Redefining the mission of today
Kerry Walsh
senior
Each day in the U.S., 960 women are raped. Nine hundred and sixty. That's one woman every 90 seconds — of each and every day. Valentine's Day probably doesn't seem to be the most likely day for discussing such disturbing facts, but since I became part of the V-Day College Campaign movement, I have not been able to think of a better time to talk about violence against women.
Four years back, in 1997, Eve Ensler, the author of "The Vagina Monologues," began a movement to raise awareness of sex-crimes against women. She called it V-Day and claimed Valentine's Day for the event. After V-Day became a reality, Eve decided to involve college students in the movement. Since its modest beginning with 65 schools in 1999, the College Campaign has grown to nearly 450 colleges participating nationwide and 700 worldwide.
This year Notre Dame will join the V-Day movement along with so many other colleges and universities across the nation. Part of our series of events will be two student-produced presentations of Eve's play. Many people I've spoken to have had a typical Notre Dame reaction when asked if they will attend the production: muffled laughter and a quick exit. We are afraid of what is new and different and "The Vagina Monologues" is certainly both. I would like to point out what the Monologues are not: They are not foul. They are not disgusting. They are not man-hating. They do not promote any particular lifestyle. They are not just for girls. And now for what they are: "The Vagina Monologues" is a series of real women's stories of love, anger, abuse, success, triumph and, most of all, hope.
These are the stories of women who are looking for hope for their futures. Hope that they can love themselves. Hope that they will survive. Hope that they will wake up one day and no longer fear violence. The stories that you will hear are real. They are true. Like the fact that, on average, one rape occurs every 22 hours on each college campus in this nation, these truths are not always easy to hear.
"The Monologues" will shock you. They will make you cry. They will make you angry. But they will also make you laugh. They will inspire you. They will leave you realizing that it can be done. One day, Valentine's Day will be known, as Eve puts it, as Victory Over Violence Day.
Kerry Walsh
senior
off-campus
Feb. 13, 2002
All Viewpoint Stories for Thursday, February 14, 2002
