Talking violence against women

Nearly everyone has heard of The Vagina Monologues. The cult show crashed onto the international stage in 1996, raising gender issues and eyebrows in equal measure with its frank depiction of female sexuality. Quickly becoming a word-of-mouth sensation, the show premiered in 120 countries, was performed by actresses including Jane Fonda, Glenn Close, Salma Hayek and Rosario Dawson.

During this first wave of success, Eve Ensler, the director-writer-actress behind The Vagina Monologues, founded the charitable organization V-Day. Under the motto "Until the violence stops," V-Day campaigns against sexual and domestic violence against women and girls through nonprofit performances of The Vagina Monologues and its sister-piece A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer. In the past 10 years, the charity has raised more than $70 million, and now V-Day has arrived in Prague.

If The Vagina Monologues is a cult, V-Day enthusiasts - or "vagina warriors," as Ensler styles them - are its missionaries. Director-producer-performer Gail Whitmore, whose day job is crisis counselor, is brimming with evangelical zeal as she describes her production of A Memory appearing three times this week at Prague's Café Sladkovský.

"I've become that annoying person who talks about it all the time," Whitmore says. "I meet people for the first time and say 'Hi, my name's Gail. Have you heard about V-Day?' "

Whitmore's first contact with V-Day was a performance of The Vagina Monologues at New York's Madison Square Garden in 2002.

"After the show, Eve [Ensler] spoke," Whitmore recalls, "and asked anyone who was a survivor [of sexual or domestic violence] to stand up and be recognized, and I stood up. ... It was the first time I'd publicly announced that I was a survivor. It was terrifying and empowering and wonderful."

Ensler then asked anyone who had supported a survivor to stand.

"Almost the whole of Madison Square Garden stood up, about 20,000 people," Whitmore says. "That's when the scale of this hit me, that it is something which really affects everyone."

Whitmore adds that many in the Czech Republic fail to realize rape isn't a crime that only occurs abroad.

"There is often a mistaken feeling here, especially in the expat community, that [rape] is something which happens somewhere else," she says.

In fact, one or two rapes are officially reported here every day, and it is estimated only 8 percent of rapes are reported.

About 90 percent of the proceeds from the Prague performances of A Memory will go to Persefona, a Brno-based charity supporting victims of domestic violence. The remaining 10 percent of performance proceeds will go to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where, in provinces worst hit by sectarian violence, three-quarters of women and girls have been raped. Soldiers and guerilla fighters use public gang rape to terrorize communities into obedience, and victims are aged anywhere between 10 months and 90 years old. All V-Day productions in 2009-10 are donating part of their proceeds to Congo, and the money will be used to fund City of Joy, a hospital, community center and shelter for rape survivors.

All of the actors in Whitmore's production are nonprofessionals from the local community. Some were prompted to volunteer by their personal experience as survivors, including Christi Brooks, who was sexually assaulted twice in her early teens.

"When I told my mom [about the second incident], she said 'That's the second time it's happened, so don't tell anyone because they're bound to think it's something you did,' " Brooks said. "Various people who should have been supportive told me that it's private and not something I should be talking about. I'm doing this [play] because it's important for people to know it's OK to talk about this."

Alasdair Bouch, one of the show's male volunteers, agrees.

"God knows survivors are trapped enough dealing with this, without having to keep quiet," he says.

Asked why a man would volunteer on a project like this, he looks bemused.

"Rape is not a women's problem. It's a human problem," he says. "In fact, given the part men play, you could say it's a male problem."

Whitmore says the play is about "breaking the silence," which can be intimidating. "My mom said to me on the phone recently, 'Are you sure you're comfortable with being associated with this?' and I said, 'No, I'm scared, but someone needs it to be out there.' "

But, she says, things could be worse.

"I read that everywhere Eve Ensler goes, she gets called 'the vagina lady.' "

Natalia O'Hara can be reached at
features@praguepost.com