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The V-Day about real love

Written by Stephanie Sadler
Thursday, 29 January 2009 00:00

V-Day turns 10 in London this year; not, of course, the V-Day associated with shiny red hearts gleaming in high street windows, February roses sold by the dozen, and restaurants booked to capacity. This V-Day doesn’t mix love with consumerism. This is playwright and activist Eve Ensler’s V-Day, a “V” that stands not only for valentine, but for vaginas and victory over violence. It’s a V-Day that cynics can embrace and one that inspires even the single women.

Have you ever chanted “cunt, cunt, cunt” in the middle of an audience or saw the expression of 18 different orgasmic moans performed on stage? Did you know that it’s illegal to sell vibrators in several states – and in most of those states, it is perfectly legal to buy a gun? Did you know that the clitoris has 8,000 nerves, twice as many as the penis, and it is the sole organ devoted entirely to sexual pleasure? If not, you’ve never been to see the theatre production of Ensler’s book: The Vagina Monologues.

A quick peep on the website spells out the background needed to appreciate the meaning of this movement which began in the United States 11 years ago and the massive following it has inspired. “In 2008, over 4,000 V-Day benefit events took place…educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls,” it states. “To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $60 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, launched the Karama program in the Middle East, reopened shelters, and funded over 10,000 community-based, anti-violence programs and safe houses in Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq."

But it is a lot more accessible to real women than hard facts make it sound. V-Day began in New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom and raised $250,000 for local anti-violence groups. Now, it is celebrated in 120 countries and translated into over 45 languages. Anyone can perform their own show.

“It’s a political movement,” explained Annie Saunders, producer of this year’s V-Day London events at the New Player’s Theatre. “But, it’s based on creativity, performance, beauty, art and love. It’s not based on anger or hatred or rage or vindication. Eve is doing this speaking tour in the States called ‘Turning Pain to Power’. And I think that is really her ethos.”

Saunders first performed in V-Day productions in California and, when she moved to London, she organised and directed her own show. This year, she has passed the power over to Emma Jane Richards. Coming from a background in film and other art forms like photography and web design, this is her debut as a theatre director.

I’m always trying to blur the boundaries between documentary and fiction,” Richards said. “I’ve made films in the past where you don’t know if you’re supposed to believe what you’re seeing and hearing is the truth or not. I’ve kind of gone for that approach with ‘Vagina Monologues’, inspiring the actors to connect with their own personal experiences. A lot of people get involved because they are survivors. They have a story of their own.”

V-Day is about putting a stop to violence against women in all its forms: Female genital mutilation (FGM), sex trafficking, rape, domestic violence, incest, battery, etc.

Spotlight: Democratic Republic of Congo

Though this goal encompases violence everywhere, each year, Ensler encourages V-Day promoters to donate 10% of their event proceeds to a spotlight cause. Last year, it was the women of New Orleans. This year, the spotlight is a campaign called “Stop Raping Our Greatest Resource, Power to Women and Girls of DRC.”

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been referred to as the “rape capital of the world” and, though the war has come to an end officially and things are slowly beginning to improve slightly, it has left 5.4 million Congolese dead and 200,000 women raped.

On 24 January, Ensler and Dr. Denis Mukwege, the founder of a hospital in Congo that's helping victims of rape and mutilation, spoke to NPR’s Scott Simon. Ensler explained some of the situation in the country where rape is often used as a weapon of war in order to drive villagers away from the mines so the soldiers can lay claim.

“It’s estimated that 300,000-400,000 women have been raped in the last 10-12 years,” Ensler said. “It’s really important we know that this is not all the men of the Congo who are committing the rapes. It’s a very small percentage of men. But the crimes that are going on range from girls as young as 6-months-old, their vaginas being ripped apart, 8-year-old girls who are held for weeks at a time and raped by scores of soldiers so that they become incontinent from fistulae, 80-year-old women being raped, groups of soldiers being sent into villages who are known to have AIDS to rape the communities so that they infect all the women, women being strategically raped in front of their husbands so that they absolutely destroy the infrastructure of the family.”

There is insecurity in DRC, both economic and otherwise, and a constant threat of violence. When Ensler was there, she visited a number of communities. From Goma, the capital of North Kivu, she wrote a letter to those tracking her journey from home. She wrote about the sky, a V-Day pink over Lake Kivu, the sound of tropical birds and the busy life of the city. Then she wrote about the other side – dispair and violence, poverty, power failures, storms, war. She called it a journey of extremes.

From there, she made her way to South Kivu’s capital city, Bukavu. Local health centres are quoted to report that, in this provence alone, an average of 40 women are raped daily. “Every day women are raped,” Louis Leonce Muderhwa, the governor of South Kivu Province, told the New York Times in October 2008. “This isn’t peace.”

