 |
IN FOCUS: ARTICLE |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
V-Day: Victory over Violence
by Sady Sullivan, 02.14.06
"Reproductive justice includes social justice, including the stopping of violence against women and girls." |
|
From Chillicothe, OH, to Pendleton, OR, on February 14, nearly 1,200 communities in the United States participate in V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. The "V" stands for valentine, victory, and vagina.
V-Day was founded by Eve Ensler, a Planned Parenthood Board of Advocates member, who wrote the play The Vagina Monologues based on her interviews with more than 200 women. The Vagina Monologues encourages women to be comfortable with their bodies and their sexuality, and empowers them to speak out against sexual shame and violence. On V-Day, local groups organize benefit productions of The Vagina Monologues to raise awareness and funds for local anti-violence services.
"There's something empowering about sitting in a theater for a play with 'vagina' in the title," says V-Day's executive director, Jerri Lynn Fields. She remembers the first time she saw the play: "I am a survivor of violence and I felt connected to the audience responding to Eve's words in a supportive way," she says. Fields says V-Day has gotten so big that V-Day organizers now refer to February through April as "V-Season," since there are so many V-Day events around the world.
Acting Out
College senior Amissa Miller feels a personal connection to The Vagina Monologues. Miller, a theater major at Spelman College, a historically black women's college in Atlanta, became involved with V-Day as a freshman when a professor suggested she perform in the show.
"At the time, I was having my own issues regarding my body and was involved in an unhealthy sexual relationship with a young man," she says. "Acting in the show really changed my whole mindset. I realized how important it is to honor and love my body, and how sacred my vagina and my sexuality are. I also know several women who have been affected by domestic violence and sexual assault, and participating in V-Day was a way for me to honor them and their strength."
This year, Miller is organizing her campus' V-Day campaign, as well as directing its production of The Vagina Monologues. One of her main goals is to get V-Day involvement from men at Morehouse, the historically black men's college across the street from Spelman. "It's not enough for women to be exposed to the spirit of V-Day, because we can't end violence against women without educating and inspiring [men]," she says. "It's especially important to me that young women of color learn to value, cherish, and protect their bodies, and that our male peers learn to do the same."
Vagina Controversy
V-Day's message of women's sexual empowerment has been met with resistance in some areas. This year, Rev. Brian J. Shanley, the president of Providence College, a Catholic school in Rhode Island, banned The Vagina Monologues because he objected to the play's portrayal of women's sexuality.
In a statement on the college's website, Shanley said that The Vagina Monologues "simplifies and demystifies [female sexuality] by reducing it to the vagina" and "is meant to displace the traditional Biblical view that inspires the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church." Students — both women and men — are protesting the president's ban of the play and are wearing buttons with slogans like "I 'heart' My Catholic Vagina" and "Mary Had a Vagina."
Last year, two high school students in Minnesota got in trouble at school for wearing "I My Vagina" pins. School officials threatened Emily Nixon and Carrie Rethlefsen with expulsion, claiming that the pins were inappropriate and would make people uncomfortable. "The principal said that by wearing the pin, I was giving people wrong ideas," Rethlefsen told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "That I was giving an open invitation [to guys]."
A teacher even barred Rethlefsen from her classroom as long as she wore her button, but the girls fought back, winning support from their community. More than 100 students ordered T-shirts saying "I 'heart' My Vagina" for girls and "I Support Your Vagina" for boys.
V-Day and Vox®
For nearly six years, Vox, Planned Parenthood's youth advocacy program, has collaborated with V-Day. "Reproductive justice includes social justice, including the stopping of violence against women and girls," says Vox outreach manager Jamia Wilson. "Valentine's Day is a great time to talk about protecting yourself. We've had Vox groups organize condom-grams and even had sales of vagina-shaped cookies to raise money for their local chapters."
Jerri Lynn Fields, V-Day's executive director, says this collaboration between Planned Parenthood and V-Day is a natural — an important — partnership, because health centers are often the first place victims of violence turn for support. "Valentine's Day is all about love," she says, "and women should be loved, not hurt." |
|
|
|
Printable Version
Email this page