Hannah Carlsward

Liberated Bodies- Breaking Taboos on Sex

The cast of the Vagina Monologues, spring 2018 pose for a funny group picture after their performances.

While Liberated Bodies is still a fairly new club on campus, they have already done many things to promote sexual education and consent advocacy around Flagler’s campus.

After performing a show titled Vagina Monologues for the first time in spring of 2018, current senior Eileen O’Connell and now alumna Taryn Kalsch decided to work together to not only make Vagina Monologues a yearly show, but to also become better advocates for sexual education by creating the Liberated Bodies club.

As current vice president of Liberated Bodies, O’Connell thinks of the club as a way to show people resources that are available, and that anyone can be themselves without fear of judgement.

“For some reason, society has tabooed talking about gender and sex,” O’Connell said. “Creating safe areas where you can talk without judgement just doesn’t exist.”

Liberated Bodies works to break those barriers about sex education through tabling events, hosting guest speakers, and various shows throughout the year. Their next show is in November, titled the Truth Be Told Monologues. These monologues are written by Flagler students and faculty anonymously about mental health and sexual experiences.

  • A description of the social experiment and why Liberated Bodies chose to do it.
  • Sophomore Destiny Zielinski stands blindfolded, waiting for students to write words of encouragement on her.
Before the Truth Be Told Monologues last spring, Liberated Bodies performed a social experiment where club members stood at the Lewis Memorial blindfolded, and let students write messages of encouragement on their body,

“We want to help other people share their stories,” O’Connell said.

President Jordan Malecki also believes that the Truth Be Told Monologues are a great outlet for people to express their feelings. After performing in the event last year for the first time, they are hoping to have a bigger turnout and a lot more monologue submissions, both funny and serious.

“Anything that’s been shut down or hidden, now people can express it,” Malecki said.  

Liberated Bodies club members perform monologues written by other students and faculty members at the Truth Be Told Monologues in spring of 2018.

Along with the Truth Be Told Monologues, Liberated Bodies is also planning many other activities to help break the stigmas around sexual education. Since October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Liberated Bodies has many different tabling events planned to hand out more information about counseling, Title IX, and other resources students can go to if faced with a domestic violence situation.

If interested in joining, Liberated Bodies meets every other Thursday at 6:30 in Kenan 135. Their next meeting is Oct. 17.

If interested in submitting an anonymous and confidential monologue for the Truth Be Told Monologues, please use the form below. Monologues will be accepted until Oct. 18.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScFpIkRw-PPcrwxPureTHhkBK6WvDgSSDC2Yn-wTpQkzdMSGg/viewform

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