To be quite honest, I didn’t even know what “yoni” meant until I came across this sensational performance being put on across the United States. Loosely inspired by Eve Ensler’s controversial The Vagina Monologues, Yoni Ki Baat (Sanskrit for “talks about the vagina”) aims to create a space for South Asian women to express their views on traditionally taboo subjects such as sexuality, abuse, incest, homosexuality, and domestic violence, among others.

One of the things that intrigues me about this monologue (well it’s all intriguing isn’t it) is something I read on the South Asian Sisters website, which establishes that:

“the yoni (Sanskrit for ‘vagina’) has long been held sacred in Hindu mythology, but, through years of patriarchy and colonialism, it has rarely been allowed to speak its mind.”

Well, you can’t really argue with that can you?

What you can consider, however, is that The Vagina Monologues received criticism not only for perhaps becoming a release of hatred for men in general (even heterosexual sex!), but also for making colonialist assumptions about women in the third world. This of course made me wonder how Yoni Ki Baat negotiated these subtle attitudes and if there were indeed cultural influences, dare I say patriarchal influences, that restricted this exploration of womanhood within their own space.

Thankfully, Rasika Mathur suggested otherwise after I saw this video clip of her invocation performed before Yoni Ki Baat in San Francisco in March 2008. The liberated delivery is refreshing and as the SAS website description describes, the excitement of the audience is indeed palpable.

*Viewer discretion advised. :D*

Rasika will be playing the role of Fatima in the upcoming The Taqwacores movie (:D :D :D), and this brings me to an interesting parallel. While both Yoni Ki Baat and The Taqwacores create an incredibly liberating and enabling space among people looking for that space, how effective are they in bringing paradigm shifts to their communities at large? Is that even the point? I felt The Taqwacores was able to convey throughout that no, you do not have to accept everything in this book, in fact you don’t have to accept any of it. Beyond every epiphany I experienced during that read, it was this declaration of pluralism and acceptance that resonated with me the most.

While some would say that The Vagina Monologues fell victim to overcompensation and perhaps an extension of cultural colonialism, I’m confident that through maturity and self-reflection, Yoni Ki Baat will not become radicalized, will not hold hostage an “ideal” of the woman it aims to deconstruct. I believe it can do for its audience what The Taqwacores did for me -- create an inclusive environment that is comfortable yet conscious of its boldness. A space that understands that just because some women prefer the corners, it doesn’t mean they have nothing to say.

Yoniiiissss UNITE! Man I love that word.

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