GLOBAL NETWORKING FOR CHANGE: VIRTUAL WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS

Liane Curtis

Graduate Program in Communications Department ofArt History and Communication Studies McGill University, Montreal

July 2002

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements ofthe degree ofMaster ofArts

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Canada ABSTRACT

This thesis explores how women's organizations are using communication technologies and strategies for global social change. In 2002, the combination of CUITent feminist theory that highlights issues of cultural specificity and digital communications technology is enabling new possibilities for women's organizations to engage in global feminist practices. Based on feminist theory, communications theory and feminist media literature, this thesis formulates an evaluative framework for assessing the communicative potential ofV-Day, a virtual women's organization. The analysis moves beyond this case study to inform the potential global feminist practices ofother women's organizations.

RÉSUMÉ

Cette thèse explore la façon dont les organismes féminins utilisent les technologies et stratégies de communication pour le changement social global. En 2002, la combinaison de la théorie féministe actuelle, qui met au premier plan les questions de la spécificité culturelle, et de la technologie des communications digitales est en train de créer de nouvelles possibilités pour les organismes féminins de s'impliquer dans l'activisme social mondial. Basée sur la théorie féministe, la théorie des communications et la littérature des media féministes, cette thèse formule un encadrement évaluatif pour analyser le potentiel communicationnel de V-Day, un organisme virtuel féminin, et des organismes féminins en général. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

1 am deeply indebted ta my supervisor, Dr. Sheryl Hamilton, for her invaluable insight and spirited guidance throughout my entire graduate experience.

For providing me with enriching research opportunities, 1would like ta express my gratitude ta Dr. Will Straw.

For taking time out oftheir hectic schedules, answering my endless questions, and ultimately making this research possible, 1would like ta thank Karen, Andrew, Susan, Willa and Cecile from V-Day.

Many thanks ta John Shiga for his support until the very end.

My final thank you ta my parents for their love and unwavering faith in my abilities. TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE: THE BEGINNING OF GLOBAL FEMINIST PRACTICES 1

1. INTRODUCTION 1

2. V-DAY: A VIRTUAL GLOBAL WOMEN'S ORGANIZATION 3

3. CHAPTER BREAKDOWN 8

CHAPTER TWO: GLOBAL NETWORKING: THE INTERSECTION OF RECENT

FEMINIST THEORY, COMMUNICATIONS AND WOMEN'S

ORGANIZATIONS 10

1. NEW BEGINNINGS IN FEMINIST THEORY: STARTING FROM

DIFFERENCE '" 10

2. THE INTERNET: THE HEART OF NETWORKING 22

3. WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS AND FEMINIST MEDIA 31

4. AN EVALUATIVE FRAMEWORK 36

CHAPTER THREE: A VIRTUAL GLOBAL ORGANIZATION TO END

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN 44

1. V-DAY: UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS .44

2. ASSESSING THE TENSIONS OF GLOBAL FEMINIST PRACTICES .49

3. REFLECTIONS ON THE ROAD TO GLOBAL CHANGE 87

CHAPTER FOUR: THE FUTURE OF FEMINIST ACTIVISM 89

1. V-DAY: WHAT LIES AHEAD 89

2. GLOBAL NETWORKING FOR CHANGE 91

REFERENCES 94

APPENDIX A: V-DAY'S HOMEPAGE 100

APPENDIX B: V-DAY'S MAP OF THE WORLD 101 CHAPTER ONE: THE BEGINNING OF GLOBAL FEMINIST PRACTICES

1. INTRODUCTION

During the winter of 2000, 1 received an online petition deploring the stoning of thousands of women in Afghanistan. People from all over the world had signed this petition. It had traveled virtually to the five continents and would end up in the inbox ofa

United Nations commissioner in Geneva, demanding social justice be served. This incident marked the beginning ofa revelatory experience for me: activism at the click ofa mouse. Over the last few years, online activism has grown exponentially as grassroots, national and international organizations have built websites and created online social justice campaigns. Today, this online phenomenon has reached whole new levels as organizations are now making the Internet their home and participating in global networking. Feminist activists have been integrally involved in creating and participating in the new terrain ofsocial action. Global networking is the new age offeminist activism.

th On September 29 , 2000, a special broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show, drew attention to a number ofonline organizations fighting to end violence against women on a global scale. The program focused on the state ofwomen's lives in Afghanistan, Africa,

Bangladesh and the United States. It examined female genital mutilation, honor killings and acid attacks, and introduced the respective organizations. The website addresses for

V-Day, Equality Now, RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of

Afghanistan), Women For Women, and Healing The Children-Florida were posted, and viewers were called to action through what Oprah Winfrey called, the "modem miracle of the Internet". The episode was a shocking, disturbing and ultimately empowering hour as it provided concrete ways ofbecoming involved in the cause. At the end ofthe program 1

1 visited the websites. l was amazed by the ingenuity of the organizations, by their use of the Internet. These websites are platforms for action. They list numerous ways individuals can become involved in their struggles to end violence against women.

Visitors are invited to sign online petitions, forward the website to friends, host online discussion forums to raise awareness about women's rights, write to govemment officiaIs, send cameras to help document the human rights violations and host local fundraisers.

These are only a few examples of possible action-based initiatives for online feminist activism.

Communication technologies and feminist activism have finally begun to consolidate. This fusion has resulted in the formation of virtual women's organizations.

What exactly is a virtual organization? A virtual organization is an organization that exists strictly online. In other words, it does not exist as a physical entity, in a specifie geographic location. Instead, it exists on the net. Virtual organizations are playing a central role in emerging worldwide practices.

We are presently at a unique historical moment. In 2002, feminist theory and communication practices are creating greatly improved conditions of possibility for global social change. The combination of CUITent feminist theory that foregrounds issues of cultural specificity and digital communications technology are enabling women's organizations to partake in shared social action on a worldwide scale. They are facilitating what l am calling global networking. These observations provoked me to further investigate how exactly women's organizations are using communication technologies and strategies for global activism. In this thesis, l will examine a case study of global feminist networking.

2 To do this 1 explore the communications practices and strategies of V-Day, a virtual women's organization. Researching how women's organizations are using communication technologies and strategies to build potential global feminist practices of interconnectedness entails studying specific organizational practices and their communication strategies. For example, how is the Internet being used to do different types ofwork within social activism? Is the Internet enabling V-Day to achieve its goals?

How is V-Day engaging in global feminist practices? Is it transcending cultural barriers on a global level and producing solidarity? Are cultural differences being addressed and ifso, how?

2. V-DAY: A VIRTUAL GLOBAL WOMEN'S ORGANIZATION

V-Day caUs itself a global movement to end violence against women and girls. It is also a day, February 14th ofevery year, to celebrate women and demand an end to violence. V­

Day provides the tools for communities around the world to stage benefit productions of

Eve Ensler's award winning play, The Vagina Monologues. This play is based on hundreds of interviews with women worldwide about their bodies. V-Day uses the proceeds from these performances to fund activist efforts at local, national, and internationallevels.

V-Day was one of the organizations highlighted on Oprah Winfrey's special broadcast. It is a virtual women's organization. The V-Day website acts as a headquarters. It is not simply a public sign posted on the web; it is the organization. It provides information on V-Day's history, vision and mission. It is also a transmission site for aU ofits action-based initiatives.

3 V-Day's two mam initiatives are the College and Worldwide Campaigns.

Schools and communities around the world perfonn The Vagina Monologues to raise awareness and money for local women's groups fighting to end violence against women.

This year 40 countries participated in V-Day. V-Day's social action campaigns also inc1ude: the "International Stop Rape Contest", the "Speak Up with V-Day and Lifetime

Television Initiative", and the "Spotlight on Afghan Women". These initiatives invite women and girls to develop innovative action plans to stop rape in their communities, send online cards to govemment officiaIs urging them to support legislation aimed at stopping violence against women, and raise awareness about the plight ofAfghan women.

V-Day's action-based campaigns are in constant expansion.

l have chosen V-Day as my case study for several reasons besides personally believing it is an innovative organization with great potential. First, V-Day is a high profile women's organization. Its presence in the Western mass media and worldwide digital press has made V-Day visible to the general population in North America and beyond. This has contributed to my research by providing a wealth of media documentation. Second, the fusion ofperfonnative art and online activism makes V-Day a unique and creative entity. It offers a new venue for activism in tenns of the popular interest it generates. This aspect of V-Day is significant as l seek to infonn an audience that is not limited to the academy. Finally, V-Day is the ideal case study for my research as it is a virtual women's organization working towards building global practices. First,

V-Day is a Western organization working towards change in developing countries.

Second, it has been accused of fostering liberal feminist values while at the same time partnering with women's groups like the Revolutionary Association of the Women of

4 Afghanistan. As such, V-Day embodies the very tensions that are involved in global practice, the tensions that make this work interesting.

In order to study this virtual organization l conducted an ongoing analysis of its website, examined media coverage, organizational documents (specifically, The V-Day

2002 Worldwide Campaign Organizer's Toolkit), and interviewed the key organizers of

V-Day. Although l have been following the website for two years and this informs my analysis, the primary documentation used for my thesis was collected between January and June of2002. The website was assessed following guidelines that were developed for evaluating Internet resources. These guidelines include content, authority, accuracy and timeliness, and accessibility (www.metrac.org/programs/info/assess.htm). From an extremely large amount of media coverage, l chose high profile media instances that are likely to have made an impact on V-Day's reach and image. These include, a V-Day feature on The Oprah Winfrey Show, HBO's presentation of The Vagina Monologues, local coverage South Africa's Mail & Guardian, a Women 's Enews piece, and feature articles in Time, Newsweek and Marie-Claire. The V-Day 2002 Campaign Organizer's

Toolkit provides insights into the conditions of participation in the College and

Worldwide Campaigns, the guidelines, and a description of the organization's media relations. l conducted semiformal telephone interviews to discuss the nature of the organization, its operations, and its communication strategies for making global social change for women. l interviewed Executive Director, Willa Shalit; Director of the

Worldwide Campaign, Cecile Lipworth; Director of the College Campaign, Karen Obel;

Communications Director, Susan Cecilia Swan; and Technology Director, Andrew Shalit.

Follow-up questions were conducted by telephone and email.

5 Studying a virtual organization's communication practices is more complex than going online as not aIl communication practices and strategies are visible on the website.

The organization is more than a website and as such, it is crucial to speak to the key directors. It also helped to compensate for the public promotional aspect of a website. 1 found it is more difficult to locate and make direct contact with organizers of a virtual organization, as the website is less likely to provide a telephone number and address for individuals. A downside of choosing a high profile organization is that the staff tend to be less available for interviews as they are often traveling and giving interviews to the press. Luckily, despite their hectic schedules, the V-Day staff were extremely accommodating and helpful. 1 managed to conduct the interviews needed by sending numerous emails and making many phone calls. Once 1 had contacted a person working for V-Day in Montreal, 1 was able to obtain a telephone number for the Director of the

Worldwide Carnpaign. A few more telephone calls led to an interview and this initiated a new chain ofreferences that lead to the completion ofmy interviews.

Although the website is central to my research, my analysis goes beyond the site to study the organizational practices found at the intersection of communications and global feminism. In my research, 1 draw upon theories of feminism, postmodemism, development and communications. From this literature, 1 forrnulated an evaluative frarnework with which 1 analyzed V-Day's potential for engaging in effective global feminist practices.

My research maps out the ways in which V-Day is striving to improve the lives of women on a global scale, and therefore, how others might. 1 will analyze and demonstrate how contemporary feminist theory can be linked to communication practices to create viable global feminist change. My research is important within the field of

6 communications, as it recognizes a relatively new technology and examines how this technology can help to create socially and politically active networks. This research also addresses feminist theory and demonstrates how postmodem issues of difference are not necessarily at odds with building global networks and affinity politics. Both can be embraced to effectively join the movement to end sexist oppression. l am optimistic about the possibilities facing present feminist activism and at the very least, hope this spirit cornes through in my work.

This leads me to the implications and values of a case study. Through my involvement as a participant in V-Day's College Campaign in 2000 and through many discussions with the people l interviewed, l have developed a relationship with the organization and its directors. This relationship has added to the challenge of formulating a critical analysis of V-Day and its practices. However, as a researcher my goal is to be critically analytical and constructive. l stress that my intention is not to make value judgments about V-Day but to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses as an example of an organization attempting to create global change. In this sense, V-Day is part of a larger context and is contributing to improving global feminist practices, as other women's organizations will be able to learn from the hurdles and challenges it faces.

As a graduate student, a woman and a feminist, my most important research goal is to produce knowledge that can be useful to others and accessible to people who do not have a background in communication studies or feminist theory. l want to avoid recreating the gap between academic feminists and activists, between theory and practice. l hope my research will be helpful for women's groups striving to attain successful global practices. l plan on making this research accessible outside academia by circulating it among various women's groups.

7 3. CHAPTER BREAKDüWN

In Chapter Two, l present the theoretical foundation of my analysis. This chapter examines what it means to ask the question: How are women's organizations using communication technologies and strategies for global social change? The overall function of this chapter is to show how feminist theory and communication technologies and practices can be combined to enable global feminist practices. This chapter is divided into three categories: recent feminist theory, networking and the Internet, and women's organizations and feminist media. l begin by discussing the tendencies of recent feminist theory and indicate how it is laying the foundation for building global networks. This will be followed by a discussion ofthe Internet and how it is conducive to creating socially and politically active networks, ultimately enabling women's organizations to partake in global activism. A brief overview of selected literature on women's organizations and feminist media follows. From these three categories l have formulated an evaluative framework to assess the communicative potential of virtual feminist organizations in general, and V-Day in particular.

In Chapter Three l apply my evaluative framework to my case study. This chapter begins with a profile of V-Day, a briefhistory and description ofits mandate and social action campaigns. This is followed by an analysis ofthe organization applying my evaluative framework to my primary data with the goal of assessing V-Day's communicative potential for effective global practices. Finally, l will discuss V-Day's strengths and weaknesses and highlight what they tell us about us about engaging in global feminist practices.

8 In rny concluding chapter l explore sorne of V-Day's future challenges and possibilities. This is followed by a discussion of the CUITent conditions of possibility for global networking for change.

9 CHAPTER TWO: GLOBAL NETWORKING: THE INTERSECTION OF RECENT FEMINIST THEORY, THE INTERNET, AND WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS

This project sits at the intersection of various bodies of literature inc1uding feminist theory, communications theory, and alternative feminist media literature. In this chapter,

1 will explain the three different streams that come together to form this intersection.

From an evaluation of these three streams of literature, 1 develop an evaluative framework. The first stream will highlight recent feminist theory and discuss its implications for global feminism. The second stream highlights communications and the possibilities of global action. More specifically, it will examine the Internet as a technology that is conducive to global feminist practices. The third stream offers a critical engagement with selected literature on women's organizations and feminist media. In each ofthese three streams ofliterature, networking arises as a key concept and practice, in different and interesting ways.

1. NEW BEGINNINGS IN FEMINIST THEORY: STARTING FROM DIFFERENCE ln 2002, feminist theory is playing an integral role in creating greatly improved conditions of possibility for global social change. In the last decade, writing on and by

Third World women has come to draw upon the theoretical perspectives of postmodernism. In their introduction to Feminism/Postmodernism/Development,

Marianne H. Marchand & Jane L. Parpart (1995) provide a c1ear and accessible overview of postmodernism and the postmodern debate as it relates to women's issues and

10 development. Before delving into these debates, 1 examine postmodemism in more detai1. 1

Postmodernism is not easily defined. Jean-François Lyotard (1984) is one ofthe earliest thinkers to name it. He summarizes postmodernism as being an incredulity toward meta-narratives. Meta-narratives refer to discourses that have attempted to explain the world and have been traditionaIly accepted as fact, as "truth" (i.e. Mainly

North American or European grand theories ofhistory and progress). Postmodernists no longer see these meta-narratives as "truth" but rather as privileged discourses that deny and silence other alternative voices. Hence, universal c1aims are abandoned. Marchand &

Parpart write:

Postmodern thinkers reject universal, simplified, definitions of social phenomena, which, they argue, essentialize reality and fail to reveal the complexity of life as a lived experience. Drawing on this broad critique, postmodernists have rejected the search for broad generalizations. They emphasize the need for local, specific, and historicaIly informed analysis, carefuIly grounded in both spatial and cultural contexts. Above aIl they calI for the recognition and celebration of difference(s), the importance of encouraging the recovery of previously silenced voices and an acceptance of the partial nature of aIl knowledge c1aims and thus the limits ofknowing. (4)

Feminists have responded to these postmodern notions in various ways. For many, postmodernism has raised concerns about universalizing and essentializing women. ln this case, to universalize and essential is to theorize women based on the assumption that women and their experiences are essentiaIly the same around the world. This ignores the multiple complex realities of women's lives. Postmodernism has permitted scholars to see that women and their experiences were being theorized in sameness. The glossing

1 Ofthe larger body ofwork on feminism and postmodemism, the following discussion focuses on Third World theory/perspectives as the overall context deals with global practices.

