22% of American women experience domestic violence. In the city of Philadelphia, populated by 1.5 million people, there is only ONE shelter for women escaping these domestic violence situation. That shelter has 100 beds and is on the brink of being shut down due to budget cuts. This is the one place for these women to escape these dangerous, harrowing situations before they become deadly. Maybe you saw the Philly Weekly article about it a few weeks ago. Maybe you caught the Metro front page article on Monday stating that two women were slaughtered over the weekend by their intimate partners. Maybe it's time for all of us to do something before there is NO place for these women to run to.
I am involved in this year's production of The Vagina Monologues -- Philadelphia, the proceeds of which will benefit Women Against Abuse, the organization that runs this shelter. Additionally, The Vagina Monologues is a fantastic experience for everyone, vagina or no! Together with Philadelphia's Stop Modern Slavery group, The Vagina Monologues is focused on bringing awareness, inspiring open hearts and minds, and stopping violence and hatred.
Our website is phillyvaginas.webs.com -- this links directly to the VDay Website and provides a link for purchasing tickets. In years past, The Vagina Monologues -- Philadelphia has charged $25 per ticket. However, all of us have felt the economic woes directly in our wallets, so we decided that tickets this year (for the same venue!) will be $10 in advance and $15 at the door. We are hoping that people who might not be able to afford a pricey show can experience our performance and people who can afford will donate to the cause!
If you haven't been before, The Vagina Monologues is definitely an experience. Some people go multiple times per year -- different performers and optional monologues provide a completely different feeling. Additionally, there is a new message for each year. This year, writer Eve Ensler is striving to bring awareness to the situation of systematic rape and torture in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She calls it femicide.
If you are in the Philadelphia area, I hope to see you there!
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This guy seems to be against hate crime legislation not because he genuinely is concerned about free speech issues, but because he wants people to go kill people he doesn't agree with. The trouble with hate crime legislation is that while many people have real bedroom furniture concerns about it, they are drowned out by idiots like this who are afraid that if there is hate crime legislation people might be discouraged from killing single mothers, homosexuals, or the homeless.