This is the sixth year that The Vagina Monologues have been performed on campus and they should continue until the violence stops, no matter how many polemics against it are circulated through the dorms by The Georgetown Academy.
In 2005, over 1,000 colleges and communities around the world held productions of The Vagina Monologues, raising approximately $4 million for local organizations that work to end gendered violence. Georgetown’s Take Back the Night has raised approximately $4,000 through ticket and T-shirt sales and general donations for My Sister’s Place, a domestic abuse shelter.
Every year the campaign brings attention to a world issue concerning gender violence. This year, the focus is “Comfort Women,” who were civilian women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during tWorld War II.
This focus was chosen given both the 60th anniversary of the war and the recent escalation of armed conflicts. From the Sudan and the Congo to the rest of the world, sexual violence is used as a systematic tactic of war.
Take Back the Night is raising awareness of this issue through a petition and other events throughout February. Our organization strives to raise our voices for all women affected by violence.
The Vagina Monologues is one part of an active campaign to end gender violence and shatter the silence around these issues. Whether you love or hate Eve Ensler’s play, one fact is undeniable: it has started dialogue about violence against women.Violence against women is perpetuated by the silence that surrounds it.
Relationship violence, sexual assault and other forms of gendered violence on many college campuses, including Georgetown, are often seen as taboo, something to be discussed in private and only by those who have had direct experiences with it. The silence can be deafening.
The Vagina Monologues helps break this silence by making violence against women an issue for everyone to think about and for everyone to discuss. Just as the vagina is one aspect of a woman, we use The Vagina Monologues as one aspect of our fight against violence.
Before you form an opinion about Vagina Monologues, come to one of the performances and hear for yourself the true stories of these women. This Valentine’s Day week, be aware that it is also “V-Day”, V for violence, V for Valentine, V for Vaginas. Think of the one in four college-aged women who will experience attempted or actual sexual assault or the one in three women who experience at least one physical assault by a partner during adulthood.
Think about the women who don’t report their rape out of fear or shame and are forced to live in silence. Think about the nine of 10 women who knew their rapist beforehand.
Take Back the Night asks you to help continue the fight by raising awareness. V-Day is a process: We will work as long as it takes. We will not stop until the violence stops. We proclaim Valentine’s Day as V-Day to celebrate women and the end of violence.
