Tuesday, February 8, 2011

"v-day" and new porn empowering women

Valentines day is fast approaching, and so is V-Day, which stands for Victory, Valentine, and Vagina. Founded on Valentines day in 1998 by Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues (1994), which is based on Ensler's interviews with more than 200 women, its mission is to end sexual violence and empower women. Every year, from February through April, performances of The Vagina Monologues and other awareness raising events take place around the world.

To counteract sexually discriminating, often violent images of women in porn, Candida Royalle founded Femme Productions in 1984. The first female producer of adult films catering to women, she was also the first adult film maker to have been invited as a member of The American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists. Her films are used by therapists for their promotion of positive sexual role modeling and ideas about sex.

Today Royalle is joined by ranks of female porn producers who seek to empower women sexually with their films, and who contribute to V-Day events around the world.

At the official V-Day site you can find information about events around the world. Click here to find those near you. In the Twin Cities, events will be hosted by Augsburg College, Macalester College and University of Minnesota. Here in town, there will be a performance of The Vagina Monologues at Carleton College on February 12; and at St. Olaf College a group of "V-Men" will give a presentation on February 21, providing information on hosting a workshop to engage men in a dialogue about ending violence against women. These workshops will be the foundation for an eventual V-Men script entitled 10 Ways to Be a Man, "a collection of monologues of men's voices, ideas and experiences to end violence against women." The beneficiary for both events in town is the Hope Center, whose mission is "to create zero tolerance for sexual and domestic violence through Healing, Outreach, Prevention and Education."

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