Guest Author - Brandi Rhoades

When Vagina Monologues hit the press in 1996, it did so with little fanfare. Eve Ensler was a little-known playwright. The following 12 years made Ensler a household name among feminists and brought violence against women to the fore of discussions about women.

The book spawned annual performances, called V-Day, held February 14 of each year. These performances, which are nationally coordinated and have strict guidelines, have people depicting each chapter of Ensler’s book. The performances are most popular on college campuses, and the success of this singular V-Day Project has led to a new initiative.

In 2006, Eve Ensler’s V-Day Project supporters held a rally in New York City called Until the Violence Stops (UTVS). That rally was so successful that the organizers wanted UTVS to become a worldwide phenomenon. The organizers picked Lexington, Kentucky and Cleveland, Ohio as test sites for the program.

The stated goal of the UTVS movement is to make violence against women and girls an issue that cannot be ignored. The organizers hope that by holding week-long rallies throughout the country, more people will become aware of the need to end all forms of violence.

Planning the rallies and attendant events, which include lectures and performances by comedians and musical acts, has not been easy, said Sherry Currens, Executive Director of the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association. KDVA is the group spearheading the Lexington efforts in UTVS.

“Our biggest problem has been getting the word out about it,” Currens said. “We’re part of something [the effort against violence] we really want to grow. It’s really nice to be talking to people [about violence issues].”

KDVA was able to have Robin Givens, the long-time actress, speak at their opening rally. Givens, whose mother is from Lexington, spoke of how violence has been part of her family’s life for generations, beginning with her grandmother and ending with her. Givens has said publicly that she suffered abuse while married to boxer Mike Tyson. Her goal in being part of UTVS is to do something to tell women that they do not have to accept violence as part of their lives.

UTVS focuses in part on domestic assault, which accounts for 900,000 to four million instances of violence against women worldwide, depending on the source for the statistic. Homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant women.

The rallies also bring up less discussed forms of violence, such as genital mutilation. This ritualistic practice is carried out on more than 2 million girls internationally every year. UTVS stop promoters want to raise awareness of these issues with the end goal of making the world safer for women and girls.