About V-Day

V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery.

The V-Day movement is growing at a rapid pace throughout the world, in 81 countries from Europe to Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, and all of North America. V-Day, a non-profit corporation, distributes funds to grassroots, national and international organizations and programs that work to stop violence against women and girls. In its first year of incorporation (2001), V-Day was named one of Worth Magazine's "100 Best Charities." In eight years, the V-Day movement has raised over 30 million.

The 'V' in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina

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In most of these cases, CNS’s attempts to ban the productions creates a healthy public and media debate within the community about free speech, the problem of violence against women and the need to address it. This also raises questions about the true goals of CNS, which attempts to stop students from doing philanthropic work and pressures administrators and their alumni toward censorship. In some cases these goals have been temporarily realized, impacting college students who have been forced to find off-campus venues for their benefits, college presidents who have had weigh freedom of speech and academic expression against the bullying of a fringe group and threats of financial withholdings. In one case, the student organizer was threatened with expulsion if she continued with efforts to end violence against women and girls.

In addition to the Cardinal Newman Society, V-Day has faced opposition from another Catholic organization – the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) According to their website the organization was formed in 1973 to resist, in the realm of ideas, the liberal, socialist and communist trends of the times and proudly affirm the positive values of tradition, family and property. In 2005, TFP launched an anti-V-Day campaign on Catholic campuses calling it “another St. Valentine’s Day ‘Massacre.’ “

Read our 2003 recap on Cardinal Newman Society’s efforts:
V-Day Statement In Response to the Cardinal Newman Society

Read our 2004 recap on CNS efforts:
Cardinal Newman Society Continues Its Efforts to Stop V-Day Activists

Due to the continued and increased activity by these groups and the many emails of support we’ve received, V-Day feels it is important to update supporters and organizers and provide this background on the situation. It is important to note that neither group has reached out to V-Day to voice their concerns or to discuss how we might work together to end violence against women and girls—an issue we think would be of great concern to the church considering the recently reported epidemic violence within the church itself. While CNS and TFP have publicly and aggressively agitated against V-Day organizers on Catholic campuses and in the media, V-Day has chosen to simply provide you with this information.

In its campaigns, CNS specifically offers misinformation about “The Vagina Monologues.” V-Day would like to make two key points of clarification:

MISINFORMATION: CNS describes "The Vagina Monologues" as a "vulgar play", "complete with a favorable reminiscence about a lesbian seduction of a 16-year-old girl" and "explicit discussions of sexuality and sexual encounters including lesbian activity and masturbation."

REALITY: The monologue referred to reflects the real-life experience of a real woman who was interviewed by Eve Ensler. The monologue accurately reports the woman's experience.

The pieces in "The Vagina Monologues" are all reflections of real women's experiences. Some of the stories are not politically correct, but they are all real. It is important to allow all of the voices of women to be heard, regardless of how we personally feel about their experiences, as violence against women happens everywhere affecting one in three women worldwide.

"The Vagina Monologues" has been successful as a play in part because it inspires reflection and thought among audience members, and dialogue among people who have seen the play. The Vagina Monologues has proven vastly liberating because it gives voice to experiences and feelings not previously exposed in public, and reflects how shame and self-deprecating thoughts of women’s bodies has kept women separate from power and pleasure. The overwhelming response to the play was mobilized by grassroots organizations who recognize how negative attitudes towards women’s bodies contribute to violence perpetrated against women by men and by themselves.

Violence against women happens everywhere affecting one in three women worldwide. V-Day envisions a world where women live safely and freely. Each year V-Day continues to grow and inspire women and men throughout the world to help create V-World, a place where women and girls are free from violence. V-Day will continue this mission until the violence stops.

MISINFORMATION: "The play is a collection of monologues by women describing their personal stories, replete with vulgarity, frequent use of 'vagina' to represent women and femininity.

REALITY: The word ‘vagina’ is indeed used frequently in the play – to break the silence and the censorship of a word that does indeed represent women both physical and metaphysically as a feminine being. If you can't say it, then you can't own it. If you can't own it, then you can't protect it. If it's violated, you can't protest or complain.

In a major shift "The Vagina Monologues" and V-Day empowers women and men to hear and speak openly about sexual violence. Once women have had an opportunity to discuss experiences of violence in a venue of safety and security, they learn they are no longer alone with their pain.

NOTE: It is always essential to read or see a play before commenting on its content. It is important to note that performances of "The Vagina Monologues" do not "show" anything in the literal sense - it is a fact-based series of monologues, spoken or read by the performers.

Background on V-Day and the College campaign: V-Day is a global campaign that envisions and is working to create a world in which violence against women and girls no longer exists. V-Day hopes that the devastating and true stories that are the foundation of "The Vagina Monologues" will inspire people who see productions of the play to help V-Day in its efforts to stop all violence against women and girls.

Through the V-Day College Campaign, which launched in 1999, thousands of student organizers have raised funds for local groups on their campuses and within their communities. In 2005, students at over 700 colleges and universities staged V-Day benefits of “The Vagina Monologues” to raise funds and awareness. The events take place on-campus and are primarily student-run, student-acted and student-directed.

To date, V-Day has raised over $30 million dollars for local community groups who do anti-violence work on the ground every day. Along the way, millions of people have been empowered and educated and have become active in the fight to end violence against women and girls.

Read letters of support for V-Day >>

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I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World

In this daring, provocative, and insightful book, bestselling author and internationally acclaimed playwright Eve Ensler writes fictional monologues and stories inspired by girls around the globe. Moving through a world of topics and emotions, these voices are fierce, alive, tender, complicated, imaginative, and smart. Girls today often find themselves in a struggle between remaining strong and true to themselves and conforming to society’s expectations in an attempt to please. They are taught not to be too intense, too passionate, too smart, too caring, too open. They are encouraged to shut down their instincts, their outrage, their desires and their dreams, to be polite, to obey the rules. I Am an Emotional Creature is a celebration of the authentic voice inside every girl and an inspiring call to action for girls everywhere to speak up, follow their dreams, and become the women they were always meant to be.

Among the girls Ensler creates are an American who struggles with peer pressure in a suburban high school; an anorexic blogging as she eats less and less; a Masai girl from Kenya unwilling to endure female genital mutilation; a Bulgarian sex slave, no more than fifteen, a Chinese factory worker making Barbies; an Iranian student who is tricked into a nose job; a pregnant girl trying to decide if she should keep her baby.

V-Day believes that girls are the future of our movement. Women are the primary resource of our planet. It is imperative to educate and nurture future activists so we can see our vision of a world free from violence against women and girls come true.

Order your copy today!