11 over of differences between women was problematic as the real and specifie problems women were facing all over the world were being inadequately addressed and dealt with.

Sorne feminists are concemed with postmodemism's relevance for understanding and creating social change (Marchand & Parpart (1995), Udayagari (1995), Grewal & Kaplan,

(1994), Jaggar (1998), Code (1996), Moller Okin (1998), Ang (1995), Sandoval (1995),

Rathgeber (1995)). Others are concemed that universalizing and essentializing women overlooks the politics ofrepresentation and difference, the specificîty ofwomen's lives all over the world (Scott & Butler (1992), Ferguson (1998), Srebemy-Mohammadi (1996),

Mohanty (1992), McLeer (1998), Harris, (2001), Walker (1995)). The stakes of these discussions are high and they underline the complexîty of feminist theory and practice in the global arena.

In her essay entitled "Challenging Modemization: Gender and Development,

Postmodem Feminism and Activism", Mridula Udayagiri (1995) is concemed that postmodemism's aestheticization and poststructuralism's insistence on discourse avoid and obscure the real struggles ofwomen's oppression and patriarchal structures ofpower relations. With this in mind, Udayagiri asks how postmodem analyses are relevant to development and practice, to a Third World reading public, policy-makers, activists and other actors engaged with development. She points out that while engagement with postmodemist textual analysis may secure positions in academia for women from the

Third World, its political implications for underprivileged women and men must be investigated (Udayagiri: 162). I am not advocating that we embrace postmodemism wholeheartedly; I am calling for what Marchand & Parpart calI "a strategic engagement between feminist and postmodemist thought, but one which will transform both perspectives rather than simply seek an alliance between them"(9). It is crucial that we

12 acknowledge the important theoretical contributions postmodemist critiques have brought to the debate on women and social change, and its deconstruction ofthe humanist project that homogenizes women's experiences. Postmodem feminist theory has led the way to understanding the politics of difference, based on cultural specificity and contextual expenences.

The concems with essentialism and universalism grow out of the crucial need for specificity. These analytic strategies produce "woman" as a singular monolithic subject and homogenize women's experience, ignoring cultural context and individual experience. Universalist and essentialist categories theorize power in limited ways. This has been to the benefit of the West. Women from aIl walks of life, aIl around the world are affected by these strategies.

Although Udayagiri agrees with postmodemist feminist's insistence on the need for contextualizing women's experience she argues that this must be joined with essentialism to bring about social change (see also McLeer 1998). largue that advocating a retum to essentialism and universalism is not the answer. It is time this debate was put to rest as it clearly overlooks difference. There are other ways to come together; it is simply not an aIl or nothing case. l am not suggesting that commonalities between women do not exist nor am l suggesting that these should not be highlighted. However, locating commonalities between women is very different from labeling women as the same. Joan Scott & Judith Butler (1992) also reject the notion that universal values are crucial to politics. They believe that postmodem feminist critiques need to be infused with historicaIlY and culturally specifie categories in order to be effective. Annabelle

Srebemy-Mohammadi (1996) writes:

13 We need to be wary of a universalizing notion of women that produces simplistic, quantitative solutions to gender inequality and to development. Women-and feminists- around the world have different priorities, strategies and purposes as well as different paths to solutions, although mutual support and leaming from others is vital. (241)

Universalism and essentialism have often been used as strategies to bring women together, to create political and social ties. They have been used as strategies to make practices simpler and easier. My response to this is, can't practice be complex?

Doesn't practice need to be complex at times to reflect reality and be effective? We need to find new ways of talking about women that do not render us the same. With others, l suggest we need affinity politics. This implies linking the women's multiple lived realities to larger collective issues. bell hooks (2001) suggests: "Broader perspectives can only emerge as we examine both the personal that is political, the politics of society as a whole, and global revolutionary politics"(27).

There is a fine line between universalizing women's experiences and keeping them at a locallevel. Haraway writes: "We...don't want to theorize the world, much less act within it, in tenus of Global Systems, but we do need an earth-wide network of connections, inc1uding the ability partially to translate knowledges among very different - and power differentiated - communities"(187). This is becoming possible as there now exists a more realistic comprehension of what we must base our affinities upon, and sameness is not the answer. Feminist theory has changed with postmodemity to move beyond debates of universality. Postmodem feminist analysis contributes to a new kind of feminism, one that has the possibility of being global because it engages in and confronts difference. This engagement in difference enables us to account for

14 contemporary global conditions. 1 argue that these advances have opened the door for a new kind ofglobal feminism.

ln Scattered Hegemonies: Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practices,

Inderpal Grewal & Caren Kaplan (1994) point out that many feminists see postmodemism as a movement toward ambivalence, an engagement with aesthetic movements rather than as a thorough critique ofmodemism and modemity. They stress:

"what gets left out ofsuch considerations are the concems ofmany women across cultural divides regardless of whether or not they choose to describe themselves as

"feminists"(Grewal and Kaplan: 22). Grewal and Kaplan offer a very interesting view of postmodemism. They describe how it has often been presented as a choice; feminists can choose to either be for or against postmodemism. In response to this they write:

Yet, recognizing the structure and dynamics of postmodemity is a necessity rather than a luxury or a simple choice. For world cultural, economic, and political conditions have become such that we must devise ways in which feminist practices can work against ever­ changing, patriarchal collaborations all over the globe. (Grewal and Kaplan: 21)

It is crucial that we ask: what is the fundamental bond of feminism? Is it something we are or is it something we do? 1 argue that the bond offeminism lies in what we do, in practice. In Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, hooks (2000) introduces a definition offeminism that emphasizes the how offeminism:

Feminism is a struggle to end :~exist oppression. Therefore, it is necessarily a struggle to eradicate the ideology of domination that permeates Western culture on various levels, as well as a commitment to reorganizing society so that the development of people can take precedence over imperialism, economic expansion, and material desires. (26)

15 l revise this definition to not only pertain to the West, as the ideology ofdomination does not have geographical borders. At the same time, l clarify that feminism is a struggle to end sexist oppression wherever it happens to be, which is not to say it happens everywhere and in the same ways. According to hooks' definition, feminism is not based on identity but rather on "struggle", on practice.

Grewal and Kaplan also stress the importance of practice: "The issue of who counts as a feminist is much less important than creating coalitions based on the practices that different women use in various locations to counter the scattered hegemonies that affect their lives"(18). What ifwe were to conceptualize the bond of feminism as coming out of practice, out of networking or action? l suggest that the solutions to women's various problems and oppressions are not the same. We must stress feminist practice as opposed to feminist identity. The debates regarding universalism need to be put to rest so that we can begin to work effectively to make positive changes in the lives of women and men around the world. We clearly know that women are not the same, that they do not have the same experiences from country to country, from village to village, from one household to another. This does not mean we cannot build global ties and networks and work together towards different goals using cooperative means. Grewal and Kaplan

(1994) write:

Despite sorne shared critical perspectives boundaries exist and continue to exist, thus accounting for differential experiences that cannot be contained under the sign of a universal woman or women. Acknow1edging and specifying such differences must accompany any detailed articulation oflinks between women. (18)

Feminism is intemally heterogeneous. With this in mind, difference becornes logical to feminism. In order to build global ties we must start from difference. l advocate the

16 need for what Donna Haraway (1991) caUs"...partial, locatable, critical knowledges

sustaining the possibility of webs of connection caUed solidarity in politics and shared

conversations in epistemology"(19l).

Grewal and Kaplan's (1994) explorations are very pertinent to the issues l am addressing and their work points to the very important need for revision in feminist strategy. In their anthology, they explore how feminist work is done across cultural divides. They advocate feminism that is based on the notions of difference, cultural specificity and earth-wide practices. Grewal and Kaplan stress the need "to compare multiple, overlapping, and discrete oppressions...to map these scattered hegemonies and link diverse local practices to formulate a transnational set of solidarities"(19). l refer to this feminism as "global" whereas they refer to it "transnational". Grewal and Kaplan c1aim that "global feminism" has conventionaUy stood for a kind of Western imperialism and has failed to respond to the needs of contemporary global conditions. The term has

"elided the diversity of women's agency in favor of a universalized Western model of women's liberation that celebrates individuality and modernity"(Grewal and Kaplan: 17).

It seems Grewal & Kaplan associate global with the notion of "global sisterhood". "Global sisterhood" has been widely critiqued in feminist circ1es as an essentialist and universalist mode!. It is controversial because it is based on the idea of common oppression as a basis for bonding. This idea of shared oppression based on the notion of an essential woman is a false platform that masks how systems of domination interlock and disguises the true nature of women's varied and complex social reality

(hooks 2000; Pinterics 2001). It also assumes aU women are victims and in a sense means that women have to view themselves as "victims" to feel women's liberation is relevant to them. Sisterhood based on a shallow notion ofbonding has been widely rejected. Today,

17 feminist theory suggests we come together on the basis of our political commitment, not on the basis of a supposedly shared victimization. This explains, to sorne extent, why

Grewal & Kaplan are weary ofthe term "global".

Rowever, in my opinion the term "transnational" does not do justice to the possibilities ofan earth-wide network offeminist practices. 1want to reappropriate "global feminism". 1 am not using the term "global" in opposition to its binary term "local" or in the sense ofan essentialist global sisterhood. 1am using it to mean "earth-wide" including the "local". Global feminism means addressing the needs ofwomen around the world in the specificity oftheir relationships to various patriarchal oppressions. It means an earth­ wide network ofconnection, based in practice, on the ability to start from difference, from specificity, and to work together in solidarity to improve the lives ofwomen and men from patriarchal oppression. It implies shared social action on a wider scale.

It is crucial that feminist theorists and activists find equilibrium; a solid ground, where differences can be celebrated and political action can be mobilized. This is especially important when focusing on global movements. Taken to its extreme form, the celebration of differences and multiple identities, encouraged by postmodem feminism, can stymie effective collective action (Marchand & Parpart). Feminist scholar, Susan

Moller ükin (1998) addresses this problem in her article, "Feminism, Women's Ruman

Rights, and Cultural Differences". Moller ükin explains that in the early 1990s there was a deep rift between feminist activists and postmodemist feminist theorists. She claims that postmodem antiessentialist critiques were at times exaggerated, "carried to the extreme of asserting that no generalization at aIl could or should be made about women, gender, mothering or many other topics that sorne feminists thought it was still important to be able to discuss"(43). While Third World feminists and grassroots activists were preparing

18 to gain the recognition of women rights as human rights by the international community they were having very different experiences, discovering important general truths that affected the lives of many women around the world (Moller Okin; 45). They were not contending that women's problems were identical throughout the world but were finding that, for example, women are greatly affected by laws and customs having to do with sexuality, marriage, divorce, child custody, and family life as a whole (Moller Okin; 45).

Moller Okin's article highlights the importance of finding a balance between postmodern theories of differences that are so pluralistic and contextualized they lack any generalized base for solidarity politics, and universalist assumptions that render all women the same

(see Ferguson 1998). We must find commonalities upon which to build networks of affinity politics.

How can we engage In effective global feminist practices? My position resonates with the model of global feminist practices endorsed by hooks (2000), Code

(1998), Ferguson (1998) and Jaggar (1998). To begin, we must stop seeing differences as boundaries and instead, learn to understand them. We must acknowledge that there is no single strategy or formula for ending sexist oppression which can accommodate different social problems around the world. It is possible for people to affirm their differences while working towards solidarity (hooks 2000). Learning about each other's cultures, sharing our knowledge and skills, and really listening to the problems and needs ofothers is critical to building global ties between women in different countries. This strength is gained from diversity, through networking. hooks writes: "Women need to come together in situations where there will be ideological disagreements and work to change that interaction so communication occurs"(65). First and foremost, this means critical dialogue between Western and Non-Western feminists (Jaggar 1998). Rather than pretend union,

19 women must acknowledge that we are divided, that we have different needs and problems, and must develop strategies in accordance with that realization. This will happen "by drawing cautiously circumscribed global conclusions out of sensitive local mappings, in critical, cross-cultural comparisons" (Code 1998: 76). Local inquiry can inform global knowings and suggest global strategies without effacing cultural specificity. From this perspective, the local and the global inform each other; they are connected. Ann Ferguson

(1998) endorses a similar basis for global feminist practice. She suggests we can:

...constitute our politics by agreeing with others defined by a similar positionality to fight for certain social justice demands, such as abortion rights, freedom from male violence, affordable childcare, or adequate research on women's health issues....but doing so not by abstracting away from local contexts. (107)

By establishing affinity networks, which Ferguson calls "building bridge identities", we can work toward an inclusive global feminism, a solidarity that fosters alliances to fight various forms ofsocial domination.

In our CUITent era of globalization, thinking globally about the state of

women's lives has become increasingly important. Code (1998) writes: "Thinking

globally is essential for understanding how power and privilege are maintained by

corporations, systems, operations, and agendas that are by no means purely local"(80).

Although sorne would challenge the possibility ofglobal feminist dialogue on the grounds

that feminism is not a worldwide movement, but rather a Western phenomenon, this is in

fact not true (Jaggar 1998: 18).2 According to Angela Miles (2000), "feminism is

necessarily an intemationalist politics, for the systems of exploitation and control we

resist are global"(6). In the nineteenth century women struggled to work together across

2Jaggar references Jayawardena (1986) who documents that women in Asia and the Middle East have fought collectively against their subordination from the late nineteenth century on.

20 boundaries ofnation, class, race and culture in international networks throughout Europe,

Scandinavia, North America and Latin America planting the seeds of a global movement

(Miles 2000).

Global feminist practices and networks have grown enormously in scope and potential. They can be seen in the rising number of women's organizations and international conferences. Above, 1 argued that global feminist politics must be understood as a process of interconnecting and producing multiple knowledges based on both local contextual understandings and actions, and on sorne shared generalized analytical categories or starting points (Ferguson: 96). International issue-defined feminism embodies these ideas. The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, The

International Commission for the Abolition of Sexual Mutilation, The International

Women and Realth Network, and Women Rights are Ruman Rights Network are examples of international issue-defined feminism. Many regional organizations are also making contributions to the development of inclusive global feminist politics by participating in international networks, conferences and publications (Miles 2000: 7).

Feminists' growing ability to work together has been reflected in many United

Nations' sponsored conferences such as Ruman Rights in 1993, Population in 1994, the

World Women's Congress in Beijing in 1995, and the recent Summit for Afghan Women in 2002. The World March of Women against poverty and violence in the Year 2000 is also an example of a global feminist coalition that has taken on an entirely new form. It was instigated by Quebec feminists who caIled on women's groups worldwide to take action by organizing local events related to these themes in their own country. The local

th events began on March 8 , 2000 and ended with marches in aIl the participating countries with national coordinating committees and an international march at the United Nations

21 h in New York, on October l i , 2000. One hundred and fifty-seven countries took part in this event and as such, the March "honours and nourishes global feminism's local roots and women's growing capacity to work together"(Miles 1998: 8). Thus, we can see that global feminist communities are not philosophical fantasies but real entities that exist and have begun to work. Networking and communications are at the heart of finding affinities with other women worldwide on the basis ofshared strengths and resources and planning action for social change.

2. COMMUNICATIONS: THE HEART OF NETWORKING l have overviewed recent feminist theory, part of the equation creating the conditions of possibility for effective global feminist practices and social change. Communications is another key factor that is at the heart of CUITent potential global feminist practices. When we discuss communications in 2002, new technology inevitably surfaces in these discussions. It has become central to communication strategies and it is opening up a new world of possibility to organizations and individuals who want to become involved in social change. Global feminism needs an outlet, a medium through which various groups and organizations living different oppressions can network, exchanging information, ideas, strategies, support and raising awareness. The Internet is the ideal tool for building relations with other organizations and individuals, for networking.

Networking is ultimately feeling connected by being connected to people or communities aIl over the world. It takes place on many levels and in many forms.

