, a 74-year-old African Masa woman explains to Eve "don't say one tree isn't pretty because it doesn't look like that tree. You're a tree. I'm a tree. You've got to love your body Eve. You've got to love your tree."
Our body is our world. It is the only thing we truly know. The only thing we are closest too. Why change it? Why suck it out? Why hide it? Like Eve, I, too, eat my ice cream with the women of the world. We are all beautiful, deserving, wondering creatures. We are all good. Even through the hardships of self-loathing, femininity is one of the greatest gifts I could have received. I hope to forever be full.
The Good Body, a Villard Books Trade Paperback, is available at most bookstores across Canada. Also, please check out Eve Ensler's V-Day website (www.vday.org) to see how you can take part in movement to end violence against women.
Ainsley would love to hear from her readers. Please feel free to leave her a comment in the Edwards Forums.
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