Despite persistent efforts by the early Christian church to de-sexualize the pagan celebration on the ides of February, it has remained throughout the centuries as a day to celebrate that which was sacred to Juno Februata, the Goddess of the fever of love, and of women and marriage.
In ancient Rome, February was a time for ritual purification, which seems like a tradition we should consider reinstating. We could use a little purification on occasion, although we might want to skip the part where young men in loincloths run around flogging women with strips of skin from the sacrificed goat to ensure fertility or ease in childbirth. While ease in childbirth is always welcome, I think we could do with less fertility and flogging of women.
In 1994, it was issues of women’s sexuality and violence against women that Eve Ensler explored in her play The Vagina Monologues, which ran off-Broadway for years before touring the country. In reaction to audience response to the play, Ensler and a group of women in New York created V-Day on Valentine’s Day 1998, with a mission to end violence against women and girls. From a single fundraising event that year, V-Day has grown to over 5,800 fund- and awareness-raising events in 48 languages and 140 countries during February, March and April each year, at which The Vagina Monologues or other V-Day works are performed or viewed.
As stated on the V-Dayweb site, their work is grounded in four core beliefs:
- Art has the power to transform thinking and inspire people to act
- Lasting social and cultural change is spread by ordinary people doing extraordinary things
- Local women best know what their communities need and can become unstoppable leaders
- One must look at the intersection of race, class,and gender to understand violence against women
That’s a pretty solid core. Locally, there are numerous V-Day events, starting with three this week at Johnson& Wales University,. Students of Providence College will be holding a V-Day event at the Avon Theater on Thayer Street in Providence on Feb.22nd at 6:30 PM and on Feb. 25th at 1 PM. There will also be an event at URI during that last weekend of the month. Both Rhode Island College and Roger Williams University have events scheduled in March, and the now annual Red Tent event at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, this year on Sunday, March 4th will be followed by a performance of The Vagina Monologues. To find an event near you, go to the Find an Event page on the V-Day web site.
If you can’t make an event this year and want to support the cause, go online and sign up for the One Billion Rising campaign which will culminate next year at this time, and however you celebrate it, may your V-Day be filled with love.
Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.