For the fifth consecutive year, USI will present benefit readings of Eve Ensler’s award-winning play, “The Vagina Monologues,” in honor of this year’s V-Day, a day dedicated to globally raising awareness about violence against women and girls.
Due to sold-out seating over the past several years and last year’s unanticipated encore presentation, this year’s performance is broken down into two events.
Ninety percent of proceeds will go to the local Albion Fellows Bacon Center, and the remaining 10 percent will go to the V-Day spotlight campaign.
The first show was last night, but students can still attend at 7 p.m. Friday in Forum 1 of the Wright Administration Building.
The USI Philosophy Club, USI student organization Human, Environmental and Animal Rights (HEAR), Spectrum and USI Gender Studies are co-sponsoring this year’s renditions.
“Women’s issues are human issues, and they should be given just as much priority as men’s issues,” Crystal Steltenpohl, president of HEAR, said.
“The monologues’ purpose is to shed light on perspectives of women’s bodies—how they’ve been cherished, challenged and violated—and it tries to show that these issues that both women and men should care about.”
Mary Lyn Stoll, producer of the performance and adviser to the USI Philosophy Club, agrees and encourages both women and men to attend.
“Too often men don’t think they belong at the Vagina Monologues, but we need everyone on board if we are going to help stop violence against women and girls,” Stoll said.
“We are especially hopeful that more people will get to see the show this year since we have moved to a bigger venue and added an extra night’s performance.”
These monologues are a crucial part of observing V-Day.
“V-Day is especially important to women’s issues,” Steltenpohl said.
“USI is participating in order to shed light on the special issues that women face. V-Day highlights issues that women often lack the resources for; rape, sex slavery and domestic violence are but a few important issues that are either ignored or victimized.”
Last year, over 5,400 V-Day benefit events took place globally.
They were produced by volunteer activists in the U.S. and around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls. These highly successful events raised over $4 million through performances of The Vagina Monologues.
USI has joined this global movement as part of the V-Day 2011 College Campaign, with a special focus on the women of Haiti this year.
“Haiti fits into the picture because Haiti has been undergoing increased problems with rape and violence since the earthquake,” Steltenpohl said.
“There are now 1,300 refugee camps across Haiti, which force women and girls into situations where they are at the high risk for rape and violence.”
According to the October 2010 Refugees International report, the prosecution rate for rape in Haiti is less than 2 percent, and cases of rape and abortions performed on children as young as 10 years old have tripled since January 2010.
“There’s definitely a situation going on there that hasn’t been talked about and needs to be,” Steltenpohl said.
In conjunction with the benefit performance, the USI Philosophy Club and the USI Counseling Center also sponsored a Teach-In on the Women of Haiti on Monday.
Local Evansville citizens who have done relief work in Haiti came to share their experiences and they shared a presentation on the work of Haitian V-Day activist Merriam Merlet, who died in the Haitian quake.
Tickets for the Monologues cost $5 at the door and may be purchased in advance by emailing Stoll at [email protected].
