USING ART TO ERADICATE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, CHILDREN AND OTHERS
HOW THE GLOBAL DIRECTOR OF MOVEMENT, ONE BILLION RISING, IS USING PLATFORM TO ADVOCATE. ‘We use art such as dance, poetry and theatre as mediums to educate about women’s’ issues’
Art is such a powerful platform for change because it can shift the way people think about things.
Sometimes it is even more powerful than data or speeches because it evokes imagination.
This is the belief of global director of the One Billion Rising, Monique Wilson, who has been using art to advocate against domestic violence, rape and sexual assault for many years. “The strength of One Billion Rising is that it is an art and activism movement,” Ms Wilson said.
“We use art such as dance, poetry and theatre as mediums to educate about women’s’ issues.
“In this movement, we always ask for that imaginative ‘what if ’. “What if this happened to your wife or your daughter, wouldn’t you be angry, wouldn’t you be raging and fighting on the streets like the women’s movements?”
About the campaign
One Billion Rising is a global campaign to end violence against women, transgenders and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to genderbased violence.
The campaign was launched in 2012 in response to a statistic from the United Nations that one in every three women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime.
That is more than one billion women and girls.
Ms Wilson is in the country and met with One Billion Rising Fiji activists last Sunday to talk about issues faced by Fijian women.
She said one of the root causes of domestic violence was because of patriarchy.
“Sadly, a lot of men still do not have that consciousness, that higher consciousness of what violence and rape means and what it really does to a woman, girl or child’s life,” she said. “We want to deepen that consciousness. That is where art can help because it is imaginative. It takes you away from your head and brings you straight into your heart.
“And when you feel something, there is no way that you would not have empathy. No way that you would not feel the pain and rage.”
Ms Wilson’s theatre group has produced plays in several countries to advocate on these issues.
Successful performances
In 2002 they performed the famous ‘Vagina Monologues’ for the Senate and Congress in the Philippines that helped in the passing of sex trafficking and domestic violence bills that had been lying dormant for almost 10 years
(The Guardian, 2015).
“When we performed, a lot of the lawmakers, most of whom were men, were crying because they did not realize what women went through when they were raped,” she said.
“A play could open up their hearts immediately and over the years we have seen the power of art to radically change people’s way of thinking.” The ‘Vagina Monologues’ is a play by Eve Ensler that explores consensual and non-consensual sexual experiences, genital mutilation, body image and other issues through the eyes of a woman.
“We cannot be passive; that it has been happening since the beginning of time so why do anything about it,” she said.
“We have to go further and examine why men are committing violence against women, why do men still feel that they are higher than women and therefore entitled to control them, hurt them?”
She discussed with local activists on the ways in which art could be used to raise awareness in Fiji on these issues.
One Billion Rising is a global campaign to end violence against women, transgenders and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to genderbased violence.