Vagina is a completely unsexy word.

At least that was the opinion of one of the women portrayed in the the production of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” this weekend in Gabel Hall.

The play, which is a part of the V-Day global campaign, is based on stories from women Ensler interviewed. The 17 stories performed ranged from embarrassing accounts of a girl’s first menstruation to the heart-wrenching stories of sexually-abused women overseas.

The crowd gave out the biggest applause to a skit about an angry vagina and also a skit about a woman who loved to make vaginas happy. During that skit, Bethany White performed the diva moan, the law school moan and the African-American moan, just to name a few. Her finale was “the triple orgasm,” after which she proceeded to light up a cigarette on stage as the audience cheered.

The monologues also presented some interesting facts.

One fact stated that every year 500,000 women are raped in the U.S.

Also, Gabriela Tejeda said there are 8,000 nerve fibers in the clitoris, twice as many as found in the penis.

“Who needs a handgun when you have a semi-automatic?” Tejeda said.

A chilling exercise at the end of the play showed the audience how violence affects everyone. White had the cast and audience stand forward if they had ever been abused. About one-third of the cast and audience stepped forward. When the audience was asked to stand if they knew anyone who had been abused, the vast majority stood.

Many audience members attended for the same reason – word of mouth.

Nikki Ping, a sophomore sociology major, said she had wanted to see the play for a long time.

“I think it’s great,” Ping said. “It’s really funny and it represents women well.”

Sourabh Kulkarni, a mechanical engineering and mathematics graduate student, said he was curious to see the show since he had heard about it in India.

White, president of the NIU Women’s Law Caucus and coordinator of V-Day 2005, said two of the three shows sold out.

The show was dedicated to Jane Brewer, who died this past fall. She was the production’s director for the past two years. An emotional Heather Wier, a performer in the show, said this show was “sort of her baby.”

The proceeds will be given to the Women of Iraq campaign, HUGS of Rockford, WAVE of Rockford and Safe Passage of DeKalb. White said they will be donating about $4,000.