Networking can occur at an individual, organizational and global level. It is the ideal vehic1e for bringing difference and cooperation together in practice. It is about communication. The practice of networking allows people to live their own lives locaIly,

22 yet to think and act globally as well. It does not attempt to build coalitions on sameness by overlooking and obscuring the differences between women's lived realities. Networks are like threads allowing us to share our unique, unusual, sometimes common experiences

(Rush, 1996).

ln Women Transforming Communications: Global Intersections, Ramona Rush

(1996) outlines the history of women's networking and explains its role as central to feminist practices. Historically, women came together in interpersonal networks (i.e. telephone). This networking among women brought basic elements of individual empowerment through sharing information, knowledge and support using direct or mediated communication channels. Today there is a new medium for networking. Rush

(1996) writes: "Humans are entering the twenty-first century with a far greater potential for networking, being websters, being beings through connection, than at any time in literate history because of powerful advances in communications and information technologies"(xvi). This research seeks to assess how one organization is producing and manifesting this concept.

Claude Fisher (1985) offers a useful frame for studying technology. His approach stresses the sociology of technology, and 1 suggest this frame is especially suitable for the Internet. Fisher argues for incorporating agency into the study of technology. He writes: "We must ask how and why purposeful actors choose to adopt specifie technologies and what they do with them...This 1eads us to think oftechnologies as facilitators of human action rather than as directors of it"(295). Communications theorist, Sara Kiesler (1997), endorses a similar approach: "People's behavior, not just the attributes of technology, determine whether a technology is amplifying or transformative"(xiii). This view of technology is ideal for my research as it avoids the

23 pitfalls of technological determinism and foregrounds human agency. International political economist, Gillian Youngs (2001), stresses that increasing numbers of people, groups and organizations are operating across virtual space. She writes:

This has implications for new thinking about agency because the precise ways in which we occupy and utilize social spaces...are aspects of the kinds of relative power we possess as weIl as the possibilities we envisage for social and individual transformations. (93)

1 approach the study of Internet by asking: How does this technology help people attain their ends? 1 stress that the discussion that follows is not an in-depth critical analysis of the Internet. It is an exploration ofhow women's organizations can and are using it.

Why is the Internet an ideal medium for networking? To begin, the Internet has the ability to reproduce the feeling of community on a wider and faster scale than other technologies. (i.e. across geographical borders). The Internet can potentially reach people at every corner of the globe and allows these people to communicate. Anne Scott, Lesley

Semmens & Lynette Willoughby (2001) explain: "Social, economic, and political networks that were once heavily based on geographic proximity are being replaced by a new space of flows - networks based on affinity"(16). Women with disparate concerns and backgrounds can mobilize together online around political initiatives despite their cultural, racial and sexual differences (Scott-Dixon (1999), Pinterics (2001)). Alyson E.

King & Avi Hyman (1999) state:

The most exciting aspect of the Internet is its potential for building communities that cut across borders and distances...activist groups can be created around common interests and needs that allow women to discuss, plan events, organize and support each other in their struggles without having to be in the same physicallocation. (13)

Thus, the Internet is enabling the formation of new global communities of affinity networks.

24 Although global communities come together around common interests, their differences are not lost. Women's electronic networking allows individual women to build affinity networks based on difference. Gillian Youngs (2001) stresses the importance ofviewing virtual activity in the context ofits social setting. She writes:

Therein lies the fabric of local-global connections...the virtual work which is undertaken on the net is woven into the networking and strategizing ofmore familiar concrete social spaces and places...it flows out ofthem and to them.. .it is firmly grounded in the embodied lives and communities ofthose involved. (89)

Through the sharing of our detailed histories, local specificities and global connections, our virtual voiees can work towards new, potentially shared understandings. Internet practices allow individuals and organizations in their locations and specificities to connect with people aIl over the world, enabling global practices based in difference. This signifies that local concerns and specificities can be maintained while global connections are made. In this sense, the Internet is a technology that is both local and global as it allows for autonomy at the local level and simultaneously enables global networks to be rethought.

Laurel Gilbert & Crystal Kile (1996), Sara Kiesler (1997), Anita Harris (1998),

Alyson King (1999), Alyson E. King & Avi Hyman (1999), Jennifer McCready & Pamela

Millar (1999), Natasha Pinterics (2001), Krista Scott-Dixon (1999), Paula Wansborough

(1999) and Barbara Warnick (1999) are part of the growing body of feminist scholars to explore the use of the Internet for women's networking, research and organizing and through email.mailing lists and databases.

The Internet is a useful tool for research as it provides a rich library of extensive resources through the World Wide Web and numerous other search engines. Information

25 can be found and disseminated quickly, to anywhere in the world, at any time. Laurel

Gilbert & Crystal Kile (1996) write:

The internet can be a powerful tool for communication and the dissemination ofinformation that can help women and aIl peoples in the struggle for self-determination...the flip side of 'divide and conquer' is, ofcourse, 'network and resist with every resource available to you'. (5)

Natasha Pinterics (2001) underlines how cyberspace has been used as a prime site to find information about feminist theory and narratives, as weIl as to "dig up facts about various actions organizations and actions taking place in different communities"(17). The Diana

Project, an international women's human rights database, is a key example of how the

Internet can be used effectively by women's groups to produce resources that are useful for an international community. Jennifer McCready & Pamela Millar (1999) explain that this database is the collaborative venture of a consortium of law libraries, university- based human rights centers, and other non-govemmental human rights organizations.

Websites, mailing lists and newsgroups also provide valuable knowledge and support on almost any topic (King (1999), O'Grady & Poxon (1999), Wansborough (1999), Warnick

(1999)).

The Internet's perpetuaI accessibility, instantaneous dissemination of information and low-cost reproduction make it a unique facilitator for social activism.

How can feminists take advantage of this? Within minutes, by using a computer and plugging into electronic networks, a woman in Bangladesh can share an idea for organizing with a woman in South Africa; and a woman in Norway can send much- needed documents to her friend in China. Kiesler (1997) gives a concrete example of how the Internet has facilitated political mobilization. She explains that the Internet was used for sharing information and planning action in response to the crisis during the

26 Tienamen Square confrontations, permitting nearly real time mobilization and coordination (Kiesler 1997: xiii).

Email embodies the Internet's interactive nature and is an essential tool for women's electronic networking. Wansborough (1996) c1aims that using email-based information systems will save hundreds of dollars in long distance te1ephone charges, faxes, stationary, postage and lengthy delays. Scott, Semmens & Willoughby (2001) underline that political networking via email, was successful in determining the outcome of the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing; "the campaign influenced both the conference's primary agenda and the scope of its associated non-govemmental organization"(9). In addition, the ease (i.e. publishing without going through publishers) and cost effectiveness of publishing on the web have made it possible to develop an international women's listing magazine. These factors make platforms available to more people and catalyze the development ofmore democratic epistemologies (Scott, Semmens

& Willoughby 2001).

The Internet does not rely on a central authority and therefore, challenges existing institutional configurations. Controlled from the bottom up, "every desktop can be a broadcasting station or a printing press"(Scott-Dixon 1999: 130). This makes the

Internet "a politically sensitive technology"(Kiesler 1997: xi). Along the same lines,

Donna Allen (1996) c1aims that new media technology is helping build a more democratic structure for communications (331). It enables the exchange ofviews, opinions and news that might not be possible in other media under govemment censorship and control. This challenges the traditional belief that the technological basis of the media is a threat to democracy. With the Internet, anyone can initiate a message to one or many receivers in actual time or as stored data. Mark Poster (2001) points out that it is also decentralized

27 "at the basic level oforganization, since, as a network ofnetworks, new networks may be added"(175). The decentralization of communications facilitates more open, direct communication that in turn fosters working for joint goals. Hosken (1996) stresses this point: ".. .it is essential to build networks of direct communications based on free exchange of information, independent of the male-dominated international press"(210).

The Internet is both a way of networking and a way of sharing and seeking information about networking.

To date, the Internet has mostly been studied and understood as an extension of existing institutions. This has happened despite the fact that the Internet is an unprecedented technology in terms ofthe new social functions it institutes. In What 's the

Matter with the Internet, Poster (2001) claims modem perspectives reduce the Internet to a tool but that it is more like a social space. In order to study these new social functions, we must move beyond an instrumentalist framework. Maintaining this kind offramework is not suitable, as it does not address contemporary (postmodern) conditions. Poster recognizes the importance of "framing the change to postmodernity in a way that opens the analysis to political possibilities"(9). He suggests we examine the Internet in relation to new forms of old democracy and claims: "One may characterize postmodern democracy...as one that opens new positions of speech, empowering previously excluded groups and enabling new aspects of social life to become part of the political process"(175). While the Internet has been accused of e1itism, there exists a strong and growing grassroots participation. It is within these vibrant circles that new voices can be found.

The Internet opens up a space for new politics in the sense that it provides a forum for previously excluded voices to be heard and come together. In his research,

28 Poster focuses on how the Internet instantiates new forms ofinteraction and new relations ofpower between participants. These new relations ofpower are based on the notion that a subject can construct himselfor herselfbecause:

...the acts of discourse are not limited to one-way address and not constrained by the gender or ethnic traces inscribed in face-to-face communications the salient characteristics of the internet community is the diminution of prevailing hierarchies of race, c1ass, age, status, and especially gender (187).

Poster locates the liberatory effects ofInternet practices in identity formations. Similarly,

Krista Scott-Dixon (1999) c1aims that in practical application, women who connect over modem lines are engaged less with discovering individuals who share their physical identity configurations and more with forming relationships based on personal-political inc1inations (131). Poster states that the relation of cyberspace to material geography is one of rupture and challenge to existing identity configurations.3 Internet communities can then "function as places ofdifference from and resistance to modem society"(Poster:

187). In this sense, the Internet can be seen as a postmodern technology. 1would like to take Poster's theorizing one step further and suggest that the dynamics of the Internet challenge more than identity configurations. Perhaps they can challenge institutional configurations by facilitating unparalleled global coalitions.

The Internet is unprecedented in the sense that it allows a new form of organization to emerge. It enables organizations to exist online and be global in scope (i.e.

V-Day); it facilitates the emergence of global women's groups. This kind ofpractice has been largely overlooked. The Internet can be conceived of as a set of social practices.

Virtual organizations are a manifestation ofthe ways the Internet can be utilized to its full

3 The question ofvirtual identity is a contested point. Many feminist theorists such as Dale Spender (1995), Nina Wakeford (1997), and Barbara Wamick (1999) would argue that cyberspace does not challenge identity configurations.

29 potential. An extreme example of this is the use of the Internet in the formation of women's organizations in countries where they cannot physically exist for political, cultural or social reasons. In oppressive conditions (i.e. Afghanistan), the Internet makes the formation ofvirtual organizations possible because it fosters survival and safety.4

The Internet is conducive to global feminist networking for many reasons. It is an effective networking medium as it cuts across time and space, creates a place to plan action, provides information, support and community, challenges existing institutions, and links the local to the global. To conclude, it is important to acknowledge the numerous complex and sound feminist critiques that have drawn attention to the various barriers women (particularly in developing countries) face in accessing new communication technologies. Issues of access to digital communication technologies have been and continue to be an important terrain for feminist research. These boundaries include and are not limited to: cost of equipment, poor infrastructure, illiteracy, lack of training programs and support, and the dominance of the English language (Huyer (1996), APC

(1997)).

ln addition, "activism at the click of a mouse" has important and problematic implications in digital activism and social activism more broadly. This type of digital activism has the tendency to generate criticism. How activist is it to sign an online petition and disseminate it? Is this type of activism really mobilizing people to act?

Digital activism definitely does not replace the social action that takes place on the ground. However, 1 argue that it is expanding the scope activism. Not everyone has the time, resources or inclination to partake in protests and other forms of action-based

4 For example, RAWA (Revolutionary Association ofthe Women ofAfghanistan, www.rawa.org) is an example ofa virtual organization that could not exist physically because ofreligious fundamentalism. RAWA has used the Internet to expose the human rights atrocities in Afghanistan, and to gain international support and intervention.

30 initiatives. Online activism has the potential to increase the participant base of social action. Online activism does have an impact on protests and action. 5 It is a medium through which action can be organized. For the purposes of my research, 1 have chosen to focus on the possibilities and potential ofdigital communication technologies.

3. WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS & FEMINIST MEDIA

Although the Internet is new, women's organizations, and their communications practices and strategies have a long history. There is a very specifie image ofwhat has traditionally been conceived as the "ideal" women's organization. Examining the characteristics of this traditional "ideal" organization can inform new kinds oforganizations and practices.

The following section enters into dialogue with the question: "what is a women's organization?" 1argue that this ideal as a whole needs to be challenged; its scope must be expanded. After analyzing a large body ofcase studies on feminist media organizations, 1 in turn, locate my thesis in this literature.

To begin with, women's organizations are often associated with sacrifice, struggle, bumout and conflict on the part ofthe women involved in them. 1 have read so many stories about women sacrificing their personal lives, losing their families and homes, and going bankrupt in order to save their organization.6 Women's organizations are almost always immediate1y linked with administrative disorganization, and non-paid

5 The WTO (World Trade Organization) protests are examples ofworldwide activism that was organized through the Internet.

6 For example, Frieda Werden's (1996) "The Founding ofWINGS: A Story ofFeminist Radio Survival" in Women Transforming Communications: Global Intersections.

31 or very low paid work. Although this predicament has been overwhelmingly true, 1 take issue with the fact that this process has been naturalized and accepted as an ideal.

For the most part, women's organizations are non-profit. In Linda Steiner's overview of women's alternative media organizations (1992) she points out that one of the foremost implications oftheir commitment to women's issues is that women's media are not profit-motivated. Instead, the language ofbusiness is repudiated for the language ofsisterhood (Steiner 1992: 122). This fundamental notion must be challenged. We need to question whether it is truly oppositional to remain "not for profit"? What are the stakes and implications ofthis? Could women affect change more efficiently ifthey were inside the system? 1 strongly believe that this line ofquestioning needs to be addressed. Social change requires long-term effort. The instability of non-profit organizations diminishes their likelihood ofbecoming long-term. Profit-motivated organizations may risk potential criticism, however, they are able to properly value women's work and have more resources to affect change. 1 am not advocating that all women's organizations becorne profit-motivated, but rather 1 stress the importance of making allowances for both (non­ profit and profit) kinds ofchallenge to institutionalized power. Organizations that want to engage in global social practices must be economically and organizationally viable.

Secondly, women's media have almost always been located outside the mainstream and as such, considered "alternative". In "The History and Structure of

Women's Alternative Media", Steiner (1992) stresses the diversity of women's media while nonetheless limiting it by imposing common categories and generalizations. She writes: "Women's media are oppositional, alternative, resistant in both product and process"(123). 1 take issue with the limits this kind of statement imposes on women's media. Sweeping generalizations like this one have created a normalization process where

32 alternative content has come to mean alternative production values. For example, Ms. magazine is severely criticized by Steiner and labeled "conservative" because of its glossy cover and financial success. The assumption is that because Ms. has high production values, it contains mainstream content and therefore, is a sell out to feminist content. Why must we necessarily link alternative production values with alternative content? largue that this preconception must be discarded to fit today's reality. In light of the highly competitive media environment, an organization must be attentive to production values in order to be attractive, efficient and gain participants (i.e. being user- friendly).

Thirdly, women's organizations and mass media have often been at odds with each other. This is understandable as the mass media have been the main source of feminist backlash. 7 However, in today's media-inundated world, it is crucial that an organization attempting to engage in global practices use the media to its advantage.

Traditionally, where women's organizations were concerned, feminist media was about promoting feminist content to feminists. Although, feminist media does contribute greatly to women's movements all over, creating global media networks and products, its strategy was limiting. The consequences ofonly promoting feminist content to feminists are: 1. feminist media did not reach out past an already dedicated feminist audience; 2. feminist media exc1uded men; 3. feminist media marked feminism as exc1usionary and separate.

largue that feminist media should be concerned with reach, expansion and inc1usion. Going against the grain and being separatist is not an effective way ofraising-

7 See, for example, Susan Faludi's (1991) Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, an extensive expose on antifeminist backlash.

33 awareness and building global networks. Becoming allied with the mass media can no longer be seen as a sell-out; it is essential. Maria Suarez Toro (1996), one of the producers of FlRE (Feminist International Radio Endeavor), stresses the importance of mass media for feminist practices. She describes how she collaborated with mainstream media in order to promote her alternative feminist radio station. For women's organizations, this kind of media-savvyness is about networking with other media sources; breaking down a competitive model jnto a cooperative one.

