Publication date: Friday, 18th February, 2005
CABINET has backed the decision of the Media Council to stop a performance of the Vagina Monologues at Ndere Theatre this Saturday.
The Monologues consist of a series of real-life stories by women from around the world sharing their experiences of sexual oppression. It has been performed in many countries, including our neighbour Kenya.
Of course one cannot talk about sexuality without at times using explicit language. Yet no-one claims that the Vagina Monologues is sexually arousing. In that sense it cannot be pornographic.
It is regrettable that government has supported this ban, the first time such a thing has happened since the era of Idi Amin. Perhaps 500 people, mostly educated middle class women, would have attended the play. They would also have made a personal choice to attend and paid sh20,000 for a ticket. No-one would have seen the show who didn’t want to see it.
The Red Pepper is very upset that the New Vision wrote a leader saying that government had double standards since it contains more pornographic material than the Vagina Monologues. They interpreted this as a call for the Red Pepper to be closed down. No, the argument was that the Vagina Monologues should be allowed to go ahead, not that the Red Pepper should be banned.
We could also have mentioned other examples like the many video shacks around the country showing hardcore blue movies; the prostitutes who openly walk the streets at night; and the pornographic films played on subscription television at weekends.
The argument is that government is hypocritical since it tolerates these abuses but bans a play condemning the oppression of women (admittedly in a way that some find offensive).
The constitution guarantees freedom of expression. The Media Council and Cabinet ruling may well have infringed that freedom. The organisers of the Vagina Monologues should take this case to the Constitutional Court to decide.
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This article can be found on-line at: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/14/418870
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