This event was co-produced with VDay and Qvintus Teatrae
In March of 2008, Quinto, a small Spanish rural village was dressed in pink to welcome a benefit production of The Vagina Monologues as a part of the VDay Quinto 2008 community project. VDay Quinto 2008 was more than a project to raise awareness and funds for local organizations which work to end violence against women and girls. It was an initiative determined to get the whole community involved, understanding social participation as an educational strategy to hold citizens responsible for the issue of gender violence (as rooted in the unequal and hierarchical social division of human sexuality built upon a set of dichotomies: male-female/active-pasive/dominant-submissive/strong-weak/control-hysteric).
The campaign consisted of three events.
a) The centerpiece of the project was TVM. It aimed to empower and promote the socio-political participation of women in our community. The objective was for female villagers (vecinas) to perform the play, thereby making them the leading protagonists and empowering them in the act of defining and denouncing their situation of vulnerability and/or inequality.
b) Another thought-provoking event was the drawings exhibition - “A world (with)out vaginas” in which local residents (vecinos/as) were invited to use any form of art, together with their imagination and feelings, to express what they understood as a vagina.
The exhibition of vagina drawings was a space to reflect upon the myths, fears, taboos and/or desires surrounding vaginas. The concept vagina became the key element to understand gender violence, with our slogan being: "Isn’t it a form of violence the fact that women do not know, feel ashamed, or disregard an important part of their female body?”
For women, the exhibition was an unprecedented opportunity to reflect upon and discover their bodies, their fears, their pleasure, themselves. For the public, the exhibition was an effective tool to educate, raise awareness about violence, break the silence and celebrate women.
c) Lastly, the Challenging Masculinity Campaign was inspired on the American Organization, Men Can Stop Rape.
The campaign intended to distance itself from the current Spanish discourse which harmfully defines men as “the problem” and puts all the blame on them rather in the social structure.
Posters of vecinos´ photographs with provocative slogans such us “listening, asking and respecting my partner is also men´s stuff” were the backbone of the campaign. The slogans defied traditional “masculine” values and attitudes that perpetuate violence.
Involving vecinos to pose like models is one of the most powerful ways to influence alternative and healthy models of masculinity among the community members. First, by including vecinos as active participants, they are taking responsibility to end violence against women and they act as role models for the other men of the community. Second, it challenges traditional concepts of masculinity which define men as dominant, sexually uncontrollable, aggressive and lacking emotions. And finally, it empowers men as the campaign aims to reconcile attributes of femininity with masculinity. Men are liberated from the yoke of gender violence as well.
In spite of being produced in a small village and despite the fact that female sexuality is still taboo, the show filled the theatre twice. Over 50 volunteers participated. Vecinos, many of whom had reacted with embarrassment and disdain when they were asked to participate, were touched with the show. Men and women cried with emotion. Young boys say they have learnt to love and respect vaginas, many vecinos say they did not know that something so marvelous could be called vagina. VDay Quinto 2008 was produced by Qvintvs Teatrae Cultural Association and all the money raised was for the benefit of Fundacion Ozanam´s Women´s Shelter.
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