On V-Day’s 15th Anniversary, Eve Ensler’s “One Billion Rising” anti-violence campaign goes global
Eve Ensler, best known for The Vagina Monologues, has created a massive campaign with over 5,000 participating organizations who are all seeking gender equality and an end to violence against women and the cultures that enable it. Sparked in part by Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” comment – to which she wrote this rebuttal – and its many societal underpinnings, Ensler’s mission is to show solidarity across borders in an effort to raise awareness about the sheer amount of violence and rape across the world. One Billion Rising is asking men and women around the world to collectively show their strength on February 14, 2013. Live videos are streaming from around the word that show dancing, strikes and rallies to support the movement. Here is Eve in her own words:
Here is more information about the V-Day movement that began 15 years ago:
For a criticism of Eve Ensler’s transphobia and racism see the comments to these two posts about OBR on Feministe:
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2012/10/12/what-do-little-girls-have-to-do-with-our-wars/
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2013/02/14/one-billion-rising-and-dance-as-a-radical-act/
Her erasure of male victims is also mentioned.
For critcism on how Eve Ensler and her associate/co-activist Christine Schuler Deschryver erases male conflict victims when she uses the word “femicide” to describe the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo see some of the comments on this thread on Alas, A blog:
http://www.amptoons.com/blog/2011/03/02/in-defense-of-eve-ensler/comment-page-1/#comment-199814
Eve Ensler is not seeking gender equality. We live in a world and a culture in which male victims of sexual violence are routinely denied recognition and services. Ensler is not seeking to end this inequality. To the contrary, her rhetorical position reinforces it. Ensler is not seeking to “raise awareness about the sheer amount of violence and rape across the world.”. She is only seeking to raise awareness about the violence that happens to women and girls. Her approach toward violence against men and boys is to erase it. About One third of victims of war-related sexual violence in… Read more »