By Bethany Reyna
According to the United Nations, one in every three women around the world will be physically or sexually abused in her lifetime. Although these women are from diverse backgrounds and cultures, their pain is universal. In an effort to bring broader attention to this reality, playwright and activist Eve Ensler wrote a series of monologues in 1994 centered on the violence, sexuality, rape and abuse of women. The monologues were a creative eye-opener for people who weren’t aware of the oppressions of women. The Vagina Monologues ran for five years in New York before it toured the United States.
In 1998, Ensler and a group of women from New York City established February 14th as V-Day. V-Day is a grassroots, global movement that works to eradicate violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sex slavery. To fulfill this mission, Ensler allows performances of The Vagina Monologues to be performed globally during the months of February, March and April. Today there are over 5,400 V-Day events annually. The proceeds from these performances go toward local shelters and organizations that fight to end violence against women and girls.
The UMKC Women’s Center is one of the organizations in Kansas City that has the opportunity to put on a production of The Vagina Monologues. Other V-Day events that the Women’s Center organizes are the V-Men Workshop, a screening of “Until the Violence Stops” and V-Day information tables. To help raise funds, the Women’s Center annually sells V-Day T-shirts and chocolate vagina pops. The 2011 performances of The Vagina Monologues will be held on Wednesday, February 16th and Thursday February 17th. For more information on V-Day or The Vagina Monologues please stop by the Women’s Center in 105 or 108 Haag Hall or visit the V-Day website.