Students at Carleton College will present The Vagina Monologues on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. The annual performance seeks to raise awareness of V-Day, a worldwide movement to end violence against women and girls. The performance is open to the public, with a suggested $5 to $15 donation at the door with proceeds benefiting The Hope Center in Faribault and a network of safe houses and legal assistance offices in Haiti.
The Hope Center works against sexual and domestic violence through crisis intervention, counseling, and legal advocacy. Through innovative programming, they offer direct support to victims of violence in Rice County, collaborative support to other organizations that serve victims, and educational support to the entire community. For more information, visithopecentermn.org.
In addition to raising funds for the Hope Center, each year V-Day spotlights a particular group of women who are experiencing violence, with the aim of raising funds to assist local groups in their work. This year’s Vagina Monologues are raising funds for three safe houses and four legal assistance offices fighting violence against women in Haiti. Funds will also provide support to 19 community-based organizations working across the country involved in anti-violence campaigns.
The Vagina Monologues has been performed in over 140 countries and translated into 48 different languages. The author, Eve Ensler, is an activist who has used the enormous popularity of the Monologues to launch V-Day, a nation-wide anti-violence organization that has worked to bring attention to issues of rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation, sex slavery, and other forms of violence against women. Named one of Worth Magazine’s “100 Best Charities” in 2001, and included in GreatNonprofits’ 2010 list of Top-Rated organizations, V-Day has raised over $85 million and extended its support to over 300 million women.
The Vagina Monologues is sponsored by the Carleton College Gender and Sexuality Center. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located on the Carleton campus on First Street between College and Winona Streets in Northfield. For more information on the performance and disability accommodations, please contact Kaaren Williamsen at (507) 222-7179 or at kwilliam@carleton.edu.
