The Short Skirt Project
When Minerva stepped through the giant silken replica of a vagina and onto the stage, the bright lights made the sea of faces seem a million miles away. Wearing 18 inches of skin-tight black material, cropped just below her upper thigh, Minerva stomped her foot, slapped her hands to her hips, and launched into a passionate monologue.
“Believe it or not, my short skirt has nothing to do with you. My short skirt is about discovering the power of my lower calves… My short skirt is my defiance… But mainly, my short skirt and everything under it is Mine. Mine. Mine.”
Her words, spat in a fiery staccato and an obvious Mexican accent, are met with whoops of approval and thunderous applause. It’s Sunday, March 22nd, and Minerva has just performed the Short Skirt Segment from the Vagina Monologues. The second and final night of the show is completely sold out. When the seats are filled to capacity, audience members line the walls or find space on the floor. Apparently, the community of Jackson is ready to take part in a conversation about female empowerment and gender equality.
For Minerva, the only Latina in the cast, the experience became shockingly personal and profound. “Controversial. The word caught my eye… The Vagina Monologues. I had never heard of it. The ad in the paper read, ‘Auditions tonight at 7:30pm’… I knew I had to do it.” After work, Minerva picked up her youngest daughter from the babysitter and headed to the Art Association. When she opened the door to the theater, she was met by twenty-three smiling faces. Recognizing her talent immediately, Minerva was welcomed into this group of women that would come to know each other on a very deep level. Though the Vagina Monologues consists of scripted segments written nearly 20 years ago, it was obvious that each actress invested part of themselves into their roles.
And no one put themselves out there more than Minerva. Not only was she wearing a teeny weeny mini skirt in front of a crowd of hundreds… She was speaking about a very intimate subject in a foreign language, exposing herself in so many ways.
A decade ago, seeing a confident, empowered Latina centerstage would have been unthinkable. Minerva has lived in Jackson for 23 years. She moved from Mexico City when she was just 17 years old. She spoke no English and became the first Spanish speaking student at Jackson Hole High School. Later that year, her life was made even more complicated when she found out that she was pregnant. Dropping out of school halfway through senior year to raise her son, she was forced into adulthood at an early age. “Unless you’ve been there, you can’t imagine how hard it was. But I have no regrets. I don’t look back. I just keep moving forward.” Her son, a twenty-year-old college student, looks up to his mother as his greatest role model, and for good reason. Minerva has accomplished a tremendous amount in the 23 years she has lived in Jackson. As a full time mother of three and the owner of a successful cleaning business in town, she still makes time to get involved in important community events like the Vagina Monologues. “Yes, I am very busy, but this is important… We need this conversation in our town. People need to hear this message.”
“A lot of Latinos don’t want to come out of their little box… They’re shy. They don’t know what’s out there. But I want to be out there, right in front of the community. I want to show a lot of girls how to be powerful. To knock on doors. To not be shy! We need positive role models. And that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Minerva has certainly captured the community's attention. Riot Act Inc. is currently in the early early stages of developing a Vagina Monologues entirely in Spanish. Stay tuned for more details.
