VSU’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program Hosts Spring Events

VALDOSTA – Valdosta State University’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program will host spring events throughout March and April to celebrate Women’s History Month and Sexual Violence Awareness Month. 

March:
March is Women’s History Month, and the theme is “Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History.” There will be posters on the pedestrian mall throughout the month featuring women that have and are making history locally, nationally and globally. 

The Vagina Monologues will be held at 7 p.m. March 7, 8 and 9, in the Student Union Theater. The Vagina Monologues is an Obie Award winning play written by Eve Ensler. The play is based on Ensler's interviews with over 200 women about their memories and experiences of sexuality. 

The play is a celebration of female sexuality in all its complexity and mystery. It encourages the audience to think of women as sexual beings who are entitled to express sexual feelings and enjoy sexual experiences free of shame and guilt. It also encourages people to think more deeply about violence against women and how it affects their lives and the lives of those around them.

Prices are $5 for students with ID and $10 for the general public. Proceeds from ticket sales and revenue raised will go to support beneficiaries working to end violence against women. Ten percent of the net profits from the play will be donated to the V-Day 2013 Spotlight: One Billion Rising. The rest of the proceeds will go to support the Women’s and Gender Sexual Violence Education Program.

April:
April is Sexual Violence Awareness Month, and Women’s and Gender Studies will celebrate with The Bandana Project April 9 – 11, in the Pedestrian Mall.  

The Bandana Project is a public awareness campaign aimed at addressing the issue of workplace sexual violence against women migrant farmworkers in the United States. White bandanas are used as a symbol of the sexual exploitation of women farmworkers because women farmworkers have said they use their clothes, including bandanas, to protect them from sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace. 

VSU students, faculty and staff are encouraged to come by and decorate a bandana to show their solidarity with the fight to end workplace sexual violence against women migrant farmworkers. 

Individuals are also invited to view the documentary, “The Line” at 6 p.m., April 15, in the Student Union Theater. The short film will be followed by a discussion about sexual violence on college campuses.

For more information about the events, contact Dr. Tracy Woodard-Meyers at 229-249-4842 or tmeyers@valdosta.edu.