STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Posted on March 6, 2004 by Dave Pollard
logoMy niece Kim Allan was one of the actresses in this year’s Toronto benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues last weekend. It’s outrageous and funny, and not nearly as shrill in its feminist message as detractors might have you believe. The performances are synchronized around Valentine’s Day across North America and beyond, to support various local not-for-profit organizations fighting to end violence against women. The coordination is done under an umbrella organization called V-Day: Until the Violence Stops. Their website descibes some of the excellent work V-Day has done, especially in Mexico and Pakistan. It also describes the pathetic attempts of the Catholic Church to prevent showings of the Monologues on Catholic campuses. If you haven’t seen it — check it out. It’s a noble cause, and a great show.

Monday is also International Women’s Day, but there are surprisingly few events scheduled. This at a time when the rights of women are under unprecedented assault by the patriarchal religious right, when governments are slashing and even eliminating investment in social programs, and when big business is eliminating and exporting jobs to third world countries where women and girls toil longhours in sweatshops under intolerable conditions for starvation wages.

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