Eve Ensler
Eve Ensler
Eve Ensleris an American playwright, performer, feminist, and activist, best known for her play The Vagina Monologues. Charles Isherwood of the New York Times has called The Vagina Monologues "probably the most important piece of political theater of the last decade."...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth25 May 1953
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
art creating grew ideas jewish tradition
I grew up in a tradition where having ideas and contributing to the community and creating art that had an impact on the world mattered. That's part of the Jewish tradition.
art cancer thinking
For me, so much of my life has been this attempt to find my way back into my body. I tried various forms, from promiscuity, to eating disorders, to performance art. And I think it wasn't until I got cancer, where I was suddenly being pricked and ported and chemoed and operated on, that I suddenly just became body. I was just a body. And it was in that, in that finally landing in myself that I really discovered the world in my body.
art believe thinking
Terence McKenna says, "The culture is not your friend." I am not sure we can change this culture. But I think we can rise above it and create a new world. That's why I so deeply believe in alternative spaces. That's why I believe in the power of art and activism.
art thinking people
Rock-and-roll was an example of change in the body of the culture. I think it's really what helped bring the anti-war movement to its peak and moved people into the streets to seize the day - the movement was the embodiment of what was happening in the music. This is what taught me that it was possible to bring art and activism together. Without that piece, that energetic embodiment piece, the rest is just intellectual construct.
fuel girls inside listen primary spend teenage time urge voice
I urge you to spend the time to listen to the voice inside of you. I see teenage girls as being the primary fuel of this planet.
along believing top
Rossellini was going along believing she was at the top of her game,
beauty billion energy fixing focus spend took women year
We focus on fixing our bodies. We spend $40 billion a year on beauty products. What if we actually took that money, took that time, took that energy and started fixing the world. Women would actually be in power,
bringing focusing happening stop stories women
We are focusing on bringing the stories of these women to the world. These stories must be told if we are going to stop this from happening again.
bodies degree hate obsess painful perform profoundly time women
Doing this show is really painful each time I perform it. The degree to which women hate their bodies is profoundly sad. Let's just put off our self-hatred for 10 years, take over the world, and then we can obsess again.
career nine taught time took waitress
I was a waitress for nine years, which I don't regret at all. It taught me about discipline. I was always writing; it took a long time to make a career of it.
great icons matter people system
Do I think it's great that we have a celebrity system where some people matter and some people don't? No. But do I think we'll always create icons and legends? Yeah, I probably do.
becomes begin cells invites lives looks
Cancer essentially lives in us and becomes activated at some point, and then cells begin to psychotically divide. Initially, the cancer cell looks like other cells and the body invites it in.
girls opposed others please pleasing taught whatever
Whatever culture, whatever country, girls are taught to please others as opposed to pleasing themselves.
grew work
I was born in Manhattan and grew up in Scarsdale. Scarsdale didn't work for me as a place at all.