But the attention of aid agencies and the United Nations has given some hope to the situation. The UN Council authorised the continuation of their mission in the DRC until 31 December 2009 which includes up to19,815 military personnel, 760 military observers, 391 police personnel and 1,050 personnel of formed police units. The highest priority has been given to addressing the crisis in the Kivus.

European aid agencies have also stepped in and have spent millions building new courthouses and prisons which have seen more and more rapists stepping through their doorways. Rape prosecutions are on the rise, and victims have been given the help of The American Bar Association which opened a legal clinic in January. Also useful, in training courses in Europe, Congolese investigators are being taught “CSI”-style forensic techniques.

With President Barack Obama now arguably the most powerful man there is, a group of 10 women leaders from around the world wrote a letter asking him to step up for women around the world. “As policy makers, activists, researchers, and grant-makers we have spent our lives investing in women and know that these kinds of investments have immeasurable and fundamental impact for the better,” they wrote. “We represent more than half of the world's human potential. And our time has come.”

Fistula, one of the major problems caused by rape, is one important item on the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)’s agenda. Though 180 nations have been contributing to their fight, the Bush administration cut US funding. Obama has promised to restore this, planning to offer $40 - $60 million to the organisation, though Congress will have the final say in the amount.

While it is nowhere near the end, no one gets anywhere without a start.

V-Day London 2009

DRC’s situation may seem disconnected from our own reality but, as Richards pointed out, V-Day is for everyone. “These things are everywhere. They are in people sitting next to you. They’re right outside my door,” she said. “This is the truth of people’s lives. These people are right in front of you. You can reach out and touch them.”

In celebration of its 10th year, V-Day London will include a new production called “A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and a Prayer”. Besides Ensler’s introduction contribution and a piece called “Fur is Back”, this is a series of monologues written by playwrights, novelists, activists, actors, and screenwriters. The show will be performed for the first time on the big stage in London this year.

Also, men have begun to get involved. Writer Mark Matousek has pioneered a movement called V-Men. With journalist Jimmie Briggs, he is working on a campaign and anthology called "Ten Ways To Love a Woman”. It will be released as a book at the end of 2009 and will be presented at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. There may even be a secret preview during the week of V-Day events at the New Players Theatre, but that is yet to be decided for sure.

“Violence against women was not merely a female issue; it is a human dilemma twisting the lives and consciences of men as well; men whose voices needed to be heard,” Matousek wrote in a column on the V-Men Facebook page.

By presenting stories in the form of theatre, there is no pressure on the listeners to reply, though the intensity is still greater than it would be if seen on film. A comfortable distance is created between the speaker and the audience, yet another human being is still directly speaking to you. Though some of the stories are often very real and distressing, others are hilarious.

“The thing about Vagina Monologues is that it brings you in so gently,” Richards said. “It brings you in through creativity. It brings the actors in and then they become activists.”

It’s not only about activism though. V-Day is a celebration. It’s a celebration of women, love, sexuality, peace and humanity. It’s also an alternative way to appreciate women and show love in the midst of the consumerist frenzy that is Valentine’s Day.

“It’s about processing what has happened in your life or to the people around you and using it as a way to help others, to be creative, be powerful, and be loving,” Saunders said. “It’s all about love. It’s about making Valentine’s Day about really loving women, not just about commercially loving women. Let’s make it about really loving women.”

The V-Day London details:

V-Day, Ensler-style, is not just one day either; it’s a whole season of events from February – March and the campaign to stop violence continues all year round.

Though there are shows on university campuses and small theatres, the main V-Day London events will be at the New Players Theatre.

The “Vagina Monologues” will be shown: 19 Feb 7:30pm / 20 Feb 7:30pm / 21 Feb 8pm. The cast includes Ninia Benjamin (BBC3’s “Three Non Blondes”) and Nadira Murray (The British Ambassador’s Belly-Dancer).

“A Memory, A monologue, A Rant and a Prayer” will be performed: 17 Feb 7:30pm / 18 Feb 7:30pm / 21 Feb 6pm.

Tickets cost £20 and proceeds support six charities working to stop violence against women: the V-Day/UNICEF Democratic Republic of Congo campaign, the Helen Bamber Foundation, Tender, Women and Children First, Ubuntu Education Fund and Woman’s Trust.

Book online at:

 

www.newplayerstheatre.com >>>

See our interview with Vagina Monologues director, Emma Jane Richards >>>

Seven speaks to Vagina Monologues actress and producer, Annie Saunders >>>