I first met Eve Ensler in a bombed-out theater in Sarajevo in 1998. She was already known by many as the playwright of the groundbreaking play, The Vagina Monologues, which she had performed off-Broadway as a one-woman show.
V, formerly Eve Ensler
V, formerly Eve Ensler, is a Tony Award-winning playwright, performer and activist. She is best known for her play The Vagina Monologues. Her nonprofit, V-Day, raises money and educates the public about violence against women and efforts to stop it.
Fighting Violence with Joy: An Interview with Eve Ensler
For decades, feminist revolutionary Eve Ensler has combined art, activism and her unrelenting passion to oppose the violence against women and girls that pervades our world. Widely known for her play The Vagina Monologues, her most recent written work—the memoir In the Body of the World—combines heartbreaking and inspiring stories of women from the Democratic […]
Beyoncé Rocks the Cover of Ms.
“When women like Beyoncé proudly proclaim feminism, they tend to invite more debates than affirmation.” That’s one of the provocative statements that kicks off Janell Hobson’s cover essay on popular culture icon Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, our fierce feminist cover woman for Spring 2013. The new issue of Ms. magazine, now on its way to subscribers, is also […]
Sing, Dance, RISE: One Billion Rising on Valentine’s Day
One in three women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime. Half of the seven billion global population are women—which means that one billion women alive now will be, or have been, raped or beaten. These are the statistics behind the creation of One Billion Rising. February 14 is the 15th anniversary of V-Day, […]
Politicians Say the Darndest Things
In the past several months, a myriad of public figures have made ridiculous (ignorant, offensive) comments about women and their bodies. We’ve put together a slideshow highlighting the most absurd quotes, following them with factchecking and some mea culpas from the foot-in-mouthers. Let us know if we’ve missed any! [prezi id=’http://prezi.com/7ve5ossidvbu/lest-we-forget/’] Photo of […]
Did Someone Say Vagina?
As a theater director, the first person I thought of when I heard the news from Michigan was Eve Ensler. I’ve directed The Vagina Monologues twice and, despite unsettling doubts that the play does not actually work as the V-Day events intend (to end violence), I loved doing it both times. In theater speak, The Vagina […]
What Occupy Wall Street Owes to Feminist Consciousness-Raising
On the November 17th national day of action for the Occupy Wall Street movement, I was interviewed by a man from a Swedish newspaper who wanted to know why I was there. I smiled and said, “That’s the question, isn’t it?” Everyone wants to know, still, even after the two-month anniversary of a movement that’s […]
Are Feminists Occupying Wall Street?
Since Occupy Wall Street began a month ago, there have been questions about how the movement should address women and minorities’ social and economic needs. Just last week on the Ms. Blog, Angi Becker Stevens called on feminists to “seize the opportunity to plug into this movement” in order to reach the movement’s “full potential.” While […]
Top 100 Feminist Non-Fiction Countdown: 20-11
Nearing the top 10, we’ve got some heavy hitters. Famous feminists Simone De Beauvoir, Betty Friedan, Naomi Wolf, Eve Ensler and Jessica Valenti appear along with revolutionary self-help manual, Our Bodies, Ourselves, and popular books by Julia Serano, Marjane Satrapi and Yoani Sanchez. Now is the time to submit your guesses in the comments […]
Top 100 Feminist Non-Fiction Countdown: 70-61
Books 70 to 61 take a darker turn, looking at some of the harsh realities of sexism, homophobia and racism. Here, writers take on rape, colonialism, wage disparities, racist reproductive injustice, and the hidden pre-Roe stories of women who gave up their children for adoption. But to start, two works by heavyweight feminist theorists that […]