Film raises awareness of dating violence
To help raise awareness of violence against women, USU’s Center for Women and Gender held a screening of the film, “V-Day: Until the Violence Stops.”
Shown in the TSC Auditorium on Wednesday, the film was followed by a discussion with Jamie Huber, the program coordinator of the Center for Women and Gender.
“This film is part of the V-Day campaign,” Huber said. “We registered with the organization and they gave us rights to their productions. This movie is particularly moving because of the different cultures shown.”
“V-Day: Until the Violence Stops” is described, according to vday.org, as a “powerful film that documents how ‘The Vagina Monologues’ grew into an international grassroots movement, called V-Day, to stop violence against women and girls.”
“The Vagina Monologues,” a play written by activist Eve Ensler, opened in 1994. According to the V-day website, “After every performance, Ensler found women waiting to share their own stories of survival … she divined that the performances could be a mechanism for moving people to act to end violence.”
Ensler and a group of women decided to establish V-Day on Valentine’s Day in 1998. The mission of V-Day is to end violence against women and girls.
“V-Day could become a movement — a catalyst to stop violence,” Ensler said in the film.
The film highlighted the experiences of different women who told stories about violence in their lives. The film also showed how violence affects women in a variety of cultures, including stories about women in the Philippines, Hill City, S.D., and Rift Valley, Kenya.
“I thought the film was very touching,” said Ann Austin, director of the Center for Women and Gender. “It was touching because of the subject matter and the bravery of the women and the men who supported them.”
In the film, Ensler said for women to make a difference, their actions have to be extraordinary.
“And we make it extraordinary by talking about it,” she said.
Huber said the purpose of the campaign is to focus on women and not attack men while doing so.
“There are other people being violated, and that needs to be heard,” she said. “Violence against women does affect men, too.”
Huber has been involved with the V-Day campaign for six years and began her involvement while she was at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
“I started working with the organization in 2006, volunteering and raising awareness on the campus,” Huber said. “Then for the 10-year anniversary, I took over the organization of the productions, the monologues and film screenings. Now, I continue to volunteer.”
Huber said next year, for the 15th anniversary of V-Day, the organization has planned a campaign, called “One Billion and Rising.”
According to vday.org, the goal of the campaign is to get 1 billion people to rise up and demand an end to violence against women.
Huber said the center works closely with Sexual Assault and Anti-Violence Information (SAAVI) and the Community Abuse Prevention Services Agency (CAPSA).
“We partner to do events. The grant project is the major thing we are doing,” Huber said. “The center has a lecture and film series, and the spring semester tends to be busier than the fall semester. We pretty much have something every week to raise awareness about issues related to gender and women.”
Huber said other groups have been building on V-Day. Other efforts organized in relation to raising awareness for women included “The Vagina Monologues” and “Take Back The Night.”
“Violence against women is interconnected to the objectification of women in media,” Huber said. “Our student group and other clubs are trying to change that. We have students that have groups promoting healthy relationships and healthy sexuality discussion. The center supports and sponsors those.”
Austin said the center is concerned about raising awareness about violence against gays, lesbians and transsexuals.
“We’re trying to raise awareness and help people understand how pervasive of a problem it is,” Austin said.
Huber said students interested in getting involved with the V-Day campaign should talk to her or to members of Love is for Everyone (LIFE) on the third floor of the TSC.
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