(Actress in the 2017 Production of The Vagina Monologues in Cape Town, South Africa. Photo Credit: Nardus Engelbrecht Photography)

It’s been 19 years since V-Day was founded, since The Vagina Monologues shattered taboos, sharing the stories of women as they had never been told before.  2018 will be our 20^th year.

Since that moment, so many of you have taken to the stage, activated in your communities and on college campuses, and staged massive events in celebration and defiance, in colleges, towns, theaters, churches, state houses, across the world inviting everyone into the dialogue with a common purpose – end violence against women and girls.

Your story is the story of the movement.

In the face of resistance, and at the intersection of art and activism, you have saved lives, raised consciousness, changed laws to protect women and girls, funded rape crisis centers and kept domestic violence shelters from closing, educated your communities, and raised over an astounding $100 million in urgently needed funds for local grassroots groups doing the essential work of ending violence and serving survivors and their families.

Through One Billion Rising, you shook the earth through the massive RISINGS in which over ONE BILLION people danced to end the epidemic of violence, we have shifted consciousness and broken the deadly silence. And every day, you stage art in your community for social change, you RISE, you are in the streets rising against racist patriarchy.

You have made ending sexual violence a front-page issue, never to be silenced again.

These macro moments, are the culmination of micro movements – a woman who leaves an abusive partner, a rape survivor taking the stage and telling her story after years of silence, a man whose eyes are opened to rape culture and who pledges to living a life dismantling it, a young girl watch her mother reclaim cunt and a young boy dancing in the streets.

What’s your story? 

We invite you to help us tell the story of the movement. Create a short video (we suggest between 2-5 minutes in length) telling your story to the camera, or in voice over, or an animated piece. Get creative.

We’ve listed some prompts below, but feel free to share what moves you the most. Remember, the more specific, the more universal.  It’s your story.

• Why did you perform/produce/direct The Vagina Monologues? Why did you participate in One Billion Rising? Why is it important?

• Our team meets many activists who describe the experience of doing a V-Day benefit (o ar a Rising) as transformational.  If that describes you, tell us your story.  Where did the journey of the play take you?

• How have you taken the spirit of V-Day “off the stage”, how did your experience in The Vagina Monologues (or other V-Day work Any One of Us: Words from Prison, A Memory, A Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer) inspire you to incorporate anti-violence activism in your life?

• How did the people you met during a V-Day Production or RISING impact you? Is there one person or a group whose story most reflects that change?

• Which line from The Vagina Monologues moved you the most/has stuck with you? Why?

• How has being part of a global movement informed your participation in V-Day/One Billion Rising? Do you pull inspiration from other events and incorporate them in your life/activism?

• If you could perform The Vagina Monologues and be sure that one person would see you & hear you onstage, who would that be and why?

 

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We are gathering these stories for an upcoming documentary project that will launch during our 20^th Anniversary celebration. Selected submissions will be featured in the documentary – so if there are any details of your story including details of your location or personal story that you do not want broadcast widely, please leave them out of your video. When filming, you are the most important part of the frame. Please shoot against a neutral background, with little to no background noise, avoid capturing anyone other than yourself in the frame. IMPORTANT: Please do not wear any clothing that is branded or with a visible logo, as it will make the video ineligible for use.

Upload your media to DropBox or another file hosting service, and share the URL with us in the form below.