Until the Violence Stops

June 3, 2009

The more and more I am working on this event I can feel myself getting more and more entrenched in the women’s’ movement. I attended the Until the Violence Stops film last night and I found myself experiencing different emotions throughout the whole film, sadness, anger, anguish and most important, empowerment. Last night, we had a lovely, warm conversation with our guest speaker, Monica Alemán who will also be joining us in our event, Speak Out! on Thursday night. From the conversation we had with Monica at the event, what stood out to me the most was the fact that we have to “take ownership of the problem”. She elaborated on how we can’t dismiss a problem because it is not in our house, or affecting us personally, we must not ignore these issues. We have to realize that we as women are all connected and no matter where we are, we must support our women, no matter the race, country or religion. Monica was warm, comedic and powerful all at the same time.

After Monica spoke they played a film on the Vagina monologues, it explained how they came about and what they were about. To be honest I had always heard the name, but assumed something that was called the Vagina Monologues had to be a comedic skit, sad that even a female would say that, huh? I didn’t really realize that this was an actual movement in order for women to take charge of their sexuality, their bodies and their minds. Eve Ensler is the founder of V-day, the Until the Violence Stops movement. Eve Ensler is a powerful woman who is passionate about the issue of violence against women. Her writings are filled with the stories of triumphant warriors who are survivors, not victims. The film showed women all over the world and the violent experiences they have witnessed and the way these women expressed themselves were mainly through the arts; crafts, poetry, music, song and dance. The amount of abuse these women had endured made me cringe. The three stories that stood out the most to me were; the ‘comfort women’ in the Philippines, the Lakota women and the girls of Kenya.

During World War II, many women were kidnapped and imprisoned on the orders of the Japanese government and forced into sexual slavery as so-called ‘comfort women’. They were taken as young as eight to have sex with these soldiers on a daily basis. After these women had been sexually, mentally and psychically tortured, they then had to learn to grow up and have a regular life, have children, get married and such. But after going through such traumatic experiences, these women had suffered in silence until recently some women began to speak out. In many cases they were ignored by their community, their family and the Japanese government. One woman stated that her children disowned her for speaking out on these issues, for sharing her story, they were ashamed. I think just giving these women the opportunity to take part in this event gave them a sense of empowerment, to share their story with someone who actually wanted to listen. It was hilarious when Eve asked if any of these women had experienced an orgasm before, now, these were all elderly women, but with great delight some replied “Yes!”

The second story that had a huge impact on me was the story of the Lakota women in the United States. These people lived on reserves in which poverty was rampant. It really made me sad to think that these people were a rich nation, the founders of this country but yet they were forced into poverty. A Lakota woman said, “Sometimes I feel like we are forgotten”. When peoples’ culture is destroyed, their values and morals sometimes die with it. The family structure suffers and bad habits trickle down through generations. One Lakota man states his anger of the consequences of the structural breakdown, “This is not our culture, we are taught to love and cherish our Lakota women. They stole our land, our people, and it is weakening our spirit.” It is crucial for not only the community, but the world to realize that these are not only the founders of this land, but these women are the backbone of the country. One of my favorite poems from their piece was ‘Crooked braid’, were one of the Lakota women performed a poem about domestic violence within the community.

The third story that affected me was when they went to Kenya. There was a lady named Agnes who would walk from village to village, informing people on the brutality of female circumcision. She walked around with a display of vaginas to show people the actual process that girls have to go through to be circumcised. There were three different ways in which the girls were circumcised, depending on the tribe but all were just as gruesome. Having a graphic image of what the girls had to suffer through really shocked me. Girls normally took part in this ritual at this age of 12, which was a sign of womanhood. Many young girls die from this practice, and if their lives are not taken then, many in childbirth. Girls who refuse to take part in this ritual are shunned from their family and the village.

It was so interesting and it has definitely motivated me to try to hardest to act on these issues. It has encourages me to learn to appreciate myself and begin to see myself as a creator of life. To realize just how powerful and magnificent I am as a women. I know I cannot offer much in financial support, but I can strive the best way possible to show support through their site. It was a life changing experience.

Now back to work, today I finished up the fact sheets, we now have three; a generic fact sheet on the event, key findings fact sheet about violence on women and a Sisters in Spirit fact sheet. Tomorrow is the event and I am excited and strangely nervous all at the same time.

Tiffani