In response to [Sophie] Prell’s column “Celebrate uniqueness”: kudos to you and the others in attendance of the Vagina Monologues last Friday in celebration of women’s rights. Yet in spite of your reasoned argument for the fair treatment of women worldwide, I found it disappointing that you disregarded the purpose Eve Ensler had in establishing V-Day and The Vagina Monologues.

V-Day and The Vagina Monologues were established by Ensler to stop violence against women and girls.

According to its Web site, V-Day is a “global movement to generate broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery.”

While you called for a celebration of “uniqueness,” “pride” and “respect for equality of all women,” you really missed the point. V-Day, standing for Vagina, Valentines and Victory, is a day dedicated to recognizing and honoring the victims of sexual and domestic violence. It does not warrant attacks on two leading — albeit extreme — female politicians.

Reading your article rekindled the feelings I first experienced a little over a year ago, after learning about V-Day’s campaign: “Stop Raping our Greatest Resource: Power to Women in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo).”

I learned of the atrocities happening to Congolese women while reading a Glamour magazine article written by Ensler a little over a year ago.

Intrigued and disheartened, I learned more on the V-Day Web site about the statistics and stories of women (and men, and children) who are subjected to the most brutal forms of sexual violence you can possibly imagine.

The DRC has been at the center of what could be termed Africa’s world war for the past five years. Though the war is formally over, the threat and use of violence are constants, and physical and economic insecurity continue to characterize the lives of women. The majority of DRC’s citizens are still suffering.

In 2005, approximately 1,000 people were dying daily from war-related causes, including disease, hunger and violence — sexual and otherwise.

Gruesome accounts of sexual violence to women and girls can be found on the V-Day Web site, and elsewhere in news and magazine stories. Results of such devastation include grave long-term psychological and physical health consequences, including traumatic fistula — a hole in the tissue between the woman’s vaginal wall and bladder, which, consequently, may allow urine and feces to leak out of her — and HIV.

Sexual violence is regarded as the most widespread form of criminality in the DRC. In the province of South Kivu alone, local health centers report that an average of 40 women are raped daily.

Through its global campaigns, V-Day raises awareness about the level of sexual violence in the DRC — and elsewhere worldwide. V-Day continues to take actions to improve the lives of the women in the DRC through such efforts as the establishment of Panzi Hospital in partnership with UNICEF “to build this leadership development center that will be a refuge for healed women survivors of rape and torture, providing them with educational and income-generating opportunities, activism training and leadership skills.”

V-Day’s nationwide campaigns, which most noticeably occur around the time of another popular V-Day, Valentine’s, involves local volunteers and college students to raise awareness and funds for anti-violence groups in their own communities.

So, in my opinion, that is what the Vagina Monologues is really about, and that is why we held a Vagina Monologues screening here in Ames: to create awareness and raise funds for the victims of sexual and domestic violence worldwide.

Too many women to count have completely lost their vaginas. Thousand more have had their vaginas mutilated so terribly that they will never serve their God-given purposes. In the worst possible case, the woman herself is killed simply for having a vagina. Known as femicide, this gender crime consists of the systematic killing women for varying reasons, usually cultural.

So, Prell, thanks for touching note on this important cause. But next time, make sure your readers truly understand the day’s primary cause and origination. I think an account of a woman’s personal story, whether local or abroad, would be more effective than giving us a history lesson on the rights of women.

For journalism that is humanistic, relatable and touching, may we honor each woman who has risen the morning after a rape, may we recognize each woman who has left her abusive significant other to move on with her life, may we value our friendships, the women we can rely on day in and day out to support us in times of need.

And lastly, may we celebrate the good men in our lives who protect us from all those filthy scum bags out there who hurt way too many women.

V-Day is about women’s rights. But, more importantly, it’s about the strength, faith, and perseverance that women have taken up when hope is little and subjection is all too alluring.

I encourage you to visit the V-Day Web site. And, if anyone is interested in organizing a fundraiser on this campus for the DRC campaign, please let me know.

Maggie Hesby

Senior

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