Finally, in order to discover whether or not communication strategies and technologies are effective it seems logical to look at the end media-product. This is what we tend to do most of the time. Something very important is overlooked when we measure success solely by the product ofcommunications. Although 1 am not suggesting that attention to end products should be banished altogether, 1 argue that the how of communications needs to be studied as weIl. Perhaps organizational goals should be process-based as opposed to almost always being product-based. 1 envision communications as a process, a practice, rather than as a product.

Process-based communications fosters participation, an important element for women's organizations striving to create change. In "Powerful Grassroots Women

Communicators: Participatory Video in Bangladesh", Sara Stuart & Renuka Bery (1996) introduce participatory communication as a process that allows people to speak for themselves. It focuses on who is communicating. Their process involved dialogue, collaboration, and group decision-making where community members learned to make videos to expose the various ways in which they are exploited and oppressed. In this model, it is the community members who control the tools. The creative process is a channel for individual and community empowerment. It consists ofparticipation, gaining

34 technological skills, the telling of people's stories, the elevation of women's status and finally, sharing experiences between communities. The emphasis is placed on the process, not on the end product (the video). 1 suggest that participation is a way to empowerment. It is an important part of the practice of global feminist communication, whether it is personal or group empowerment. We must ask how and if communicative empowerment feeds into economic and political empowerment- does it function as a psychological state, as collective power, with cultural or social consequences (Srebemy­

Mohammadi 1996)?

The sharing of experiences between communities is key for practices that are attempting to be global. Stuart & Bery also highlight that participatory communication serves as a channel that seeks to communicate beyond the locallevel, enticing others to participate. In the case of participatory video, the tapes move horizontally, more and more communities join in the process of empowering themselves, bringing new experiences to the mix, raising consciousness about different forms of oppressions, and collaborating together. This process is consonant with global feminism as it seeks out and embraces diversity, valuing women's perspectives and experiences.

The literature on women's organizations and feminist media calls attention to the ideal and inadequate perceptions of what a women's organization consists of. It highlights prominent misconceptions about women's organizations, actual problems occurring within them and indicates valuable ways of engaging with feminist media.

Organizational viability, the production values of media products, media savvyness and communications as a participative process are the most important factors to emerge from this literature as points of departure for developing a new way to think about and value women's organizations and their communicative strategies.

35 4. AN EVALUATIVE FRAMEWORK

1 am arguing that the combination of recent feminist theory that accounts for differences and new communication strategies and technology are creating the conditions of possibility for social change through global feminist practices. Evidently, effective global practices will not happen by simply mixing both elements together without adding specific communication strategies and practices. Ultimately, global practices are about networking, and networking consists of communications. Networking focuses on building new coalitions, forming new relations based on shared affinities. An organization that wishes to take part in global practices must have strong networking skills. This means being non-isolationist and always actively looking to build relations with other organizations.8 Although this concept emerges mainly from the literature on new technology, its presence can also be found in the recent feminist theory discussed above.

For this thesis, networking is a metaphor, a concept, and a material trace (i.e. actual links). It is both a feminist model and practice. Networking is complex as it moves across these various levels. However, in order for organizations to be proactive and engage in effective practices, networking must be broken down. It needs to be studied in its specificity, in its actuality. How does a virtual organization function? Does a virtual organization automatically network? How do we study networking? This thesis takes on these three questions. 1 have identified a set of issues from the literature on feminist theory, the Internet, and women's organizations and feminist media. These

8 On a website, networking means having a links page that underlines other organizations and their respective websites that are involved in the similar endeavors, and acknowledging supporters by making them visible.

36 issues include, organizational viability, the production values of media products, media savvyness, difference and inclusion, and communications as a participative process. From these issues, 1 have formulated an evaluative framework to identify how they manifest themselves in practice.

4.1. ORGANIZATIONAL VIABILITY

The previous discussion of women's organizations and feminist media, underlined that women's organizations have traditionally been plagued by disorganization, conflict, and financial struggle. To engage in global practices and affect change, organizationa1 viability is essential. It can be measured through a number of means. These include: duration of existence, organizational structure and culture, and economic stability and profitability.

Often, women's organizations last as long as the passion ofthe women involved.

Studying an organization's longevity or duration of existence provides insight into the organization's stability. Asking questions such as: "Who are the founders? What were/are their individual motivations? Are they still involved?" will also address this

Issue.

Determining whether or not V-Day is organizationally viable entails looking at

V-Day's organizational structure and culture. What are V-Days ways ofdoing? What are its moda1ities for decision-making? How do the V-Day organizers deal with conflict? Do they have mechanisms for conflict resolution? Does V-Day have a development plan?

Assessing economic stability and profitability includes looking at the organization's sources of income (i.e. individual donations, corporate partnerships or government sponsorships) and financia1 statements.

37 4.2. COMPETITIVE PRODUCTION VALUES

The time has come to move past the automatic and necessary link between alternative content and alternative production values. Organizations should strive to create eye-catching and effective media products. Feminist media can consist ofa number of practices and products such as newsletters, magazines, radio broadcasts, television shows, documentary films or websites.

V-Day's play and website are its two media products. In terms of the play, V­

Day's decentralized nature makes it impossible for V-Day to have complete control over the hundreds of performances that take place around the world. Thus, the issues discussed will revolve around the question: How is V-Day maintaining the quality of its play?

In terms of the website, the overarching question is: What is going to get me to the site and keep me there? An important measure involves search engines and links. For example, how many websites have V-Day as a link? How quickly and frequently does V­

Day come up when it is entered into a search engine? What is its domain name? Other measures of competitive production values inc1ude speed of loading and frequency of updates. How does the V-Day site compare to other websites that are eye-catching in terms ofthe website market? Is it aesthetically pleasing?

4.3. MEDIA SAVVY-NESS

The mass media de1iver an organization's messages and goals to the external world. They shape an organization's image, speak to its potential supporters and affect its reach in

38 fundamental ways. How the world sees V-Day plays a crucial role in determining its success.

Several factors determine media savvy-ness. Does V-Day have strong press relations? Does V-Day have a communications plan? Is there a designated spokesperson available for interviews? Is V-Day networking with various media sources? Are press releases written and circulated to journalists on a regular basis? Does V-Day archive its media coverage and make it available on its website?

Being media-savvy also means having a high press profile, reaching a wide and diverse audience through a range of different media. In short, the effectiveness of an organization's media savvy-ness can be measured through range, depth, amount and type ofmedia coverage.

FinaUy, as an organization attempting to be global, it is also important to determine if and how V-Day is striving to attain international press coverage. For example, does V-Day also target international media sources?

4.4. DIFFERENCE AND INCLUSION

For global feminist change to take form, strategies must be rooted in cultural differences.

Although, aU women's organizations strive to improve women's lives by addressing the effects ofvarious patriarchal power relations, women's needs and oppressions vary from country to country, city to city, from woman to woman. The ways to fulfill the needs of safety, health and education are as varied as the women involved, yet we must find ways to build global ties, connecting as many different communities together.

Respecting and embracing difference is the major theme that emerges from the overvlew of recent feminist theory. Applying this concept to an organizational and

39 practical level led me to pose the question: 1s V-Day planning and acting in a way that addresses difference? More specifically, how do V-Day's organizational practices and philosophies reflect the varied realities ofwomen's lives? Putting this theory to a practice that seeks to be global means paying attention to cultural specificity and individual experiences while locating commonalities between women upon which to build affinity networks. In other words, it consists ofdrawing global conclusions out of sensitive local mappings. l ask: How is V-Day doing feminist work across cultural divides? 1s V-Day engaging in critical dialogue with Non-Western feminists/activists? Are the people involved learning about each other's cultures? Does this organization have different solutions to different problems?

Our own lived realities do not simply dissipate when we begin speaking of social change. For this reason it is necessary to adopt an inclusionary model of communications that promotes cultural sensitivity and accessibility. This involves promoting practices and products that are flexible and make allowances for differences.

This can be measured by examining the organization's practices, policies and media products.

After examining numerous case studies on women and communications, it is apparent that there is a consistent lack of problematizing language issues. Language issues do not surface because of the domination of English. What exactly are the consequences of this finding? 1s English the language of global feminism? In the literature on digital communications, language is underlined as one ofthe main barriers to access, as the majority of software programs, instruction manuals, online-discussion forums and other resources are in English. There are obvious problems with this predicament considering that facilitating communication is at the crux of building cross-

40 cultural relations. Women's organizations must be accessible to as many people as possible and this means being multilingual, having a multilingual staff and providing multilingual services and communications.

Accounting for difference and being inclusive goes beyond cultural issues.

There is truth to the saying "power is in numbers" and therefore, organizations must strive to be as accessible as possible, avoiding alienating certain groups (i.e. men, lower economic classes, homosexuals). The range of participatory activities is an essential factor in determining an organization's accessibility. If, for example, the only way to join an organization is by monetary means, a large number of potential members will be excluded from participating. Organizations often overlook activities that do not boil down to money. A list of activities including numerous ways people can participate in the organization's cause must be compiled and posted on the site. Sorne might include writing letters to lobby government officiaIs, sharing personal stories online, and donating time to help raise community consciousness. Participatory activities are infinite. In order to attain the highest amount ofparticipation in social activism, they should not be limited

. 9 to monetary donatIOns.

4.5. PRACTICE AND PARTICIPATION

1have argued that participation is a way to personal or group empowerment and should be a central tenet of global feminist practices. Although Stuart & Bery's participatory communication model (discussed above) uses video as its medium, the basic principles of this model can be applied to other media and can also serve as guidelines for an

9 For example, Amnesty International's relatively new Stop Torture Campaign offers free membership programs and sends its members online petitions. With this, activism is at the click ofa mouse.

41 organization's mandate. These principles involve: 1. the process of dialogue, collaboration and group decision-making; 2. the creative process as a channel for individual and community empowennent; 3. community members controlling "the tools";

4. the sharing of experiences between communities (to raise awareness about different fonns ofoppressions).

In order to detennine whether V-Day places emphasis on participation, the organization's overall philosophy, practices and web-based content must be analyzed. Is participation a main component of the organization's philosophy? How do people participate in V-Day? Is V-Day striving to empower individuals and communities by giving them the tools to take action? Can participants have an impact on the organization? Is there sorne fonn ofexchange between participants?

For virtual organizations like V-Day, websites serve as a window on the world, as a global face. The most important web-based factors that promote participation are interactivity, response quality and time, contacts, and range ofparticipatory activities. It is crucial that a website be interactive as opposed to being a mere billboard for posting infonnation. Asking for feedback and giving surveys are two ways to promote interactivity. Providing online discussion forums, easy-to-access links for questions and making someone available to answer these questions promptly and effectively are also examples ofinteractive initiatives.

Finally, providing a list ofcontacts that is easy to locate on the site is an asset as requests can be directed to the most suitable person. Having numerous contacts as opposed to the usual single email address that is directed to a "Webmaster" increases the participant's chances of getting in touch with the right person, or getting any feedback at aIl.

42 ln the following chapter, 1 apply this evaluative framework to V-Day, as a means of analyzing V-Day as a virtual women's organization trying to make feminist social change on a globallevel.

43 CHAPTER THREE: V-DAY: A VIRTUAL GLOBAL ORGANIZATION TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

1. V-DAY: UNTILTHE VIOLENCE STOPS

In the early 1990s, American playwright and feminist activist Eve Ensler interviewed over 200 women worldwide about their bodies, their vaginas in particular. Ensler tumed these interviews into a cultural phenomenon: a stage play called The Vagina Monologues.

Her debut took place in 1996 when she performed at "HERE" theatre in New York City.

Soon after, Eve made her play into a one-woman-show and performed from "Croatia to

Santa Barbara, London to Seattle, Jerusalem to Oklahoma City"(www.vday.org). During this first worldwide tour, hundreds of women audience members approached her with their personal stories of violence. Eve discovered what she calls "a huge epidemic of abuse". The organization V-Day was created in response to this epidemic, to celebrate women and end violence. The "V" in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine, and Vagina.

As an organization, V-Day grew out of a community of women in New York

City. It was conceived at the dining room table of Marianne Schnall, President of

Feminist.com. Present were Eve Ensler and Feminist.com's board members. Eve Ensler and Feminist.com came together on the basis ofshared interests in women's issues. Their idea was to use benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues to raise awareness and money to end violence against women and girls. The proceeds of these performances wouId go directly to organizations working to stop this violence. After a year of

th planning, on Valentine's Day, February 14 , 1998, the first benefit performance took place at the Hammerstein Ballroom, in New York City. This gala event featured Eve

Ensler and a group of talented women who star in theatre, film and music. The performance was followed by an inaugural speech by Eve, expressing the meaning and

44 message of V-Day. V-Day would raIse funds to help grassroots, national and international antiviolence organizations and programs that work towards eliminating rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation and sexual slavery. This event launched V-Day, a non-profit organization self-defined as a "global movement to end violence against women".

The press and discussion generated by this landmark performance served as a call to action. The success of V-Day 1998 fueled the team to expand the scope of their movement. In their postmortem discussion of the event, V-Day's founders were overwhelmed by its financial and public success. However, they felt it remained limited in reach and accessibility, as the event had only been in New York City and the tickets were high-priced (between $100-$1000 U.S.). The V-Day team wanted to reach more people, particularly at a grassroots level and saw the potential to actualize this desire.

Soon after the first event, V-Day began to reach out to U.S.-based international organizations and through them, to networks around the world. In 1999, V-Day heId a special Valentine's Day performance of The Vagina Monologues in London's Old Vic theatre, expanding the movement internationally. In addition, 1999 marked the beginning of the V-Day College Campaign. Over 65 colleges and universities across the United

States and Canada agreed to join the V-Day movement by staging performances of The

Vagina Monologues and donating the proceeds to local women's organizations.

According to figures reported by the participating schools, more than 20,000 people were exposed to V-Day via the 1999 campaign.

In 2000, the V-Day College Campaign expanded its reach as schools in the

United States, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom mounted productions of The

Vagina Monologues. Over 150 colleges and universities joined "V-Day 2000", almost

45 tripling the number of schools that participated in 1999. An estimated 15 million people were introduced to V-Day and hundreds of women's organizations received the funds raised by these productions.

On February lOth, 2001, V-Day organized a "Gathering to End Violence Against

Women", which took place in Madison Square Garden. Ten regional coordinators from

India, the Philippines, Jordan, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Croatia, the United States, Costa

Rica, Chile and Belgium came together to discuss challenges and strategies to end violence against women. V-Day's Stop Rape Contest grew out of this meeting and was launched at the gathering. This same night, over seventy American celebrities, inc1uding

Oprah Winfrey, Calista Flockhart, Rosie Perez, Glenn Close, Queen Latifah and Jane

Fonda, joined Eve in a sold-out performance of her play. More than 18,000 women and men were present at this event and 2 million dollars was raised. In addition to this event,

231 schools participated in the College Campaign. The Campaign donated a total of

$620,000 to local women's organizations in the respective college communities around the world, where over 29 million people were exposed to V-Day as audience members.

The Worldwide Campaign was officially launched. Much like the College Campaign, it invited communities around the globe to mount a benefit performance of The Vagina

Monologues. FortY cities participated and more than $350,000 was raised. New participating countries inc1uded Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Denmark and Cameroon.

This year, V-Day went "grassroots and global" with a 10-week calendar of events and social action campaigns. Over 800 events took place this year between

st th February 1 and April 5 . New for V-Day 2002, members of the "vulva choir"

(ce1ebrities involved in V-Day) would partake in various performances. For example,

Rosie Perez helped organize and performed in V-Day Harlem and Gloria Steinem took

46 part in V-Day South Africa. Other V-Day events inc1uded the broadcast debut of the

HBO documentary The Vagina Monologues; the "International Stop Rape Contest", an initiative that asks women and girls to create innovative strategie action plans to stop rape in their communities, and funds these projects; the "Speak Up with V-Day and Lifetime

Television Initiative", which consists ofsending online cards to Congress in America and to local govemments in other countries to support legislation aimed at a stopping violence against women; and the "Spotlight on Afghan Women", a campaign designed to raise awareness on the plight of Afghan women. The Worldwide Campaign raised 2 million dollars and took place in 252 cities in over 40 countries. These countries inc1uded

Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China,

Croatia, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Kenya, Macedonia,

Malaysia, Nigeria, Philippines, Pern, Romania, Scotland, South Africa, Venezuela and

Zaire. The College Campaign reached over 50 million people and inc1uded 530 colleges and universities. V-Day exceeded all of its expectations, quadrnpling its participation numbers from previous years and raising over 4.5 million dollars U.S. lO

V-Day is not like a traditional organization in the sense that it cannot be located geographically. It exists on the Internet; it is a virtual organization. The V-Day website was built in 1997 to promote the first V-Day celebration and although it has undergone many changes, it has remained home to the organization. V-Day's virtual nature unquestionably changes standard organizational practices and the implications ofthis will be explored in this chapter.

www.vday.org is V-day's headquarters. On an annual basis, V-Day invites women and girls from all over the world to participate in local productions of The Vagina

10 These numbers are not final as V-Day is still coHecting data from event organizers aH over the world.

47 Monologues on and around Valentine's Day. To do this, potential participants visit the

V-Day website and sign up to coordinate a production in their community. An organizer's kit, a transcript of the play, and aIl related material are sent out via email. V-

Day staff organizes and communicates with each other and with its participants online.

