“Monologues” For U.S. Congress?
By Frances Robinson
On Tuesday night, after no little controversy, female members of the European Parliament-people who usually spend their time talking about agricultural subsidies, cross-border extradition treaties, and sanctions for fiscal rulebreakers-were instead performing Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.” Now the playwright wants to see a performance in the U.S. Congress.
The representatives staged the play as part of the global V-day campaign against violence against women. Eve Ensler, who wrote the play, was delighted with the MEPs’ take on it. “Women don’t normally get to be sexual and powerful, sexual and smart, and here they are,” she told Real Time Brussels after the play. “The energy in the parliament has changed, it feels open, we’re all included.”
In front of a packed audience-many stood crowded into the back of the room, with state broadcasters from Germany, France and across Europe in attendance-the women gave a spirited, sassy performance, suggesting a career on stage if they don’t get re-elected.
“The fact they all did it in their second language is so impressive,” Ms. Ensler added. “It’s a real innovation.”
First, though, they will keep applying pressure to get the EU to do more on legislation to help and protect women: Their list of political demands was handed out to the audience.
“The EU needs to get connected, and to honour its existing commitments to women,” Ms. Ensler said.
She also wants to see the precedent followed elsewhere, calling on the U.S. Congress and the House of Representatives to stage the piece as well. Casting ideas welcome…
Violence against women and inequality of opportunity is unacceptable and EU decision makers must take action to tackle this problem, argues Sirpa Pietikäinen
In recent years, the EU has made numerous commitments to end violence against women and I am proud to have been part of this progress. But the extent and impact of violence against women, in Europe and beyond, remains staggering compared to the few concrete actions that have actually been taken to end it. On Tuesday 6 March 2012, two days before international women’s day, I will join eight fellow MEPs to perform the vagina monologues in the European parliament. It is being organised as part of the global v-day campaign to end violence against women and girls. This world-renowned work draws from the results of over 200 interviews with women about their bodies and their sexuality. It allows women who hear the stories to know that they are not alone in their own experience. It inspires people – women and men – to get involved in V-Day and to stop violence against women and girls. It removes the shame often associated with the word vagina and the vagina itself; instead it celebrates the word and celebrates women. Eve Ensler, the monologues’ author, will also be present.
The MEPs (perhaps I should say actors – I’ll let you decide) come from across the political spectrum, and our message will be that violence against women is unacceptable; that it must be stopped and that EU decision makers must act decisively to ensure that this happens. We will also be presenting eight actions for MEPs to undertake if they support our cause.
In Europe, we are proud of the progress we have made in bringing about gender equality and ensuring that the world is safe for women. But this task is far from complete. In the European Union, gender-based violence is still one of the main causes of death among women. Half a million girls and women who live in the EU have been subjected to female genital mutilation. And in several European countries, as well as outside Europe, the right of each woman to make the deeply personal decision about whether to undergo an abortion is also severely limited.
Meanwhile, across the developing world the challenges and injustices facing women at home, at school, at work, in public life and in their sex lives are still numerous and deeply rooted. In the developing world, 70 per cent of children out of school are female, over 200 million women lack access to modern contraception, and far more still are robbed of the right to decide over their future. Sexual violence in wars is proliferating, destroying women’s bodies, lives and entire communities.
The stars-to-be who have signed up to join me for this vital cause are Franziska Brantner, Isabelle Durant and Ulrike Lunacek from the Greens; Ana Maria Gomes from the Socialists and Democrats; Marielle Gallo from my group, the European People’s Party; Renate Weber and Cecilia Wikström from the Liberals; and Kartika Tamara Liotard from GUE/ NGL. The V in V-Day already stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina. Please come and join us on 6 March at 18:30 in the Yehudi Menuhin space.
Sirpa Pietikäinen is a member of parliament’s women’s rights and gender equality committee and co-host of the vagina monologues performance in the European parliament
‘If I lost everything tomorrow I would go to Congo, become a farmer and work in the fields,’ says the playwright best known for ‘The Vagina Monologues’
Eve Ensler, 58, the playwright, performer and activist, is best known for The Vagina Monologues. She has won awards for both her writing and her campaigning. She founded V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women, in 1998.
What was your earliest ambition?
The first was to survive, the second was to be useful in some kind of little way, the third was to write.
As the debate over reproductive rights rages in the House, and Senate Republicans have tried to thwart the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, we speak with Eve Ensler, founder of V-Day, the global movement to end domestic violence, and the playwright behind “The Vagina Monologues.” “The fact is we have not busted this notion that the father still dominates and has authority over women and children, and determines the rights of our lives, determines the rights of our futures and bodies,” Ensler says. “If we’re going to actually free women — which is freeing men, which is allowing everybody a life of dignity and grace and not walking in fear and terror — we have to go further and be disruptive and be dangerous.” Ensler has just launched a new global campaign called, “One Billion Rising,” which calls on women “and the men who love them” to join together on Feb. 14, 2013, and “dance until the violence stops.” Ensler also discusses the first anniversary of the “City of Joy,” a groundbreaking new community for women survivors of gender violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
On January 28, V-Day and the Fondation Panzi (DRC) celebrated the first graduating class of City of Joy in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). City of Joy, a revolutionary community for women survivors of gender violence, opened its doors to the pilot class of 42 women this summer. Long time V-Day activists and renowned photojournalist Paula Allen joined V-Day staff and supporters to witness and celebrate the graduation ceremony of this first incredible class. Today we are pleased to share with you Paula’s gallery of images from the event, which brilliantly capture the joy and excitement around the festivities.
