A Unique Movement

Many people are drawn to V-Day because they want to perform the play, The Vagina Monologues, but after being part of a V-Day event they see a change in themselves, their colleagues and their communities. They become an integral part of the V-Day movement because they see the impact V-Day has had and the potential it presents for them to change old ideas and status quos.

Art & Activism, Working In Community
In the V-Day model, organizers use art and activism to shift traditional attitudes towards women and violence and with one voice begin to create an environment where women have the right to live free from violence and abuse,. Doing this working in community, organizers develop local networks around the common goal of ending violence against women, Whether it’s a local V-Day benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues or a global call to action like the 2004 V-Day March in Juarez Mexico, V-Day organizers, the cast, audience members, and the community work in unity and develop a camaraderie, knowing that they are the catalysts of hope and change within their communities.

Popular culture exerts some of the most powerful influence to shift social norms, behaviour, and values that perpetuate violence. The World Health Organization, ‘World Report on Violence and Health, 20001 highlighted a study in 16 countries and showed that levels of domestic violence are lowest in societies that impose community sanctions (such as legal action, social outcry, shunning, or moral pressure) and provide safe spaces such as shelters or family support systems for victims of violence. The Vagina Monologues has become part of popular culture and the V-Day benefit performance model is an unprecedented success in pairing art and activism. Few forms of entertainment or art about violence against women have had such truly wide appeal. Fewer still have effectively mobilized social outcomes or community organizing. By combining art and activism V-Day enables groups to raise money and consciousness and it unifies and strengthens existing anti-violence efforts.

Benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues are so successful because they include these elements :

• They are fundraising tools, with proceeds from ticket sales and revenue raised going to support beneficiaries working to end violence against women. In Nairobi in 2003, a shelter managed to re-open its doors and in many other communities it has enabled other groups to stay open or start new programs

• They are educating tools, encouraging the audience to think more deeply about violence against women and how it affects their lives and the lives of those around them. Entertainment casts a net wider than activism and can thus reach a broad audience of men and women