Using the Internet goes hand in hand with V-Day's global mandate. Cecile Lipworth,

Managing Director of the Worldwide Campaign, daims the Internet has been central to

V-Day since its conception. In response to why V-Day chose the Internet as opposed to another communication technology Cecile stated:

Because we are worldwide. We are global and it is the easiest way for us to get around the world. It's immediate and it offers immediate gratification for people who want to get involved. It's literaI, telling people who we are. There is no need for a central office. We [staff] aIl live in different places and almost aIl work out of home. (Telephone Interview 2002)

Beyond functioning as a website, as a public sign, the net is used to educate the public about violence against women. It provides information on how people can become involved, enables them to sign up, obtain information on the different campaigns and post information about their local productions. It also makes press information available online. Finally, the Internet is used to network with individuals and organizations around the world.

V-Day consistently describes itself as more than an organization:

V-Day is an organized response against violence toward women. V-Day is a vision: We see a world where women live safely and freely. V-Day is a demand: Rape, incest, battery, genital mutilation and sexual slavery must end now. V-Day is a spirit: We believe women should spend their lives creating and thriving rather than surviving or recovering from terrible atrocities. V-Day is a catalyst: By raising money and consciousness, it will unify and strengthen existing anti-violence efforts. Triggering far-reaching awareness, it will lay the groundwork for new educational, protective, and legislative endeavors throughout the world.

48 V-Day is a process: We will work as long as it takes. We will not stop until the violence stops. V-Day is a day. We proclaim Valentine's Day as V-Day, to celebrate women and end the violence. V-Day is a fierce, wild, unstoppable movement and community. (www.vday.org)

The energy and ambition of the V-Day founders passionately resonate in V-

Day's mission statement. It functions as a road map, a vision, and helps shape V-Day's identity. However, actualizing this mission is another story. The success of a vision statement resides in the practices. V-Day is self-defined as "a global movement to end violence against violence"(www.vday.org). For V-Day to have initially labeled itself a global movement reflects the momentum and ambition with which V-Day was conceived.

On the other hand, it was also inaccurate and somewhat premature. V-Day was not a global movement when it started, it was American. In 2002, V-Day's claim has much more credibility. Since the first event in 1998, V-Day has grown exponentially in numbers, reach and scope. The participation of 40 countries in this year's events is indicative of this. How exactly did this transition come about? What are the tensions involved in attempting global practices? The answers lie in V-Day's communication strategies and practices.

2. ASSESSING THE TENSIONS OF GLOBAL FEMINIST PRACTICES

2.1. ORGANIZATIONAL VIABILITY: SMART ECONOMICS & RISKY

STRUCTURES

Organizational viability is critical to the development of effective global practices. It is arguably essential to the development of any organization. However, V-Day's emphasis

49 on global practice adds another degree of importance to this component. Without organizational viability, global practices are simply not possible because of the technology and resources required to engage in this kind of work. Is V-day organizationallyavailable? Answering this question entails looking at V-Day's duration of existence, founders, organizational structure and culture, and assessing its economic stability.

As discussed in the previous chapter, in feminist literature, there is a notion that women's organizations williast only as long as the passion of the women involved. The struggle to find funding and remain viable make this notion resonate with truth. Delving into an organization's founding history can be an insightful joumey as it reveals the motivations and dynamics that initially drove the organization.

V-Day has been active as an organization for four years, since its founding in

1998. According to Karen Obel, Director of the V-Day College Campaign, V-Day was conceived at the dinning room ofMarianne Schnall, President ofFeminist.com, a women­ oriented website, in January 1997. Eve and four Feminist.com board members (Karen was present as she is on the board) were present. After her first tour of The Vagina

Monologues, Eve was overwhelmed by the hundreds of stories she had heard about rape, incest, domestic battery and genital mutilation and wanted to do something widespread to stop the violence. A mutual friend of Eve and Marianne's who knew they had similar interests in women's issues brought them together. At the end of this first meeting, V­

Day had been conceived. It would raise awareness and money to stop violence against women and girls by presenting benefit performances of Eve's play. After the initial meeting, these women contacted friends and acquaintances that would be interested and had a skill that would help them with the realization ofV-Day (i.e. producers, joumalists,

50 graphic artists, publicists, lawyer, writers and activists). This led to the formation ofwhat was called the V-Day Benefit Committee. It was made up of 40 women, many ofwhom are still involved with V-Day and sorne of whom are V-Day staff. Eve Ensler, Willa

Shalit, Karen Obel and Susan Swan remain central anchors for the organization as Artistic

Director, Executive Director, College Campaign Director, and Communications Director, respectively. Although Eve, Willa and a handful ofothers are considered the founders of

V-Day, as is often the case, a few dozen people actually helped make it possible.

To summarize, V-Day grew out of the discussion of a group of women who wanted to take action and create change. The majority of these women were already involved in feminist activism and in an online organization. Through personal and professional networks they found the resources to make V-Day a real entity. The fact that three of the original six founders remain central to V-Day is testament to their commitment and passion. V-Day's conception follows a relatively organic model of women's organizations. In other words, it follows c10sely in the footsteps of the "ideal" women's organization as V-Day was brought to life on a strictly voluntary basis by a group of already committed feminists, through discussion, collaboration, networking, the donation offree expertise, time and resources.

What does V-Day's staff structure consist of? As Artistic Director, Eve remains the visionary in the organization. Willa Shalit, the former Executive Director, created the financial, business and organizational structure ofV-Day. In her words:

Eve and lare partners in this. She is the visionary and cornes up with every idea and every vision and then it is my job to figure out how l am going to make it happen...to handle the implementation, the organization, the actual mechanics ofit aIl. (Telephone Interview 2002)

51 V-Day also has a Managing Director, a Technology Director, a Communications

Director, an Assistant to the Artistic Director, a Worldwide Campaign Managing Director and Artistic Director, and a College Campaign Director and Associate Director. These are V-Day's nine fuIltime positions.

There are many other people who make V-Day possible, including part-time staff, supporters and volunteers. Theorganization refers to their entire group of fuIltime and part-time staff, as the V-Day core. The core consists of accountants, auditors, lawyers and 6 or 7 other people that are hired during busy times. Explaining the V-Day core, Willa said:

It's important to the movement [V-Day] that we comply with aIl IRS laws, so we have auditors and we have two lawyers- one lawyer who handles entertainment law and intellectual property and another lawyer that handles aIl of the financial and foundation law. (Telephone Interview 2002)

V-Day's engagement with lawyers and auditors indicates its rigour in assessing and maintaining its organizational responsibilities. OveraIl, V-Day seems to have an elaborate staff structure. l am surprised however, by the small number of fuIltime staff.

V-Day's consistent and impressive annual growth (in participant numbers) and annual nature (the events take place in February) are forcing V-Day to hire and rely on the availability ofpart-time staff.

Organizational structure is an important factor in determining organizational viability. It refers to how power works within an organization. Ultimately, as author and original performer of The Vagina Monologues, as main founder of V-Day and Artistic

Director, Eve heads the organization. As Eve's producer and Executive Director, Willa also has had much creative and organizational control. The other V-Day directors mentioned above are also crucial players in the organization, meeting on a weekly basis

52 and making decisions daily. However, V-Day's organizational structure is not built on a regular hierarchical model ofmanagement. In other words, each employee does not have a different "boss" to report to. Although this partly reflects its organizational philosophy, it is also related to its small size ofnine fulltime staff.

Decision-making is an integral part of an organization's daily functioning and also reflects the organizational structure. Modalities generally range from executive decisions to voting by consensus. According to Karen and Andrew, the V-Day organizers generally make decisions based on consensus. This reflects the organization's cooperative philosophy. When 1 asked Andrew how decision-making takes place at V­

Day, he answered: "Frequently!" The V-Day directors have much independence to create the visions and concepts they conceptualize together. V-Day's ways of doing are very collaborative and this involves co-creation. Andrew explained that they rely on each other's creativity and that initiatives come from everyone involved. Karen pointed out:

"We're usually aIl on the same page so there is little need for anyone to make a tie­ breaking or altemate decision..(Email Interview 2002). However, Eve has the final say.

Interestingly, while V-Day might operate on a daily basis by consensus, the fact that Eve has creative control and decision-making authority indicates that V-Day is based on a hierarchy model ofmanagement.

There are both strengths and weaknesses to V-Day's organizational structure.

On one hand, V-Day's "one-woman-at-the-center" organizational model mirrors the structure of the ideal feminist organization. This model of organizational structure is a road to crisis. It has been responsible, to a large extent, for the endless stories ofbum out that occur in feminist organizing. Eve is only human and it is important to ask what would happen to V-Day if Eve quit, bumt out or simply had to step down from her

53 position. Issues of ownership also surface here, as putting a founder in an executive position can create a sense ofownership and eventually provoke the person in question to see herself and her organization as the same thing. I am certainly not saying this is the case with V-Day, but rather am underlining the risks ofusing this organizational mode!.

On the other hand, V-Day's hierarchical structure disrupts the ideal feminist organization. Feminist organizations traditionally tend to oppose hierarchical structures, as they are associated with patriarchal, corporate, top down models of management.

However, I argue that consensus decision-making is not necessarily effective and giving someone the authority to make the final decision is more proactive and efficient. V-Day can move ahead quickly and avoid endless meetings plagued by indecision and differences ofopinion. Thus, we can see the tensions as V-Day both disrupts and repeats the structure ofthe ideal feminist organization.

V-Day has a very specifie organizational culture. Organizational culture can be understood in part through an organization's ways of doing, how the organizers deal with conflict and its development plan. What are V-Day's ways ofdoing? The directors

I interviewed feh they are part ofa real concrete physical organization. However, V-Day is virtual. How then, does V-Day manage to be efficient and functional when the organizers do not work in the same place? The directors have an hour-long telephone meeting every week and the entire V-Day core meets on a monthly basis by phone. In­ person meetings take place quarterly. One of the reasons for limited travel is cost­ efficiency. The rest ofthe time, the staffstays connected by email, by phone and by fax.

V-Days ways of doing are unique in the sense that it intentionally tries to do things in an open, informaI, flexible, free-flowing way. Eve has purposely tried to avoid bureaucratie practices. The purpose of this is to allow for adaptation and change as V-

54 Day constantly works towards its mission. V-Day's cooperative mentality cames over into the ways it deals with conflict. V-Day does not have any formaI mechanisms for conflict resolution. The reason for this is attributed to V-Day's size and the absence of the need for them. Karen explained that there has been very little internaI conflict within

V-Day's ranks:

If there is an internaI conflict among staff, we have been encouraged to try to resolve the conflict among ourse1ves. Ifthat is not successful, we are to ask our Executive Director or Eve to assist us. l don't believe we've ever had to have them intervene. (Email Interview 2002)

This outlook cames over to V-Day's international grassroots organizing teams (i.e. teams in schools presenting the College Campaign and teams in communities presenting the

Worldwide Campaign). Ifa conflict arises, V-Day will encourage the team to resolve the conflict among themse1ves, but will become involved if necessary. "V-Day encourages community and coalition building...we have found that the people who choose to get involved with V-Day tend to be amazing at working with others and building cooperative teams..(Email Interview 2002). The virtual absence of internaI dissension and cooperative spirit that drives V-Day enhances its organizational stability.

The absence offormaI conflict mechanisms signaIs that V-Day has not yet has to deal with major dissension. The informaI mechanism V-Day does use is hierarchical as it entails seeking assistance from Eve or the Executive Director. This internaI harmony is rare and V-Day has been lucky that the staff gets along so weIl. Policies for conflict resolution are often implemented in organizations only after conflict has occurred. It appears V-Day is not an exception to this tendency.

V-Day's organizational culture is also reflected in its outlook on deve1opment.

When V-Day formed, the organizers decided they wanted V-Day to be annual; they

55 would analyze their status and development on a yearly basis. Willa explained: "For now our development vision is very short-term not because we're incompetent, but as a strategie choice"(Telephone Interview 2002». The V-Day founders did not want to institutionalize as a movement because in their eyes, this was the equivalent of saying

"there will always be violence against women, therefore we will always be needed". To do this would have been to contradict their raison d'être, which is to end violence against women. In light of this, V-Day's development consists of reassessing their situation every May when the campaigns are over and asking: Is there still violence against women? "If there is, we will go on for another year, and if there isn't we will disband"(Willa Shalit, Telephone Interview 2002). Willa also expressed V-Day's apprehension of a subtle reversaI where non-profit organizations perpetuate the problem they have expressed a commitment to end. This happens because people and groups become dependent on the organization and on the problem to sustain them.

V-Day's annual approach to development could be considered as somewhat naïve. It is ideal in theory to hope violence against women will come to a stop in the near future. However, it is not realistic. V-Day cannot operate on an annual basis with the level ofresponsibilities and commitments it faces. Sponsorships have to be planned well in advance, new campaigns must be devised and implemented, celebrities must be booked for future performances, etc. As V-Day faces the pressures ofsuceess, it must plan ahead.

At the same time, V-Day's short-term outlook on development highlights its awareness about the complexities of institutionalization and is a deliberate political choice. These are the tensions between an ideal vision and the reality ofgrowth and success.

Although V-Day is a non-profit organization, its financial situation breaks down the traditional notion ofnon-profits as struggling, impoverished entities. There are several

56 indicators ofthis. As 1highlighted above, V-Day is able to employ an extensive full-time and part-time staff. Its virtuality prevents V-Day from paying office rent and other traditional organizational expenses. The limited expenses of this non-material organizational infrastructure are covered by the donations it receives and enables V-Day to give away approximate1y 85% of all funds raised. These donations have risen exponentially since the organization's conception and will exceed $4.5 million by the end ofthis fiscal year (www.vday.org).

The money raised by V-Day cornes from individuals, corporations, foundations, products, and commercial and benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues.11 V-Day has two separate organizational facets. The first is referred to as V-Day Central. It is the legal entity that pays the salaries of the staff and has a bank account. The money from their fundraisers, private and corporate donations and commercial productions of The

Vagina Monologues enter into that account. The second facet is the Worldwide

Campaign and the College Campaign. These consist ofthousands of V-Day productions taking place around the world. The money from these productions does not come back to

V-Day Central. Instead, local productions give the proceeds directly to a women's group or shelter in their immediate community. This is done for both practical and philosophical reasons. Willa explained:

1 love that we're doing that because ifs based on trust. Ifs also because if they [local organizers] sent the money to us, we'd have to pay more accountants and more office managers and we wanted to have more money go directly to the cause. (Telephone Interview 2002)

Il The commercial productions of The Vagina Monologues are not part ofV-Day directly. They are professional productions and take place in major cities around the world. They voluntarily donate part oftheir revenues to V-Day.

57 This year, V-Day raised $4.5 million in Worldwide Campaign and College Campaign performances alone. This figure is net, after production expenses. It is the money that is given away to women's groups working to end violence against women in local communities around the world.

V-Day's funding base has not undergone any fundamental changes in the last four years. Eve's writing and individual supporters remain the two most successful funding bases. Eve donates 5 percent ofher royalties from the play to V-Day. V-Day has also received ongoing financial support from the commercial productions of the play.

Producer David Stone decided every commercial, off-Broadway production of The

Vagina Monologues would donate $10 per ticket. Approximately 80% of V-Day's income cornes from The Vagina Monologues, 15% from corporate sponsorship and 5% from individual donors. 12 The V-Day 2002 corporate sponsors inc1ude Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Lifetime Television, Liz Claibome, Marie Claire and Tampax. V-Dayalso created marketing partners where companies share a portion of their sales revenues with

V-Day. These companies inc1ude Audible.com, Eziba, Karen Neuburger, Sundari and

Vosges Haut-Chocolat. Many ofthese companies have created special V-Day productS.13

Although, V-Day is "pro-corporation", Willa explained that working with corporations is very complex as there are often "strings" attached. The funding from

Eve's writing is freer in the sense that V-Day can do what it wants with it. Willa conc1uded:

It's incredibly important to have financial abundance ifyou want to have the power of being able to stretch politically, conceptually, socially, ethically and otherwise. If youcan somehow create financial abundance and freedom...you can create social change. (Telephone Interview 2002)

12 These percentages vary slightly from year to year but are generally representative. 13 V-Day products include pyjamas, chocolates andjewelry with the V-Day logo.

58 Willa also described V-Day's financial situation as "surging upward all the time". V-

Day's corporate alliances disrupt the traditional notion of feminist non-profit organizations as being non- or anti-capitalist. Although this strategy might provoke possible feminist critique, it is helping V-Day stay on the world stage. A significant part ofV-Day's mission is to raise money. This is dearly underlined in its mission statement.

Hence, V-Day's strategy is realistic and effective. V-Day is also conscious of the implications of corporate partnerships keeping them at a relatively minimal 15% of its total annual income. Although, it does not have formaI policies to determine from whom they will take money, V-Day always hoIds several meetings and researches the potential corporate partners extensively. V-Day also has the luxury of being highly selective. It takes controversy and public opinion into account and tries to ally itself with companies that are women-oriented and women-friendly.

Finally, my interview with Willa signaled that V-Day had reached a very stable administrative and organizationalleve1. Willa toId me she had been involved in V-Day as the Executive Director since its conception and would be leaving this position in May

2002. She said:

l'm leaving because 1 feel that now we're at a point where everything is at a point of stability and 1 can pass it on to someone else. l'm going to still be involved but not as executive director. l've created the financial structure, the business structure, and the organizational structure. (Telephone Interview 2002)

According to Willa, her departure from V-Day marks a newfound sense of stability in the organization. Her passion and confidence in its future were obvious to me.

The data on V-Day's organizational structure and culture, and economic status indicate that V-Day is organizationally and economically viable. V-Day's organizational culture

59 and ways of doing are organic and re1ative1y informaI as emphasis is placed on cooperation, consensus and flexibility, rather than formality and strict procedures. At the same time, V-Day has a hierarchical organizational structure, which allows it to be effective in its decision-making and proactive in its deve1opment. V-Day's internaI ways ofdoing mirror the principles ofopen communication, cooperation and coalition building that are conducive to global feminist practices. Although, the lack of internaI conflict indicates that this philosophy and practice have worked for them so far, 1 do think it is sound to suggest V-Day has been fortunate in terms of avoiding conflict. Finally, The

Vagina Monologues is a highly sale-able product and this has greatly contributes to V­

Day's economic stability. V-Day's corporate alliances disrupt traditional feminism's intentional separation from, and renunciation of, the corporate world. This is an effective strategy as it contributes to the organization's overall success and enables it to fulfill one of its primary missions: to raise money for anti-violence women's organizations. V-Day does this in a very cautious and conscious way as it "vets" aIl potential corporate sponsors. To conclude, 1 would say that V-Day is smart economically, and unique and lucky organizationally.

2.2. COMPETITIVE PRODUCTION VALUES: QUALITY CONTROL

Paying attention to media production values has become imperative for building worldwide support and participation. Non-profit organizations are not excluded from this imperative and must also strive to make their media products attractive and user-friendly iftheir goals include gaining supporters.

For V-Day this is even more crucial as it is intervening in the entertainment domain, a highly competitive environment. V-Day's primary media productions are its

60 website and its play. The website represents much more than an organizational media product. As a virtual headquarters, the site is the home of the organization and the primary way people can discover and become a part of V-Day. In light of this, production values become even more important. The main question is: What is going to get me to the site and keep me there?

V-Day's Technology Director, Andrew Shalit, extends V-Day's reach into cyberspace. Andrew oversees the website and V-Mail, a free subscription newsletter, and also manages V-Day's internaI communications. Plumb Design in New York City re­ created the original V-Day website. The new site has been changed by outside contractors and is frequently modified and updated by Andrew. When 1asked Andrew if, in his opinion, the site has high production values, he described it as being "a professionally designed site". In technical computer engineer terms it is "a content management system in coId fusion" and he added, "As to whether it has a high production values, well, that's for the user to decide"(Andrew Shalit).

In light of this comment, the following analysis is based on my observations.

V-Day's website offers a wealth of information about V-Day and antiviolence resources.

The circular V-Day logo is at the center homepage and the page is divided into five columns that each houses a different aspect of V-Day and contains a large amount of information. 14 The columns are entitled "V-Day", "Violence", "V-Action", "Get

Involved" and "Victory", respective1y. In turn, each column has numerous subheadings that in turn each have yet another set of subheadings. Available information inc1udes V­

Day's history, mission statement, annual events and contact information, as well as violence statistics and anti-violence resources, personal stories, campaign information,

14 See Appendix A.

61 press kit and press releases, media coverage, awards, success stories, and action-based initiatives. The "Get Involved" section provides numerous and easy-to-act-on cues for visitors to participate in the movement. These vary from volunteering time and resources to organizations in their communities, to writing letters to government officiaIs urging anti-violence legislation, to donating money, to creating a "Rape Free Zone".

Aesthetically, the design ofthe site is boldo The hues ofred (V-Day's signature color) capture the intensity and spirit of V-Day. For me, the real effect of the site is a combination of the colors and the strength of the writing. The writing is poetic and powerful. For the 2002 campaign, the homepage consisted of a map of the world filled with red dots that indicated where V-Day was taking place on the globe. 15 This visual trope had a big impact on me, as it was overwhelming to see V-Day's reach on a global level.

Besides the map however, there are very few graphics. The site is mainly textual and l suggest this could be improved considering the web is a visually-based medium. Although sorne of the online press kit includes pictures, these are there for publicity reasons as links, and are solely of Eve and a handful of other celebrity performers. In my opinion, images can capture the energy of performative events more effectively than words. The incorporation of pictures from various V-Day events worldwide would only add to the site's energy and more importantly, it could communicate the diversity ofV-Day participants and ofits movement.

To get an idea of how quickly and easily V-Day could be located online, l entered "V-Day" into nine different search engines including Yahoo, Google, Excite,

MSN, Hotbot, Lycos, Netscape, Ask Jeeves, and Mamma search engine. V-Day was

15 See Appendix B.

62 found in every one these search engines. For example, the Google search results displayed 52,500 websites with references to V-Day. V-Day was mentioned in everything from anti-violence resources to theatre listings to personal websites highlighting V-Day's work. "Eve Ensler" received 3,456 hits and The Vagina

Monologues 4,600 hits. V-Day appears to be easily accessible as the first listing in the results is for the V-Day homepage, www.vday.org. Google's advanced search feature allows you to search for sites that link a specific site. According to this search, there are

928 websites that link to www.vday.org.This number reflects V-Day's strong networking abilities.

The site loads quickly. It is updated whenever there is a new press release or information on their campaigns. This is somewhat seasonal due to V-Day's annual nature and therefore, updates vary between weekly and monthly.

Future plans for the site include making the homepage more open graphically as the present structure of the site is constrained and it is difficult to add a new idea or concept (Andrew Shalit, Telephone Interview 2002). A combination of the site's strong aesthetic and spirited component, its functionality, and quick and easy access make visiting the V-Day website an interesting, insightful, informative and pleasant experience.

However, I do think the site's textual emphasis limits V-Day's reach. Images would make V-Day's essence more accessible and would better represent its diversity, scope and mISSIOn.

The Vagina Monologues is the second ofV-Day's central media products. It is

V-Day's catalyst. It is central to the organization's identity and is the primary tool for intervention. The play's success is inextricably bound to V-Day's success and image.

For these reasons, it must maintain high production values. Local V-Day organizers are

63 inevitably given much control over the production due to V-Day's decentralized nature, contributing to the organization's uniqueness and appeal. Staging V-Day productions simultaneously all over the world, results in the automatic loss of a certain amount of creative control. This makes the task of quality control even more challenging. At the same time, V-Day tries to purpose1y give campaign organizers creative freedom to make their productions local and unique. How does V-Day deal with these tensions? How does it maintain the quality of the performance and the sense of a shared experience that is so central to V-Day while attempting to accommodate local needs and identities?

The Organizer's Toolkit is emailed to every V-Day College and Worldwide

Campaign Organizer. The "Identity Guidelines and Publicity Resources" and

"Performance Guidelines" contain precise mIes and guidelines for organizers to follow.

The "Identity Guidelines" emphasize the importance ofusing the official V-Day logo and correct information in all events. This section provides the proper name and spelling of the organization and play, the official V-Day logo and tag line, contact information and the website address. Organizers are asked to list the V-Day sponsors on their promotional material and are provided with specifie guidelines for creating their own name, logo and website. The Performance Guide1ines state that the play must be presented in its order and entirety, use multiple performers, and have an all female cast. The history of each monologue and insight into how it should be performed are also provided. V-Day encourages its organizers to select a diverse cast of women: "The issue of violence transcends race and c1ass so we need to embrace that idea in the diversity of our V-Day casting"(Organizer's Kit). The remaining performance guide1ines regarding casting, set design, costumes, staging and sound are more suggestive and allow for creative freedom.

For example, the V-Day actresses wear red, however, what they wear is entire1y up to

64 them. In addition, V-Day encourages its grassroots organizers to be creative and add local flavor to their productions by including colloquialisms, dance, music and testimonials, and designing their own sets. Rence, by providing identity and performance guidelines that are both rigid and flexible, V-Day attempts to maintain its shared global identity while encouraging local differences.

V-Day's media products are essential to its existence. V-Day has its work cut out for itself as it faces an increasingly competitive entertainment market. The challenge is double considering V-Day's main product (the play) has not changed. They must constantly find new ways ofreinventing the play. This effort is noticeable, as V-Day has carefully and intelligently added new projects building on its existing strengths.

2.3. MEDIA SAVVY-NESS: STAR POWER & STRATEGIC PLANNING

The mass media play a central role in relaying an organization's message to the world and recruiting potential participants. l suggest that media savvy-ness can be measured through indicators such as having a communications plan, providing a spokesperson for interviews, knowing how to gain the media's attention, and maintaining good press relations. It also entails having the message reach a wide and diverse audience through a variety ofdifferent media.

Prior to 2001, the V-Day directors shared the responsibilities of media relations and communications. Periodically, publicists were hired on a part-time basis to advise on strategies and publicity campaigns. As a result ofthe organization's growth, V-Day hired

Susan Swan, its first official Communications Director, in 2001. She put together a communications plan for 2002 and has been executing it for the 1ast ten months. Susan is one of the several media spokespeop1e at V-Day. The directors (Eve, Willa, Karen,

65 Cecile) share the responsibility in order to maximize their resources and be as available as possible for interviews.

V-Day is very self-conscious about creating a profile that is true to its movement and mandate. Its presentation of self is calculated and proactive. As part of the 2002 communications plan, every participating group worldwide received the V-Day 2002

Worldwide (or College) Campaign Organizer's Toolkit. In this toolkit, the Identity

Guidelines and Publicity Resources provides College Campaign and Worldwide

Campaign organizers with explicit guidelines and tips on how to deal with the press. For example, V-Day asks that participants use the official V-Day logo in any publicity material and that they include the address of the V-Day website. "Correct identification of V-Day and proper usage of our identity representations ensures that our message will always be clear, consistent, accurate and most important- effective"(Organizer's Toolkit).

The toolkit lists the official V-Day boilerplate and V-Day's media contact information. It also provides a press release template, an advertisement template, and various press clipping quotes for participants to use. The toolkit attempts to give participants tools to maximize their use ofthe media in order to draw attention to the greater cause.

The creation and distribution of these toolkits worldwide demonstrates V-Day's desire to maintain a distinct and unified identity and gain international media coverage.

How easy is V-Day making it for organizers around the world? The templates and all other material on the site and in the toolkit, are available only in English (this issue will be addressed further in the section on Difference and Inclusion). Many organizers likely have to translate the documents or hire someone who cano The creation of a single template in a single language raises important issues. Is V-Day assuming media works

66 cross-culturally? DeveIoping more culturally sensitive practices is imperative and will contribute to the efficiency ofV-Day as a global movement.

While each benefit event is important in its own right, V-Day stresses that each one is part of a larger movement as weil. For this larger happening, V-Day mounted its own publicity campaign calling attention to violence against women and the specifie issues it focused on. V-Day Information Kits went out to producers of specially-targeted magazines, newspapers, television and radio programs to encourage them to do pieces on

V-Day. V-Day also made a Press Kit available on their website, allowing joumalists to obtain information on the movement and events independently. In addition, Susan writes regular press reIeases and these are always promptly posted on the site. This is testament to V-Day creating a strong news component for itseIf and therefore, generating more press coverage.

According to Susan, V-Day is incredibly marketable because it involves a work of art (the play), and a unique way of raising money and awareness. The liberal content of the play has also given V-Day "extra edge" when it cornes to attracting media attention. Speaking openly about vaginas, masturbation, orgasms and violence generates an incredible amount of press and public attention whether it be positive or negative.

Although the play has tumed heads and sparked bouts of controversy here and there,

Susan explained that once joumalists understand what V-Day's mission is and what The

Vagina Monologues is about the controversy quickly dissipates. She underlined that less than 1% of the total media coverage involves controversy. However, this has obviously changed over time and continues to vary from region to region. Overall, V-Day's clear mission statement to end violence against women, star power and liberal politics also reduce controversy.

67 The celebrity performances of The Vagina Monologues have played a large role in the astonishing amount press V-Day has generated. Women like Jane Fonda, Calista

Flockhart, Oprah Winfrey and Glenn Close fueled V-Day's high press profile as they became spokespeople for V-Day when they performed in special celebrities productions.

According to Susan, the play resonated strongly and immediately with a wide range of women:

The idea was to use the play that was obviously hitting sorne kind of universal tipping point with women around the world...have an exciting dynamic moving event...give that [the play] to college students, give it to local actresses in Tulsa, Oklahoma or in Paris, put it on with celebrities at times to raise money and raise awareness. (Telephone Interview 2002)

Celebrities' willingness to participate in the V-Day events highlights the play's wide appeal and the formation of partnerships with high profile feminists. V-Day has been featured several times on The Oprah Wirifrey Show in the last two years. This coverage alone reached millions of women as Oprah has an impressive viewer base and is broadcast to countries around the globe. The involvement of celebrities is an international strategyas celebrities around the world have participated in V-Day events.

For example, famous actors were involved at the events in the Philippines, Canada,

Bosnia, Paris, Bulgaria, and the United States. Although using celebrities to raise money and discuss social problems might cause potential criticism as it limits the politics ofthe play, the benefits far outweigh this risk. Stars generate automatic media coverage, reach and appeal.

V-Day has recently begun archiving its media coverage. This initiative has become international this year as V-Day asks campaign organizers to send local coverage back to V-Day's press person. A select list of press coverage has been compiled and is

68 now available on the site. V-Day's media coverage is too extensive to examine in its entirety. The organization has been featured in a wide range ofmedia from issue-based to mainstream, from newspapers to television. In response to my inquiry about important coverage Susan highlighted the release ofa movie version of The Vagina Monologues on

HBO in February 2002 as a huge event; a widely read Women 's Enews piece focusing on the opening of a V-Day Safe House in Kenya (February 2002); Eve Ensler interviewd on

CNN (March 2002); a V-Day feature on The Oprah Winfrey Show (December 2001); a coyer story in Marie-Claire magazine (February 2002); Time and Newsweek articles on

Eve and V-Day; and an article in South Africa's Mail & Guardian (September 2001,

February 2002). According to Susan, the importance is that the coverage be "across the board". Thus local coverage in South Africa is as important as a feature article in Time, and television coverage is as important as magazine coverage. Susan's answer indicated to me that aIl media coverage is important, particularly for the success of a potential global movement.

My analysis of V-Day's press coverage also included media coverage from

Canada that was not selected by V-Day. It quickly became obvious to me that the selected coverage was largely indicative of the overall North American coverage.

Whether national or local, the various articles clearly described V-Day's mission and goal drawing attention to issues of violence against women. This finding underlines the efficiency of the identity and media guidelines provided in the Organizer's Toolkit (at least in North America). V-Day has found a way to get the message it wants in the media.

V-Day's play, cause and innovation have each contributed to its high marketability and helped foster relationships with joumalists from a variety of media.

69 Susan mentioned the very articulate and passionate spokespeople and the important role they play in generating coverage. V-Day's star power is another aspect that has generated automatic coverage, reach and appeal. Susan's appointment as Communications Director and the consequent implementation ofpress kits, and media information and guidelines in the Organizers Toolkit seems to have helped disseminate V-Day's messages in North

America. Not having access to the international coverage besides V-Day South Africa's,

I cannot analyze its effectiveness. However, V-Day should consider implementing culturally specific imperatives into its organizational media procedures. Undertaking research on how the media works in different cultures and parts ofthe world and offering guidelines in different languages are ways V-Day could improve its cross cultural relations and further ensure international press coverage.

2.4. DIFFERENCE AND INCLUSION: MAKING A CONSCIOUS EFFORT

Cultural differences must be foregrounded ifeffective global feminist practices are to take place. To ignore difference is to deny the real and multiple experiences ofwomen around the world. Respecting and embracing difference is the most significant principle in literature on global feminism. Organizations seeking to be global must find ways of implementing this principle into their organizational practices.

To begin with, how is V-Day communicating cross-culturally? V-Day exists as an entity through its website. Here, it communicates its message and programs. V-Day calls itself a global movement. Although the play has been translated into 22 languages,

V-Day communicates cross-culturally in English. Besides having "hello" in different languages, the website is entirely in English. Practicality is one ofthe reasons for limiting the site to one language, as the sheer amount ofinformation on the site is overwhelming.

70 l asked Cecile, Director ofthe Worldwide Campaign, how people who do not understand or speak English communicate with and participate in V-Day. She explained that people send emails in broken English or in their own language. Once in a while they will hire translators if the V-Day employees cannot understand the emails. Cecile also indicated that the possibility of building a multilingual site is presently being discussed among the

V-Day directors. Andrew mentioned his plans to add the V-Day vision statements in different languages but he does not see a need for creating a multilingual site. This year, he received merely three emails in languages other than English. However, language issues are more than this narrow form of needs assessments. As the entire website is

English, who would assume they could write to V-Day in Persian or any other language besides English and have it understood?

In terms of cross-cultural practices, language issues go far beyond questions of practicality or "need"; they are about power. Feminist theorists and communications scholars have begun to question whether English is becoming the language of global feminism, and what the consequences of this are. As a Western organization stretching its organization internationally and intervening in third world and other culturally specifie women's issues, V-Day must be aware of the implications of English imperialism and how its organizational practices impact women globally. Hs use of English would indicate it is not.

V-Day measures its success primarily through participation numbers (how many

V-Day performances take place). In 2001, 236 colleges and 40 cities around the world participated in V-Day. This year, these numbers skyrocketed to 530 colleges and signaling a remarkable growth in participation and highlighting V-Day's potential. These numbers seem to indicate success. However, 150 out of246 cities that participated in the

71 Worldwide Campaign were North American. Although having the site in English might not have prevented V-Day from reaching out to different parts of the world, there is c1early room for improvement. Language issues are not simply a question of numbers.

Multilingualism is essential to building global practices based on respecting differences. 1 argue that effective global feminist practices must be inc1usionary and therefore, culturally sensitive. For this reason, it is important that V-Day work towards multilingual practices. If V-Day could offer a multilingual site or perhaps make multilingual staff available during the campaign period and advertise this service on the site, it could maximize its accessibility and reach more communities around the world. It would unquestionably increase the comfort leve1 of non-Anglophone participants. The bottom line is that by being unilingual, V-Day alienates and exc1udes certain communities.

Facilitating communication is at the very core ofbuilding cross-cultural relations.

Do V-Day's organizational practices reflect the varied realities of women's lives? How is V-Day doing feminist work across cultural divides? The answers to these questions reflect the complex and real tensions involved in global feminist practices.

Although V-Day engages in numerous social action campaigns, The Vagina Monologues is the heart ofthe organization. By using the play as a global tool to he1p raise awareness about violence against women, V-Day is assuming that a cultural text has meaning on its own. The assumption that the play has the same meaning in different contexts advocates a somewhat aggressive liberal mode1 of Western feminism. Despite its apparent broad resonance, the play is a high profile Western cultural text. The script is the same in different contexts, but the play is not.

There is a condition for participating in the campaIgns that also does not accommodate cultural difference. Participants cannot edit or omit any of the individual

72 monologues (or parts to the monologues) in the play; yet at the same time V-Day encourages participants to make the play more "local" for their communities by adding colloquialisms, dance, song, art and/or testimonials. Cecile confirmed that she frequent1y receives negative reactions about this guideline with requests to omit certain dialogues.

However, V-Day has remained firm about upholding this mIe. It is inherent in V-Day's philosophy. V-Day wants everyone to "start at the same place". The directors strongly believe that controversy is a positive thing. If a monologue creates controversy in a certain community, it needs to be faced and dealt with openly.

Despite the fact that this daim has merit, it is only one way of raising awareness. It reflects a Western normative bias, an assumption that liberation is in openness and is always a good thing. Although this situation causes sorne participants to withdraw from V-Day, Willa emphasized that they rare1y give up. For example, it took the organizers in Rome three years to finally have the event. By translating the play and refusing to permit participants to change the monologues, V-Day assumes translation has no impact on meaning. It assumes that the play raises consciousness in the same way in different contexts. It also overlooks the reality that different audiences (and different people within the audience) will have different reactions.

An incident at a V-Day production in Africa exhibits how the play draws different reactions in different contexts. Two African organizers spent a night in jail for putting on The Vagina Monologues. The organizers informed V-Day several days after the incident took place. V-Day was ready to intervene and offered legal he1p. However, for the organizers, the incident was long over and spending a night in jail was inconsequentia1. Their reality and solutions to political responses are very different from

73 North America's. To conclude, the play causes different reactions in different contexts and attempting global practices is a constant leaming process for the V-Day directors.

Sorne of the monologues are potentially controversial as they deal explicitly with issues such as menstruation, masturbation, sex, orgasms and rape. References to alcohol have proved problematic in Muslim countries and caused participants to withdraw

(Willa Shalit, Telephone Interview 2002). Although 1 understand the reasoning behind the need to raise controversial issues, 1 question the transferability of this argument to a country like Afghanistan, where religious fundamentalists stone women to death for leaving their homes unaccompanied by a male relative. 1have to wonder what is lost by giving a specifie group permission to omit a monologue if it would mean the difference between participating and being excluded? This organizational principle is not accommodating to difference, to cultural specificity. It has no doubt resulted in the loss of many potential participants. In sorne ways, it enters into dialogue with Eve's philosophy: "Don't force them [potential participants] to our table". This gentle, albeit hands-off approach fits strangely with V-Day's determined, energetic mission statement.

V-Day can find proactive, culturallY sensitive strategies and practices. As a self-defined global movement it should strive to invite more people to its table.

Although violence against women is worldwide, the play is not universal.

Different women will not identify with the play in exactly the same way. 1 would like to stress that this is another example ofthe challenges involved in global practices. There is tension involved in coming together around something that is shared (in this case The

Vagina Monologues), around a play that is being offered as a universal text and an organization that is not universalizing.

74 The tensions outlined above clearly underline the hurdles and complexity involved in creating cross-cultural relations based on something shared. The play is the central component of this sharing and the element that holds the V-Day movement together. As a published creative work, it also entails authorship and copyright issues that are difficult to negotiate. It is important to acknowledge that this makes altering the order and content a more complicated process. At the same time, culturally sensitive approaches to practice are imperative for global organizations in 2002.

Overall, l would argue that V-Day's practices are increasingly based on difference. V-Day has highlighted cultural specificity and drawn global conclusions out of sensitive local mappings in incredibly innovative ways. With the help of Equality

Now, an affiliate international women's human rights organization, V-Day brought together 10 women from India, the Philippines, Jordan, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Croatia, the United States, Costa Rica, Chile and Belgium. These women are activists involved in promoting women's rights. They were brought together to discuss the problems women are facing in their respective countries. Ultimately, V-Day wanted to find commonalities between the local issues in order to build an affinity network to plan action. After several days ofintense discussion, rape was identified as a universal problem, one that permeated cultural boundaries. Willa explained:

In every region, everywhere, rape was a problem. So we started a campaign called the Stop Rape Contest...and that's an attempt, an acknowledgement that this is a problem that is everywhere, that transcends every continent, every country, every social line, every economic line.. .In doing something that is global, it is really important that you don't exclude people. (Telephone Interview 2002)

The 10 women were appointed regional coordinators for V-Day. They were located through Equality Now, an international women's human rights organization partnered

75 with V-Day for this initiative. The coordinators help manage V-Day events andjudge the

Stop Rape Contests in different parts of the world. The three winners of the 2001 Stop

Rape Contest are from Brazil, Kenya and Germany. This process highlights V-Day's engagement in critical dialogue with Non-Western feminists and activists, and its emphasis on inclusion.

Karen Obel, College Campaign Director, stresses V-Day's awareness of cultural

differences and their complex implications for practice. According to her, V-Day prides

itself on the ways it approaches funding grassroots organizations around the world.

Through extensive email, travel and networking, Eve and the other directors learn about

the various problems women face from the women themselves. They ask organizations

what their problems and solutions are, and how V-Day can help. V-Day then provides

the organizations with the tools they need to begin change. Cecile remarks: "This is the

crux ofV-Day. We don't work in isolation. We work with others"(Telephone Interview

2002). This is a non-Imperialistic model ofdevelopment that starts from difference.

V-Day has planned several events that focus on cultural specificity. During the

V-Day 2001 Madison Square Garden performance, twenty young women performed a

recital and song in reaction to the facts they had learned on female genital mutilation

(FGM). This spring, V-Day opened a Safe House in Narok, Kenya for girls escaping

female genital mutilation and childhood marriage. One of the founders of Tasuru

Ntomonok, a Kenyan community-based organization that educates its communityabout

the dangers of FGM, is overseeing the V-Day Safe House. In the past, V-Day joined

forces with this organization and helped facilitate educational seminars for girls on FGM.

On April 20th, V-Day opened another Safe House, in Rapid City, South Dakota on the

Oglala Lakota Nation's Pine Ridge Reservation. This initiative was done with the

76 intention of drawing attention to the high rate of rape and sexual assault among Native

Americans, which is 3.5 times higher than aIl other races (V-Day press release, March

th 15 , 2002).

In addition to these events, V-Day launched its Afghanistan is Everywhere V­

Action campaign in 2002, to raise awareness and encourage people to take action and

help Afghan women. V-Day supported Afghan women's organizations weIl before

September Ilth. After discovering RAWA (Revo1utionary Association ofthe Women of

Afghanistan) on the Internet, Eve and Willa trave1ed to Afghanistan to meet the women

heading this organization and to visit RAWA's orphanages and underground schools. V­

Day donated $240,000 to this organization. This year's campaign proposes specifie

actions including downloading V-Day's brochure on the plight ofwomen in Afghanistan

and sharing it with friends; writing letters to local newspapers and govemment officiaIs

in support of the rights of Afghan women; and making a donation to an Afghan

organization. The Brussels Proclamation (the document from the Afghan Women's

Summit For Democracy), and a report on Afghan women's roundtable discussions in

Kabul are posted on the website. These examples indicate that V-Day is actively

involved in learning about culturally specifie issues and helping women in other cultures,

through networking with local grassroots organizers to help affect change.

How inclusive is V-Day? Does it encourage participants from various races, ethnicities, and social classes? V-Day's play and website are logical sites for analysis.

To begin, The Vagina Monologues is a play composed of twelve monologues, each one based on a woman's personal story. The wide range of topics, from menstruation to orgasms to childbirth to rape, and the origins of the monologues, from Texas to Kabul, are diverse and in this sense inclusionary. This year, Eve added a monologue entitled

77 "Vnder the Burqua" in honor of Afghan women. The monologues address both heterosexuality and homosexuality. As opposed to popular belief, the monologues are not filled with male bashing. In fact, men are portrayed (in the monologues) in mostly positive roles. Although men are not permitted to perform in the play, V-Day encourages their involvement in other roles behind the scenes. V-Day also acknowledges men's contribution on its website: "An extraordinary and powerful group of women and men have been moved to step forward and join our movement". FinaIly, in the performance guidelines, V-Day notes that professional productions of the monologues cast a diverse group of women that represent multiple generations and ethnic backgrounds. Campaign organizers are asked to do the same.

Despite its conscious efforts and desire to be accessible to aIl social classes, classism continues to plague V-Day. It is extremely difficult to have an action-oriented organization that enables aIl walks of life to participate. Although, there is no charge to participate the campaigns, at the very minimum a person needs to have the time to become involved. This automaticallY excludes many people. The majority of the working class do not have this luxury. FinaIly, V-Day's technological basis, its virtuality, extends its reach around the globe but it simultaneously limits its accessibility to people who have access to computers. That said, it is possible for people without computers to become involved at the community level as organizers, performers or audience members.

V-Day has made commendable efforts to make its events more accessible.

Tickets for celebrity performances generally range between $25 and $1000. The College and Worldwide Campaigns were conceived to reach out and include more people. The implementation of these campaigns allow for lower-priced tickets as local organizers

78 determine the prices for their productions. As well, they choose which local women's organization will receive the proceeds.

Venues can also limit accessibility. For example, all College Campaigns must take place on school campuses. Despite the obvious practical reasons for this, college campuses are sites ofprivilege. On the other hand, the Worldwide Campaigns take place wherever people can find a venue and are more like1y to attract people who may be intimidated by a college setting. Venues can inc1ude community centers, town halls, living rooms, church basements, backyards, etc.

To conc1ude, this section exposes the challenges and complexities of global practices, the difficulty of balancing practicality and sensitive politics. V-Day's engagement in critical dialogue with non-Western feminists and activists is an exemplary strategy for the future of earth-wide practices. This approach to social intervention respects and ce1ebrates difference. The money and resources V-Day gives away are put into the hands of local activists who in turn, allocate the funds to the projects they see fit.

This is a non-Imperial culturally sensitive approach to deve1opment. Overall, V-Day is making the effort to inc1ude new communities by extending and deve10ping its action­ based campaigns. Finally, if V-Day wants to attain a truly global status, it is imperative for it to integrate multilingualism into its organization.

2.5. PARTICIPATION: PROCESS AND EMPOWERMENT

Participative communications is central to the concept of global feminist practices.

Building global ties and networks will not happen in a vacuum and hence, the organizations involved in creating these links must strive to be proactive and galvanize

79 communities around the world to take action. Incorporating the principles of participatory communications (highlighted by Stuart & Bery 1996) into an organization's philosophy and action plan is the first step towards building potential global feminist practices. These principles inc1ude promoting the process of dialogue, collaboration and group decision-making, using the creative process as a channel for individual and group empowerment, letting the community control "the tools", and encouraging the sharing of experiences between communities.

Is V-Day inviting people to join in its mandate by proposing concrete actions? Is it striving to empower individuals and communities by providing the tools to take action?

Is there sorne form of exchange and sharing between participants and communities? To begin with, V-Day is an action-based organization. Hs ultimate goal is to end violence against women and it proposes to do this by raising awareness and money on a global level through a variety of campaigns. This emphasis on action is also reflected in V­

Day's self-description as a movement (as opposed to an organization). In fact, V-Day's mission is entirely dependent on collective action, on gaining participants and involving people in activism. V-Day asks people to participate in their movement: "Take

Action!" ... "Join us!"..."You can help!"

The Program Description ofthe College Campaign reads: "One ofthe goals ofthe

College Campaign is to empower young people - the leaders, shapers and messengers of the future". The V-Day campaigns create spaces for women and girls to find their individual and collective voices and demand an end to violence. Every one of the 800 productions that took place this year in communities and schools all over the world was a creative process ofdialogue, collaboration and group decision-making. V-Day therefore, places emphasis on process and does not focus solely on the end product or result. These

80 productions are very much about participatory communications, about creating awareness and empowerment through practice.

The Vagina Monologues can be seen as "the tool" provided for individual and communityempowerment. This concept planted the seed from which V-Day has grown.

Eve initially thought of her play as a tool that could be used on a global level to raise awareness. Willa explained: "We [V-Day] provide the staff and the guidance and the direction for people to become activists and philanthropists in their own communities"(Telephone Interview 2002). The process of putting on a play that addresses a series of traditionally taboo subjects is proving to be empowering for the people involved. The Organizer's Toolkit states: "As anyone who has seen The Vagina

Monologues knows, the play has the power to galvanize and inspire a powerful sense of self and activism". The event is thus a vehicle, a catalyst for an entire community to become involved in ending violence against women. Rence, individual and collective empowerment is central to V-Day's philosophy.

