When you hear V-Day your mind automatically thinks of Valentine’s Day,a day where you spend time with the one you love and indulge in all types of romantic activities. Thanks to UC Feminist group we now have an even better reason to celebrate V-Day. Each year UC Feminist put on a production of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues.
The monologues deal with aspects of the feminine experience, touching on matters such as sex, love, rape, menstruation, female genital mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, the various common names for the vagina and simply the physical aspect of the body. Each of these topics are extremely personal encounters that have been written by real women from varying backgrounds. V-Day was originally started in 1998 as a way to raise money to end violence and sexual assault against women and girls. Since its initial start more than 100 million dollars has been raised. V-Day occurs in February and the proceeds for local individual projects and programs that work to end violence against women go towards shelters and rape crisis centers. ’We are selling vagina cupcakes and pins to raise money for Women helping Women organization” said Jack Corfts, co-president of UC Feminist. “The performance will impact images about women and allow them to relate to each monologue” said Croft.
The performance which was held in Zimmer Hall lasted an hour and a half and featured 11 performers who were accompanied by sign language interpreters. Before the event began women organizations from campus were asked to participate in the Vagina Village, where they did tabling outside of the auditorium. This gave those in attendance a chance to interact with a variety of groups and learn more about them. Also featured in the Vagina Village was a vagina photo op made by UC Feminism member Lilian K. ” It took me three hours to complete” said K. When asked about the performance she continued ” I cant wait to see the performance live, I’ve only ever seen it on YouTube so I’m really excited ” said K.
The Women helping Women organization that the proceeds will go to was founded in 1973, provides crisis intervention and support services for women and men who are survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking in Hamilton County, Ohio and survivors of sexual assault in Butler County, Ohio. They offer services that include a 24-hour crisis line, hospital accompaniment, individual crisis intervention, court and law enforcement advocacy, support groups, date rape/dating violence prevention programs, community education and professional training.
For more information about UC Feminist and all the amazing work that they do you can check them out at facebook.com/UCFeminists or on Twitter @ucfeminism