Activist climber Georgina Miranda founded Climb Take Action, an online community and initiative with the goal of climbing The Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. Georgina has dedicated herself to this challenge in the hopes of raising awareness and funds to help the women and children in DRC. Funds raised through Climb Take Action benefit V-Day’s work in Congo and City of Joy, as well as International Medical Corps.
V-Day would like to send a huge THANK YOU to the UK touring production of The Vagina Monologues. The production team including Jonathan Russell and Mark Goucher, and the cast including Wendi Peters, Louisa Lytton, and Zaraah Abrahams have raised over $15,000 for City of Joy and spread awareness throughout the UK on the violence that women and girls face in the DRC, and V-Day’s efforts on the ground to end it. Thank you!
Only in the European Parliament could something as uncontroversial as not hitting women become a source of drama. As part of V-Day, a global campaign to end violence against women and girls, a group of MEPs have invited playwright Eve Ensler to their performance of her celebrated play ‘The Vagina Monologues’ on March 6.
“It’s a fantastic play, it’s very inspiring and we wanted to bring that energy into the parliament,” Franziska Brantner of the German Green party, one of nine female MEPs from across the political spectrum who will star in the play, told Real Time Brussels. “Women shouldn’t be ashamed of talking about their sexuality, either in terms of pleasure, or in terms of being a victim.”
The series of monologues, first performed in New York in 1996, is based on a series of interviews with women about the most intimate part of their body. Now the MEPs, including France’s Mariel Gallo, Belgium’s Isabelle Durant and Portugal’s Ana Gomes will follow in the footsteps of Kate Winslet, Whoopi Goldberg and Jerry Hall in performing the play on stage.
However, not all of their colleagues are happy about the situation. “This sort of thing does not belong in the European Parliament… The ladies should move their performance to a theater,” MEP Werner Langen, from Angela Merkel’s CDU party, told German tabloid Bild-Zeitung (presumably he also objects to the topless photos the newspaper carries on its front page every day). “I call on Parliament President Martin Schulz to withdraw his approval for this event.”
In any case, the performance is due to take place in the Parliament’s Espace Yehudi Menuhin, which hosts events as diverse as Holocaust Remembrance Day, talks on oil and gas exploration in the Arctic, and performances of early music and dance ensembles. It’s hard to see how performing an award-winning play, albeit an attention-grabbing one, is at odds with the diverse other uses for the room. If the idea of a theatre inside a parliament is confusing, just let it go — the European Parliament also boasts several bars, a gym, a hairdresser and a meditation room.
In a further twist, Swedish MEP Cecilia Wikstroem, another performer, won the respect of Brussels gossip website Berlaymonster by employing that stealth feminist weapon, the limerick poem, to put UKIP MEP Gerard Batten back in his place.
It’s a challenge when those with vaginas, No longer put up with – in silence, This kind of old tripe, From him and his type, But speak up loud and clear against violence
The MEPs have devoted the event not just to V-Day, but also have a set of political demands including ensuring EU funding continues for programs to end violence against women, and ensuring the pan-European ‘victims package’ contains specific measures for victims of domestic violence.
All tickets for the event have been reserved and Ms. Ensler is scheduled to give closing remarks; now all the performers have to do is get ready to deliver lines such as “What would your vagina wear, if it got dressed?” instead of their usual “Voting begins now on the amendments.”
“We’ve been rehearsing, everyone got to read the part they wanted,” Ms. Brantner, speaking from Berlin, says of the project. “We’re not professional actors, but we are all used to being on stage, none of us is afraid of speaking in public.”
Eve Ensler and Isabel Allende in conversation, for one evening only! If you live even remotely near the Bay Area, it is well worth coming to hear these two inspiring women talk about activism, women and girls, and the power of stories. Eve is the Tony Award-winning author of The Vagina Monologues and founder of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls.
Eve will blow you away and Isabel will get you through it. Together they will fill you with hope.
You’ll also get a sneak peak at Eve’s latest theatrical work, the stage adaptation of Emotional Creature, which will premiere at Berkeley Rep this June. This event is a benefit for V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls.
Location:
Dominican University of California
Angelico Hall
San Rafael, CA 94901
Tickets $35 (includes a signed copy of Ensler’s book) Register Here or Call (415) 927-0960, ext. 1 to reserve
On January 28, V-Day and the Fondation Panzi (DRC) celebrated the first graduating class of City of Joy in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). City of Joy, a revolutionary community for women survivors of gender violence, opened its doors to the pilot class of 42 women this summer. Long time V-Day activists and renowned photojournalist Paula Allen joined V-Day staff and supporters to witness and celebrate the graduation ceremony of this first incredible class. Today we are pleased to share with you Paula’s gallery of images from the event, which brilliantly capture the joy and excitement around the festivities.
Activist climber Georgina Miranda founded Climb Take Action, an online community and initiative with the goal of climbing The Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. Georgina has dedicated herself to this challenge in the hopes of raising awareness and funds to help the women and children in DRC. Funds raised through Climb Take Action benefit V-Day’s work in Congo and City of Joy, as well as International Medical Corps.
V-Day would like to send a huge THANK YOU to the UK touring production of The Vagina Monologues. The production team including Jonathan Russell and Mark Goucher, and the cast including Wendi Peters, Louisa Lytton, and Zaraah Abrahams have raised over $15,000 for City of Joy and spread awareness throughout the UK on the violence that women and girls face in the DRC, and V-Day’s efforts on the ground to end it. Thank you!
Eve Ensler and Isabel Allende in conversation, for one evening only! If you live even remotely near the Bay Area, it is well worth coming to hear these two inspiring women talk about activism, women and girls, and the power of stories. Eve is the Tony Award-winning author of The Vagina Monologues and founder of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls.