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Vagina Monologues in Belgrade

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Vagina Monologues in Belgrade 5Djordjevic37.5.qxd 02/11/2006 16:09 Page 127 Vagina Sisters, Crying Men, Soap Opera Stars and Sushi: The Story of the Vagina Monologues in Belgrade Jelena Djordjevic* 1 Introduction of the possibility for bringing performance one day before the V-Day is a global movement to peace and coexistence of different Orthodox Easter. In a country stop violence against women and cultures and religions. It was where the church is gaining girls. Through the promotion of aimed at strengthening women’s power each day, it was interesting creative events that celebrate solidarity and support and sending to see how only a few days before women’s sexuality, like the Vagina a strong political message Easter the whole town talked Monologues,1 V-Day increases demanding an end to violence about vaginas and women’s awareness, raises money and against women. The performance orgasms. This was stirred by two ‘revitalises’ the energy of existing of Vagina Monologues in different television clips with which we organisations working to stop Slavic languages enabled women introduced the whole idea of violence against women. The across regional borders to Vagina Monologues to Serbian V-Day movement has spread understand each other through society one week before the play. widely around the world. Last the universal language of their Both clips were taken from Abby year there were 2,300 events and bodies. Each of these Epstein’s documentary Until the celebrations, in over 1,100 cities, performances empowered Violence Stops, which captures the villages and towns. Since 2000, participation of women in public, impact of V-Day in five different several V-Day events have been strengthened solidarity among international communities. In the held in the Balkan region. They women coming from different first clip, women from around the took place in Sofia in Bulgaria, ethnicities and speaking different world were saying vagina in Bucharest and Jas in Romania, languages, strengthened visibility different languages. The second Skopje in Macedonia, Ljubljana in of women’s struggles against one showed a woman playing one Slovenia, Sarajevo in Bosnia and violence, and provided support to of the monologues in which she Herzegovina, and Zagreb in women’s groups through raising performs triple orgasm. We loved Croatia. At the beginning of funds. In this article, I tell the story that one. It was so empowering 2006, the Serbian Anti-Trafficking of the staging of V-Day in and humorous. It said what Vagina Center (ATC) brought V-Day to Belgrade, and use it to reflect on Monologues is about: about us, our Belgrade for the first time. the promise of the V-Day bodies and how we (and society) movement in struggles for the relate to them. Unfortunately, The events that took place in realisation of women’s sexual some television stations refused to different cities of the Balkan rights. air the second video clip. Some of region around the celebration of them had a problem with airing V-Day brought together activism 2 Belgrade: new vagina city the first one as well: ‘Too many and art, memories and singing, The Vagina Monologues were times the word vagina is repeated’ vision and celebration of women’s brought to Belgrade for the first one television director told us. ‘It bodies. Staging V-Day in this time on 22 April 2006. It was is almost Easter and I am not sure region, which was for years something that ATC activists had that people would be happy devastated by wars in former been planning for years. By about it’. Yugoslavia, provided a metaphor coincidence, we scheduled the IDS Bulletin Volume 37 Number 5 October 2006 © Institute of Development Studies 127 5Djordjevic37.5.qxd 02/11/2006 16:09 Page 128 3 Reclaiming our bodies and who participated taught us how Vagina Monologues were to be our desires: the ‘Vagina to heal the body with voice, touch performed by women activists in Workshop’ and massage, how to sustain our venues where we usually organise Before the play, the ATC bodily selves. It was trans- different workshops, panels and organised a ‘Vagina Workshop’ for generational sharing and healing performances, not many people 40 women activists and one gay with much power, strength and would come. We would only be man. Participants came from humour. able to attract those that were different towns of Serbia, from already within ‘our’ circles. But Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia 4 Reaching out to a wider how do you reach out to others, and Macedonia. The Vagina society how you reach out to the Monologues had already been When we organise conferences, ‘unreachable’? performed in each of those workshops and other events, we countries. The ‘Vagina Workshop’ always see the same faces. It feels The V-Day movement involves was a space for activists to talk like we are talking to each other enlisting celebrities to draw the about those things that they all the time. Finding ways of attention of society at large to usually do not talk about – reaching out to different issues that would otherwise not ourselves. One of the activists said communities, and engaging wider make it to the general public. By that for all the 70 years of her life society is crucial if violence against getting celebrities to perform the she had never had an orgasm. This women is to be addressed. But it Vagina Monologues, whether they reminded us how many of us is not easy. How do you talk are known as actresses, singers, learned about our bodies through about violence against women in politicians, sports players or violence rather than pleasure, but a society that has been business women, visibility is also how important it is to create overwhelmed with war crimes for assured. So this is what we did. these spaces where we talk about more than ten years, and has Beatriz Luengo, an actress from ourselves, our desires and our acquired such a high level of Spain who stars in a Spanish bodies. We had time to think tolerance to violence? How do television soap opera that is about it, away from our daily you put violence against women hugely popular in Serbia, helped work, activism and families. We on the agenda at a time of us in that, together with Myleene reminded ourselves that we need economic transition, where other Klass, a pop star from the UK, and time to self-reflect, to look at issues are seen as a bigger priority ten other amazing and famous ourselves more deeply, because than human rights, especially actresses from Serbia and one only by change in ourselves, the women’s rights? How do you find from Croatia. change we envision for the world innovative ways to grab people’s can happen. A Shaman woman attention? We knew that if the Activists participating in the ‘Vagina Workshop' 128 Djordjevic The Story of the Vagina Monologues in Belgrade 5Djordjevic37.5.qxd 02/11/2006 16:09 Page 129 Participants drew their own, unique vaginas 5 Soap stars as women’s rights how important this play was for everything was set for the play, campaigners them personally – how vulnerable securing a back-up camera, Beatriz Luengo is famous among and at the same time powerful communicating with two airline 12–17-year-old girls. As one they felt while performing the companies about the lost luggage newspaper article wrote: monologues; and how they are of one of our guest actresses ‘Hundreds of young girls came to familiar with the stories that the (subsequently we had to secure see the Vagina Monologues, but monologues describe. They knew back-up for her clothes and not because of its provocative them from their own experience make-up since her baggage was content but because of the as well as the experience of other delayed) and batteries for participation of their idol Bea’. women around them. Seeing microphones for actresses to Yes, they came to see Bea and at them on the stage performing perform in a few hours (the the same time they heard about and hearing their stories batteries on the microphones the vaginas, clitorises, pleasure and afterwards about how important actresses used on their last orgasm. They heard about incest, the monologues were for each of rehearsal had run out), getting sexual abuse, rape, genital them, I knew these are our new sushi seemed an impossible task. mutilation, domestic violence. allies. But once the actresses were out They also heard about being there on the stage bringing the lesbian. They heard about how to Now when it is all over, with a message out to the people I love their bodies. And that was a smile I remember a phone call I forgot about it all. Because what success. received from a few of the these women were saying and actresses in the middle of the the passion with which they said 6 From behaving like divas to chaos, asking me to order them a it helped each of us to relate to it. becoming new allies in making sushi: ‘Is there anything else you That is the reason why it was so change happen actresses would like to eat except powerful. It was about each of us As for other actresses, they sushi?’ (which we could only get and that is why it made so much passed through their personal from a very expensive restaurant sense. As one of the actresses transformations while reading the on the other side of town that said, she had never received such monologues. Each monologue is a was impossible to reach due to applause in all the years she had personal story of a woman about the international marathon that been acting; ‘Well, this is not her body.
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