DePaul University Via Sapientiae College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences 12-2010 Transnational feminism and gender-based violence: Exploring the relationship between feminist theory and V-Day Molly Laura Boeder Harris DePaul University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd Recommended Citation Harris, Molly Laura Boeder, "Transnational feminism and gender-based violence: Exploring the relationship between feminist theory and V-Day" (2010). College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations. 63. https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/63 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Via Sapientiae. 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TRANSNATIONAL FEMINISM AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FEMINIST THEORY AND V-DAY A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of International Studies November 2010 BY Molly Laura Boeder Harris Department of International Studies College of Liberal Arts and Sciences DePaul University Chicago, Illinois THESIS COMMITTEE Dr. Laila Farah Dr. Ann Russo, Committee Chair Dr. Shailja Sharma ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction ―Turning Pain to Power‖ ............................................................ 1 Chapter 2: Contextualizing Eve Ensler and V-Day ........................................................ 14 Chapter 3: Locating Transnational Feminist Theories and Practices .............................. 23 Chapter 4: Intersectionality and Integrating Difference .................................................. 34 Chapter 5: Embodiment and Empowerment, Realizing the Body‘s Resilience ............... 59 Chapter 6: Building a Survivor-Centered Movement ..................................................... 89 Chapter 7: Negotiating Insider and Outsider Perspectives ............................................ 104 Chapter 8: Reframing the Connections Among Sexuality, Violence & Masculinity ..... 125 Chapter 9: Conclusion ―Evolving Feminisms‖............................................................. 136 Works Cited ................................................................................................................ 150 iii Chapter 1: Introduction ―Turning Pain to Power”1 “I have traveled to more than 40 countries and met women and men who through various circumstances – war, poverty, racism, multiple forms of violence – have never known security or have had the illusion of security forever devastated…These particular people, rather than turning violent themselves, have gone into the heart of the pain, the loss. They have grieved and died into it and allowed and encouraged this poison to become medicine. These warriors now devote their lives to making sure that whatever terrible thing happened to them does not happen to anyone else. Because the transformation of suffering rather than their own security is the goal, they are in fact creating real safety for others.” (Eve Ensler2, 2005) “The fact is simple, you can not help a person if you do not understand how that person manages to exist at all. Change cannot come from above, but from the interaction between compelling impetus of those who will directly benefit from change and those within the structures of power who have to have the capacity to share a wider vision. The relationship between planners and those struggling for change needs to be characterized by co-operative conflict rather than antagonistic and adversary stances.” (Malika Basu, 2000) The success of a transnational women‘s movement to end violence against women and girls depends on its ability to embrace the rich diversity of perspectives, belief systems, experiences, and goals that emerge from women around the globe and their unique communities. Transnational feminism as a practice, reaches beyond an easily assumed ―global sisterhood‖ and examines the multiple historical and contemporary intersections of race, gender, sexuality, economics, and nationality (among others) on a global scale – analyzing the various layers and lenses that shape both the possibilities and the pitfalls of cross-cultural organizing. In her essay, ―Using Millie Thayer‘s Making Transnational Feminism to Connect Transnational Feminist Theories to Transnational Feminist Practices,‖ Camille Sutton-Brown describes how the 1 ―Turning Pain to Power‖ was the slogan for V-Day‘s 2009 U.S. speaking tour spreading the word about ―violence against women in the Congo, and efforts underway to end it.‖ (http://www.vday.org/pain-to-power-tour) 2 Eve Ensler is a ―playwright, performer, and activist, is the author of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, translated into over 45 languages and performed in over 130 countries. Her experience performing THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES inspired her to create V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls.‖ She has ―devoted her life to stopping violence, envisioning a planet in which women and girls will be free to thrive, rather than merely survive. The play is based on Ensler‘s interviews with more than 200 women.‖ (http://www.vday.org/about/more-about/eveensler) 1 transnational lens allows feminists to analyze ―power relations from these points of collision‖ and therefore ―situates gender in a tightly interconnected web that also includes sexism, racism, and heterosexism.‖ (Sutton-Brown, 2010) In an essay entitled ―A View from Elsewhere: Locating Difference and the Politics of Representation from a Transnational Feminist Perspective‖ feminist theorist Radha Hegde emphasizes the importance of developing a feminist practice ―that can travel transnationally and confront the challenge of representing marginalized others.‖ (Hegde, 271, 1998) Importantly, Hedge asks, ―How are we equipped theoretically to understand the complex patterns of women‘s lives and conditions of subordination and make our transnational representations of these realities more meaningful?‖ while also suggesting the risk and responsibility transnational feminists have in representations of other women. (Hegde, 1998, 272) For a transnational movement to effectively address the many forms of violence against women and girls while remaining relevant, as well as accessible, across the global spectrum of context and experience, it must be intersectional, collaborative, and self-reflexive. Described by The Affinity Project, a group of researchers and activists from Queens University who study ―the theory and practice of non-hegemonic forms of social organization and social change,‖ a transnational feminist vision builds ―on global networks of communication, which bring about a ‗shifting of borders‘‖ that allow for ―the emergence of transnational dialogues between feminists the world over.‖ (The Affinity Project, 2006) This encompassing vision provides the space and consciousness to foster fluid, honest, and accessible discussions and debates necessary to support a global effort to end gender-based violence.3 It differs from 3 Article 1 of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in 1993, describes violence against women as ―any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. (http://www.alrc.net/doc/mainfile.php/torture/149) 2 international feminist theory in its specific attention to intersectionality4, which was first ―coined‖ by Kimberlé Crenshaw and was ―intended to address the fact that the experiences and struggles of women of colour fell between the cracks of both feminist and anti-racist discourse.‖ (Crenshaw, 1998) Crenshaw, a civil rights activist, Law Professor, and V-Day activist, insisted ―theorists need to take both gender and race on board and show how they interact to shape the multiple dimensions of Black women‘s experience.‖ (Crenshaw, 1998) Intersectionality, as it is used in feminist theory, explores what Kathy Davis describes in her essay ―Intersectionality as Buzzword: A Sociology of Science Perspective on What Makes a Feminist Theory Successful,‖ as ―the interaction between gender, race, and other categories of difference in individual lives, social practices, institutional arrangements, and cultural ideologies and the outcomes of these interactions in terms of power.‖ (Davis, 2008, 68) Using an intersectional approach helps theorists examine ―the interaction of multiple identities and experiences of exclusion and subordination‖ making it an essential component within transnational feminist movements connecting local and global communities. (Davis, 67) Transnational feminism can be cultivated by increasing solidarity with other groups that are working to resist local and/or global oppressions, as well as by feminists acknowledging and Specifically, sexual violence includes ―any act where sex is used as a weapon; it may involve one or more persons forcing, pressuring, coercing, threatening …manipulating another person into sexual acts or activities against his or her will. It may involve unwanted sexual attention, sexual contact or sexual activity.‖ (www.vtnetwork.org) Finally, the U.S. Department of