The Gender and Sexuality Center (GSC) will be putting on a performance of “The Vagina Monologues” on Feb. 5 and 6 at 7 p.m. in Dodge Hall.

Grace Wojcik, coordinator of the Gender and Sexuality Center, said that it’s been performed on and off at Oakland since 2010. This will be the first year that the monologues have come to campus twice in a row.

“The performance was much bigger than we anticipated [last year],” Paige Rowland, sophomore and performer last year, said. “But we hit our goal of about $2,000 from ticket sales and chocolate vagina lollipop sales. We couldn’t have been happier”.

Eve Ensler wrote the monologues based upon a series of more than 200 interviews she conducted with women on topics ranging from birth, sex, abuse and the difficulties of transgender women.

Ever since Ensler wrote the monologues, organizations across the country have been performing these pieces for over 10 years.

“They’re impactful and a great way to raise money for important organizations,” Wojcik said.

This year’s proceeds will be going to Turning Point and Haven, two Michigan-based charities.

“This means that the money students contribute will be making a difference here where they live,” Wojcik said.

According to a press release from the GSC, the “Vagina Monologues” was performed in over 200 countries last year and raised over five million dollars for various charities.

The Oakland performance is part of V-Day, a program in which various organizations take part. V-Day is officially on Feb. 14 and is a day where groups and college campuses world-wide put on performances like the Vagina Monologues and campaign to end violence against women.  

According to the GSC press release, V-Day is “a catalyst for mobilizing women and men to heighten awareness about violence against women and girls.

“People tend to act like vaginas should be something taboo to talk about for some reason,” Rowland said. “It’s really freeing to be able to talk about them so clearly and uncensored”.

Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door and can be purchased from the CSA window. More information can be found at www.oakland.edu/csa/gsc/ or on the various pink posters across campus.