Share Your Story/20th Anniversary Documentary Project; V-Day in the News, March 8 Event in DC

It’s been 19 years since V-Day was founded, since The Vagina Monologues shattered taboos, sharing the stories of women, as they had never been told before. Since that moment, so many of you have taken to the stage, organized in your communities and on college campuses, and staged massive events in celebration and defiance, in colleges, towns, theaters, churches, state houses, across the world inviting everyone into the dialogue with a common purpose – end violence against women and girls.

2018 will be our 20^th year and we want to tell your story, the movement’s stories, our collective stories. 

In the face of resistance, and at the intersection of art and activism, you have saved lives, raised consciousness, changed laws to protect women and girls, funded rape crisis centers and kept domestic violence shelters from closing, educated your communities, and raised over an astounding $100 million in urgently needed funds for local grassroots groups doing the essential work of ending violence and serving survivors and their families. Through One Billion Rising, you shook the earth through the massive RISINGS in which over ONE BILLION people danced to end the epidemic of violence, we have shifted consciousness and broken the deadly silence. And every day, you stage art in your community for social change, you RISE, you are in the streets rising against racist patriarchy.

You have made ending sexual violence a front-page issue, never to be silenced again.

These macro moments, are the culmination of micro movements – a woman who leaves an abusive partner, a rape survivor taking the stage and telling her story after years of silence, a man whose eyes are opened to rape culture and who pledges to living a life dismantling it, a young girl watch her mother reclaim cunt and a young boy dancing in the streets. These are the stories that are shifting paradigms and creating a world where violence against women and girls is unimaginable.

DETAILS on how to submit; SHARE your story >

V-Day Activists in the News & Leading the Conversation

For nineteen years activists have been producing benefit productions of The Vagina Monologues and other artistic pieces to raise awareness and funds to end violence against women. This year, communities have rallied around the annual event, energized by the global resistance movement and eager for an artistic expression of solidarity. Earlier this month, Sarah Rebell of The Interval profiled the play, organizers on college campuses in red states, and Eve Ensler in her piece V-Day in TrumpLand: Exploring the Relevance of “The Vagina Monologues”

“I wondered if The Vagina Monologues had a significant impact on college campuses this year, particularly in red states. Did those young women feel that they too were coming into their own power, or did they feel stifled by the supporters of our country’s pussy-grabbing “predator?” In the days surrounding Trump’s inauguration, I spoke with students involved in V-Day productions of The Vagina Monologues on campuses in red states and swing states in the heart of the country: Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. These eleven women range from freshmen to graduate students pursuing law degrees and PhDs. Some are theatre majors, but most approached The Vagina Monologues from an activist’s perspective.”  

READ V-Day in TrumpLand: Exploring the Relevance of “The Vagina Monologues” >

Locally, organizers, audiences and local media have been exploring similar questions, connection, and the importance of art and activism:

In Alaska A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and a Prayer a 'catalyst' for opening minds >

In Florida ‘The Vagina Monologues’ is playing in Miami. Here’s why we still need it >

In Germany Life In Berlin: Ending Violence Against Women Through V-Day > 

In New York ‘Vagina Monologues’ grabs back for V-Day >

Announcing Climbing PoeTree & Sophia Urista at Women Workers Rising

Vocal powerhouse Sophia Urista & artist/activist duo Climbing PoeTree to perform at Women Workers Rising rally and Artistic UpRising on 8 March in Washington D.C. They will share the stage with women workers from multiple sectors as they RISE to end workplace violence and harassment, and promote pay equity, one fair living wage, paid leave, and labor rights. The event is free and open to the public. 

RISE with women workers on International Women's Day >