The Vagina Monologues Busan 2012

Violence takes many forms. It may manifest itself as psychological abuse, becoming fear, shame or hopelessness in the victim. It can be physical like a cut or bruise, a broken bone or debilitating mutilation of the body. And it’s happening to Women. All over the World. Right Now.

This is why I decided to participate in The Vagina Monologues.

Violence against women had been highlighted in the Korea media recently. The country has been outraged at the police’s absurdly slow response to a 28-year-old murder victim’s 112 call, which detailed the exact location she was held and raped, but failed to result in her rescue. Closer to home come reports of foreign brides being beaten or killed by their husbands while the community fail to intervene. Why do we accept this?

In South Korea, the 2009 UN reported rate of rape was 17.7 per 100,000 compared to Japan’s mere 1.2 and America’s significant 28.6. Korea’s statistics are relativity small you say? Well, in my opinion hundreds if not thousands of cases go unreported. As anyone who has lived here for a few years can tell you, in Korean society woman and men are not treated equally. An expression of this inequality is evident in the courts pitifully light sentencing in rape cases or how in 2008 a 16 year-old-girl was returned to the custody of the household that had been raping her for 7 years.

Would you go through the ordeal of convincing police of your story and reliving the entire nightmare only to be told that he used “not enough violence to constitute rape”? The acceptance of rape and violence against women in South Korea is abhorrent. And other countries are no different.

In 1998, writer of the now infamous Vagina Monologues, Eva Ensler with the help of others, established V-Day a not-for-profit movement that endeavors to stop violence against women by working with women’s anti-violence organizations, and by continuing to perform the controversial Vagina Monologues.

Participate in this weekend events to help stop the violence against women… because we’re over it!

Busan’s 3rd Annual production of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues at the Vinyl Underground

Saturday April 28th @ 7pm
Sunday April 29th @ 2pm
Sunday April 29th @ 7pm

Directed and produced by Jen Sotham and April Simpson. All proceeds from the show will go to the Women of Haiti (10%) and the Saegil Welfare Corporation/ Busan Woman’s Shelter (90%).