The Vagina Monologues itself embodies the sharing of experiences between communities. The monologue based on the story ofa Bosnian war refugee and the recent addition of a monologue based on an Afghan women's story signify cross-cultural sharing. The V-Day Worldwide and College Campaigns reflect this on a wider scale, emphasizing the importance ofraisingconsciousness about different forms of oppression while collaborating together.

V-Day created a listserv for the Worldwide and College Campaign participants.

AlI event organizers are required to join. The listserv is the primary means by which V­

Day communicates with the campaign participants. Rowever, it was also created in order to facilitate communication, and for participants to exchange experiences, information,

81 advice and support. According to Cecile, a young woman Canadian woman participating in the Worldwide Campaign struggled to mount the perfonnance in her community of

Northem Ontario. During the early stages of the process, she wrote to the listserv explaining the controversy it was creating in her town and expressing her disappointment at the prospect ofhaving to give up. This young woman received much support and help from the V-Day Worldwide Campaign community. The process ofsharing dilemmas and exchanging ideas and solutions helped her follow through with the event.

V-Day has devoted a section of its website to display the feedback it receives from the campaign organizers once the events have taken place. There is section devoted to North America and one to "V-Day Around The World". Feedback from around the world included Antarctica, France, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Australia and Cameroon. This is an extremely interesting section enabling "outsiders" to hear how various countries planned for their event. The empowering process of participating in the V-Day campaign is a theme that emerges throughout the feedback. These stories are insightful, sometimes discussing the problems women confront locally in their country. For example Rada

Boric, organizer of the V-Day event in Sophia, Bulgaria described the struggles women faced and the courage they displayed in overcoming them. Boric described how women trave1ed from Kosovo and Belgrade to join the regional V-Day event. Sorne were refused access at the Macedonian-Kosovar border. Others traveled an entire day to be there for the perfonnance and retumed that same night because they had to run workshops for women in central Serbia the next day. In sharing these experiences attention is drawn to women's different realities and at the same time community is fostered.

The V-Day website provides anti-violence resources, statistics and a violence glossary. This section has a subheading entitled "Report Violence, End Silence".

82 Women are asked to share their stories of how they overcame violence, their strategies and resources. Women can submit their stories online. Sorne are posted on the site but remain confidential as names and addresses are not published. The idea behind this initiative is to help other women leave violent situations. V-Day also asks its visitors to write about how they envision a world without violence. These are posted on the site on a frequent basis. The invitations and requests for personal experiences, visions, and ideas reflect that sharing and exchange are integral components of V-Day's philosophy and practice.

It is important to note that this participatory empowerment is not strictly reserved for those acting in, helping with or producing the play but spreads to audience members.

Each audience member contributes to the cause as he or she becomes part of a consciousness-raising experience and is donating money to a local women's organization.

Although the play is central to V-Day, becoming a participant in the movement is not limited to acting, producing or attending The Vagina Monologues in one's community.

The Stop Rape Contest invites women and girls of an ages to formulate innovative strategie action plans to stop rape in their communities. V-Day is currently funding eleven Stop Rape Contest action plans for implementation in Australia, Brazil, Canada,

Costa Rica, Egypt, Germany, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mongolia and Senegal. Women and girls participate by creating and submitting action plans, empowering themselves through creative freedom (and concrete action iftheir action plans are chosen for implementation).

This V-Day campaign empowers participants by giving them an opportunity to affect change.

V-Day's participation component is multi-Iayered as both the website and the campaigns are participatory. For V-Day, communications is both a tool and a goal; it is

83 both product and process. The V-Day website is a platform for action. The content ofthe site drives and supports V-Day's action-oriented goals. A visitor can easily find a wide range of ways to participate in V-Day on an individual or community level. This plays a crucial role in determining who can participate. There is no charge to participate in any of the V-Day campaigns. Although donating money to help fund different charities and organizations working towards stopping violence against women is an option, it is only one ofthe many. V-Actions rely mostly on time and human resources. This is important, as economic capital is not necessarily a prerequisite for participation and people of different economic backgrounds can become involved.

The section of the website entitled "Get Involved" features compelling reasons and easy-to-act-on cues for visitors to volunteer their time or resources to the cause. V­

Day encourages visitors to volunteer at local, national and international organizations.

Suggested activities range from tutoring and mentoring, to providing office skills and legal services, to fundraising and computer training. Writing letters to local govemment officiaIs and speaking out about personal experiences are also listed among the V­

Actions. V-Day also has several other campaigns calling people to action.

The Speak Up with V-Day & Lifetime Initiative is a V-Action that consists of sending online cards, sponsored by Lifetime Television, to Congress members in the

United States to support legislation aimed at stopping violence against women.

Participants from countries outside the United States are encouraged to create their own cards and send them to their local govemments. The chance that people will do the research to find addresses for govemment officiaIs, and create their own cards is not very high. The result ofthis limited initiative is that people outside the United States are not as well served as those in the United States. V-Day would see a much higher rate of

84 participation in this carnpaign if they provided cards and addresses for various countries.

At the same time, this is not a campaign that can be universal. People living in countries plagued by political turmoil and instability cannot necessarily take part in this initiative.

The "Other Fundraisers" section asks people to host a creative event in their community to raise funds to stop violence against women and girls. An online form is provided on this page for interested candidates to submit their idea. V-Day promises a response between 7-10 business days. This V-Action allows for individual incentive and creative freedom. Finally, the list of participating cities for both the College and

Worldwide Campaigns are available on the site and provide the contact information of each organizer. The top of the page reads: "Ifyou see that there is an event taking place in your city and you'd like to be involved, please contact the Organizers directly".

Interactivity is an important aspect ofthe website and is imperative in making V­

Day a more participatory organization. There are various ways of measuring virtual interactivity. Does V-Day ask carnpaign participants and/or website visitors for feedback on their events or the website? Is an online list of contacts provided for participants who may have questions?

My interview with Andrew led me to make sorne discoveries about V-Day's interactive aspects. 1 asked if V-Day had specifie plans to change or deve10pment its website. Andrew expressed his interest in conducting future online surveys in order to find out what visitors like and do not like about the site. The surveys would be conducted to obtain input, build a re1ationship with V-Day's base of "members" and increase participation. This, he daims, is important to any activist organization. At the time of this interview in February, V-Day had approximate1y 11,000 V-Mail subscribers. This number was increasing by 50 on a daily basis.

85 An elaborate list ofcontact information is provided on the V-Day site. There are separate email addresses for general information, press information, the Worldwide

Campaign, the College Campaign, partnerships, editor/webmaster, sponsorship, feedback, store, and technology difficulties. Providing issue-specifie email addresses ensures that the organization will be able to deliver more informed answers to participants and visitors' concems. l received quick (maximum of a few days), quality responses to my numerous mqUlnes.

The 2003 Youth Monologues Pilot Program is another example of V-Day's interactivity. Eve is in the process ofwriting a new set ofmonologues for teens. "Using the same format as The Vagina Monologues, Eve will interview teenagers around the world to guide the development ofthis new piece"(www.vday.org). V-Day asks teens to help Eve understand the issues facing today's youth. The youth question of the week is posted on the site and teenagers from all over the world can contribute by emailing their answers. This V-Day initiative is calling on a whole new demographic to participate in

V-Day.

Although V-Day has a very strong participatory and interactive component, it does not invite the public to participate at an organizational level. V-Day does not post job opportunities or seek expertise from its public. In this sense, it is a closed organization.

This is partly the consequence ofV-Day's virtual status and participative nature. In terms of membership, Andrew states: "We have a constituency"(Telephone Interview 2002).

V-Day's constituency is women. It does not need the money memberships usually contribute to an organization's functioning. Financial viability allows V-Day to focus on other things. It provides the tool with which people can act. V-Day is project-driven.

86 You participate; you do not join. Participation happens at the local and grassroots level where it is most effective.

This analysis of V-Day's philosophy, mandate, campaigns and websites indicates that V-Day is based on a very strong participatory model ofcommunications. This model embraces individual and community empowerment, the process ofdialogue, collaboration and group decision-making, and the sharing of experiences between communities. The wide range ofparticipatory activities is testament to V-Day's action-based mandate.

3. REFLECTIONS ON THE ROAD TO GLOBAL CHANGE

As scholars, activists, feminists and organizers, what can we learn from V-Day's initiatives? What are V-Day's strengths and weaknesses?

To begin, we can learn that new types of feminist organizations are emerging, organizations that disrupt traditional conceptions of the ideal feminist organization. V­

Day challenges the preconception that feminist organizations should struggle monetarily for their existence. Its outright mission to raise money may be classist but nevertheless, it is effective. V-Day's emphasis on self-image is clearly demonstrated in the high production values and user-friendliness ofits media products. The result ofthis has been an easily recognizable movement throughout North America and gradually beyond.

Similarly, its impressive press coverage illustrates the value of media, in creating and maintaining a high profile image to extend its reach and scope. V-Day's focus on participatory communications highlights the benefits of action-based social campaigns.

These benefits are multi-Iayered as the people participating in social action empower themselves and help to empower the fund recipients. Through the combination ofthe use of a creative and performative venue like theatre, and the Internet, V-Day has generated

87 popular interest in social activism and most likely reached a larger and more diverse participant-base. Finally, and arguably most importantly, V-Day's practices exemplify the risks and benefits of reaching beyond national borders. V-Day's unilingual component raises the danger of recreating already pervasive access barriers and signaIs the need for multilingual practices. Although V-Day's philosophy sometimes universalizes women, its practices are c1early moving towards foregrounding difference.

V-Day has c1early acknowledged that women around the world have different priorities, strategies and solutions. Hs engagement in worldwide activism highlights the magnitude of deve10ping culturally sensitive practices, based on equality, respect, sharing, critical dialogue and difference. V-Day will doubtlessly pursue its global mission, trying to reach the regions were the dots are far and few between on V-Day's map ofthe world.

88 CHAPTER FOUR: THE FUTURE OF FEMINIST ACTIVISM

1. V-DAY: WHAT LIES AHEAD

V-Day is moving forward with impressive momentum as it continues to be in the media spotlight and grow worldwide. This kind ofmomentum often does not leave much room for critical reflection. Where is V-Day heading? What are the challenges and possibilities it faces as it continues to grow?

V-Day is becoming a more multi-faceted organization as it adds new campaigns and activities on annual basis. Nevertheless, this organization is driven by a single play; a play that has resonated with people in many parts of the world; a play that is both funny and heartbreaking. It will be difficult to replicate its success and wide appeal. Although for the moment, organizers worldwide seem enthusiastic about continuing on with The

Vagina Monologues, in sorne parts of North America, this play will be the driving force behind V-Day for the fifth consecutive year. The enthusiasm and energy that emanated from the 2002 productions, visible in the organizers' feedback and media, signaIs that the play still has not yet neared its end. Personally, as part ofa V-Day organizing team in the

V-Day 2000 College Campaign, when the production came to an end 1looked forward to partaking in it all over again. However, with time and repetition, The Vagina Monologues will eventually lose sorne of its edge, energy, and appeal. What will happen to V-Day when it reaches a point ofsaturation?

It seems Eve has been planning ahead for the future. She has been working on two plays, one which she intends to calI, The Good Body. This work de1ves into women's obsession with their bodies. Women in over 30 countries have been interviewed. The other play will be the basis for the Youth Monologues Pilot Program. Based on the same

89 format as The Vagina Monologues, Eve is interviewing teenagers around the world to guide the development ofthis new piece. What it is like to be a teenager today and what issues are on your mind? These are the questions being asked. Possible themes for the play include eating disorders, dating, sex trafficking, and cliques. V-Day williaunch its

Youth Campaign in 2003. How exactly it will function has not yet been disclosed.

Although this initiative will strive to empower a new demographic, the involvement of youth will most likely generate more controversy and this will potentially have serious implications for V-Day. V-Day will have to be better prepared and equipped to handle the controversy.

There are sorne questions to ponder. For example, how often can the same structure be used until it loses its appeal? Will V-Day eventually have numerous campaigns, based on different plays, happening in various parts of the world? What consequences will these new plays have on the movement? What consequences will they have on play's energy? What will happen to the sense ofbelonging to something shared on a globallevel?

V-Day's financial growth and stability make the future possibilities vast. V-Day is beginning to initiate a series of innovative cross-cultural projects to end violence against women. Through international women's human rights networks and organizations like Equality Now, V-Day has reached out to diverse communities. These initiatives are drawing attention to different forms of violence and allowing women's organizations to implement concrete programs to stop violence against women based on their own local needs. My hope is that V-Day will become global in every sense ofthe word. Although, it exists on the net, V-Day's fulltime organizers live in the United States. !ts virtual nature and financial status could be maximized and used to hire women in different parts

90 of the world to represent V-Day on a full time basis. V-Day could commission plays by different women worldwide. Projects such as these would represent genuine cross­ cultural practices, projecting V-Day one step further on the road to global change.

2. GLOBAL NETWORKING FOR CHANGE

V-Day has traveled a long way since its initiallaunch as a single night event in New York

th City on February l4 , 1998. Its longstanding mission to become global is commendable, despite its somewhat premature self-definition as a global movement. However, today there is ample evidence ofits reach on a worldwide scale.

V-Day started as a single performance in New York City selling tickets between

$100 and $1000. Its goal was to stop violence against women and girls. It would raise awareness and money for grassroots, national and international organizations fighting to end violence against women. The following year, V-Day added the D.K. to its map. In

2000, it was Germany. In 2001, Italy, Mexico, Kenya, Denmark and Cameroon joined the movement. This year, over 40 countries united with V-Day to take a stand on violence against women. In only 4 years, it has raised a total of over $9 million for women's organizations around the world.

V-Day's accomplishments bring me back to the concept of networking.

Networking is ultimately feeling connected by being connected to people and communities around the world. It is a practice as well as being a physical structure.

Networking is inherent to V-Day at both a conceptual, material and practicalleve1. It is at the heart of every V-Day strategy and every V-Day practice. It has fostered the development of a viable, media-savvy, user-friendly, participation-based, inclusionary,

"well-on-its-way-to-becoming-global" organization.

91 V-Day was born from the interpersonal networking of a handful of committed women, who in turn reached out to friends and acquaintances for expertise and resources.

Inter-organizational networking is the building block of V-Day's alliances with grassroots, national and international women's organizations. These networks led V-Day to discover and in turn, connect with local organizers around the globe. V-Day's relationships with dozens of celebrities, high-profile feminists, journalists from aIl types of media, private sponsors, and major corporations are also the result of extensive networking practice. They are the beginning of a chain of decentralized practice that consists ofnetworks within networks within networks.

As a virtual organization, V-Day is a network on a materiallevel. The Internet houses V-Day. It is also V-Day's communicative backbone. It embodies and facilitates a set of social relations. The Internet allows V-Day to exchange information and support.

It is its medium for communicating, researching, mobilizing and ultimately facilitating

"on the ground" action around the world. Ramona Rush (1996) has drawn attention to the

Internet's potential for global networking:

Threads, webs that we recognize, that we could relate to, tithe to, bond to, connect to, sharing a common web. Women's webs. Wild women's webs. Women's worldwide webs...Networking is what it sounds like: working the net, which is like working the web. (xv)

As an international issue-defined feminist organization, V-Day is finding the common threads in a diverse, complex, immense world. In other words it is "working the net" to build affinity networks and affect change. l suggest that V-Day is representative of the future offeminist activism. It stands as an example ofa highly effective model of action in the larger domain of social activism, a model that is based on the combination of networking and the "net". This consists ofthe propagation ofaffinity networks facilitated

92 by the Internet; networking to build affinity networks. Here lie the conditions of possibility for global social change.

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PERSONAL INTERVIEWS

Lipworth, Cecile. Telephone Interview by author. Montreal to New Mexico, 6 February 2002.

Obel, Karen. Email Interview by author. Montreal to New York, 28 June 2002.

---. Telephone Interview by author. Montreal to New York, 9 Ju1y 2002.

Shalit, Andrew. Telephone Interview by author. Montreal to Massachusetts, Il February 2002.

---. Telephone Interview by author. Toronto to Massachusetts, 26 June 2002.

98 Shalit, Willa. Telephone Interview by author. Montreal to New York, 25 March 2002.

Swan, Susan Cecilia. Telephone Interview by author. Montreal to New York, 9 April 2002.

---. Telephone Interview by the author. Toronto to New York, 26 June 2002.

99 APPENDIXA

WEBSITE HOMEPAGE, V-DAY, WWW.V-DAY.ORG

100 APPENDIXB

V-DAY is spreading eVerywhere

800 Events Around the World

Orange dots = Worldwide Campaign events

Red dots = College Campaign events

101