VDay : Until the Violence Stops!

VDay apparently is not only another hue of feminism but also the dead end of feminism. A survey conducted by a feminist writer depicts that girl students cannot buy the word ‘feminism’ as it implies hating men and indulging in male-bashing which is grossly ERRONEOUS. Feminism in reality connotes ‘equality of sexes’ and ‘empowerment of women’. VDay is the new entrant into the world of phenomenon that seeks to create a safe and peaceful environment for women over the world.

The concept of VDay is inspired by Eve Enslers play “Vagina Monologues” that hit the famous Broadway theatre in the late 90s to showcase violence suffered by women across the world. In India the play has already been staged twice and now it made a comeback with VDay 2009, to stop assault against women. The play is directed by Mahabano Mody Kotwal of ‘Kumars at Number 42’ fame. That’s how I know her. I first watched her in that comedy soap opera on Star World, when I was in higher secondary. It was a witty show with wry humor. Sadly, it’s not on air anymore. I wish she made a comeback with that show as well. Eve Ensler spoke to about 200 women across the world and wrote this play, that portrays violence on women in the 90s. The very title of the play has shock value and one ponders why it had been named so? Vagina comes into play in most of the experiences of a woman’s life. It could be love, sex, menstruation, birth, orgasm or simply a physical aspect of the body.

As you can see, it is a monologue and not a dialogue. A monologue is when a person speaks to oneself. The other characters in the play cannot hear the initiated character but the audience can. It is a monologue because society compels a woman to push these experiences under the carpet, stuff meant to be locked in a closet and not to be uttered aloud! As a literature student, I’m drawn and inclined to theatre because Drama is a literary genre. People often confuse Shakespeare to a writer or novelist but he is first a playwright and all his plays were written to be performed and staged. Drama is a powerful tool: a voice for change and a call to action. Every monologue in the play is associated with Vagina. I have not watched the play but as a literature enthusiast read the same. One monologue goes “my vagina was my village”, which chronicles the witnesses of women put in rape camps, in Bosnia. The play keeps adding new monologues every year with more and more women being upfront and outspoken about the violence meted out to them.

‘Progressive’, is the apt word in todays global context; with the coming of age of science and technology but unfortunately violence against women never stops. There are stray instances of a Swapna who died of acid attack recently, of Rehanna, the popstar who was beaten black and blue by her boyfriend, of a school girl molested by a bus conductor and nevertheless the Mangalore pub attack on women. They might be strangers but they are bounded by a common thread of violence. Why? Because they are the fairer sex and can be taken for granted? Its time we say enough is enough and make the elusive goal of eve emancipation a reality!