Eve Ensler: What disappointment has stayed with you longest? — FLAPSS

The question

What disappointment has stayed with you longest?

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The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.

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EE

Eve Ensler

American playwright, performer, feminist, and activist

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

That most men have not yet come to understand the impact and the devastating consequences of violence against women.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

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Jimmy Savile English media personality and sex offender

Never having been a 100% sex symbol. I only managed 99.9%.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 May 2007 source ↗

Olly Alexander English singer and actor

Early in my career I got really close to being one of the kids in the Narnia movie. I remember being crushed.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 March 2025 source ↗

Kathy Burke British actress

As a kid, discovering my brain wasn't controlled by The Numskulls from The Beezer.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 April 2011 source ↗

Gino D'Acampo Italian-British celebrity chef and media personality

That Italy didn’t qualify for the World Cup this year.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 December 2022 source ↗

More from Eve Ensler

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Question How close have you come to dying? Death & what remains

Nine years ago I discovered I had stage 3/4 uterine cancer and went through nine months of excruciating surgery, illness and chemotherapy. In that time, I touched death and it was the most powerful transformation of my life. I was forced to learn to take care of my body.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗

Question How would you want people to remember you? Death & what remains

As being useful.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗

Question If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change? Failure & regret

I would have honoured my body, I would have lived inside it, cherished it and protected it.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗

Question What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy? Time & hindsight

In my 60s. So many things that tortured me when I was younger have fallen away. Writing The Apology, the letter I wrote in my father’s voice, apologising for abusing me, has freed me from the last vestiges of anger, confusion, rancour and hate. It released me from a frame that had determined my life.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗

Question What one change would most improve the quality of your daily life? Daily life

Going off all technology.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗

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