Valentine's Day has come and gone, marked by a flurry of activity promoted by commercial interests such as florists, chocolate makers, motel owners, condom manufacturers, sponsors of lovers' kissing contests and so on. Given the massive interest of Taiwan's media in the holiday, it was strange that "V-Day," a global movement to stop violence against women and girls that is also held on Feb. 14, got hardly a single mention.
V-Day was established in 1998 by US playwright and feminist activist Eve Ensler, as an extension of her play The Vagina Monologues, which is a collection of personal accounts based on interviews with more than 200 women of various ethnic groups, religious beliefs, age groups, sexual orientations and social classes. The play is arranged in 18 segments on different themes, such as sexual frigidity, rape and birth. The Vagina Monologues was originally produced and performed by Ensler in an award-winning run in 1996.
Last year, Taiwanese students from National Chi Nan University and participants from the Garden of Hope Foundation and other women's groups staged Taiwan's first productions of The Vagina Monologues at the university and at Taipei's Red Playhouse.
As Ensler performed The Vagina Monologues in small towns and large cities all around the world, she saw and heard first-hand abound shocking incidents that women had suffered, including stories of rape, incest, domestic battery and genital mutilation.
At the end of Ensler's New York performance on Feb. 14, 1998, she and a group of New York women declared Valentine's Day to also be V-Day, which stands for "Vagina, Violence committed against women by men, and Victory." The group declared that the day should be commemorated until violence against women stops.
V-day's mission is simple. It demands that the violence must end and that people should not tolerate any male-on-female domestic violence or other forms of violence against women. When all women live in safety, no longer fearing violence or the threat of violence, then V-Day will be known as Victory Over Violence Day.
As a global awareness movement, V-Day has won support from businesses, nonprofit organizations and university student groups. Last year, there were about 2,500 V-Day activities held in more than a thousand cities around the world to educate millions on the issue of violence against women.
As of today, more than 67 nations have participated in V-Day activities, and more than US$30 million in funds have been collected. V-Day is a nonprofit event, and the funds raised by benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues are used to help grassroots groups at local, national and international levels to stop violence against women. V-Day achievements include the establishment of "V-Day Safe Houses" in Egypt and Iraq, V-Day workshops in Afghanistan, and programs to save African women from genital mutilation.
While we celebrate the romantic holiday of Valentine's Day, we should not forget that there are still numerous women who remain victims of violence. Regardless of gender, men and women should all pay attention to the messages of The Vagina Monologues and V-Day activities. The voice of women should be heard so that men can face up to the injustice committed against women and adjust their perspectives and values accordingly.
Only untiring effort will being an end to the violence suffered by women, and allow us all to enjoy a truly happy Valentine's Day.
Bih Herng-dar is an associate professor in the Graduate Institute of Building and Planning at National Taiwan University.
Translated by Lin Ya-ti
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