one billion rising

This Valentine’s Day, Dance with LOVE to End Violence Against Women

one billion rising

By Aimee Milwood

“JUSTICE CAN TAKE MANY FORMS.

IT CAN BE AN APOLOGY OR REPARATIONS.  TAKING LEGAL ACTION.  IT CAN BE ABOUT MAKING THE TRUTH VISIBLE. IT CAN BE PROSECUTING, OR PUSHING TO CREATE CHANGE, OR IMPLEMENTING POLICIES AND LAWS THAT ENSURE THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS. IT CAN BE CALLING FOR AN END TO ALL FORMS OF INEQUALITY, DISCRIMINATION, MISOGYNY AND PATRIARCHY. IT CAN BE NAMING OR SHAMING PERPETRATORS – WHETHER THEY BE INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, CORPORATIONS OR THE STATE. DEMANDING ACCOUNTABILITY.  IT CAN BE RISING FOR JUSTICE BE IT PERSONAL, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, CULTURAL, ENVIRONMENTAL OR POLITICAL.  IT CAN BE A REVOLUTIONARY CALL TO RESTORE DIGNITY AND RESPECT FOR ALL WOMEN.

IT CAN BE ABOUT TRANSFORMATION.”

One in three women – one billion women worldwide – will be raped or beaten in her lifetime.

This Valentine’s Day, One Billion Rising for Justice invites you to join the worldwide movement to end gender violence. Last year, playwright Eve Ensler, creator of “The Vagina Monologues,” launched the One Billion Rising campaign in celebration of the 15th anniversary of V-Day. On Valentine’s Day 2013, more than one billion people in 207 countries participated. This year, groups from Sigcaweni, Swaziland, to Hong Kong, China, are mobilizing to raise awareness and bring justice to survivors of gender violence.

This year’s global campaigns include Peruvians’ movement to end sexual street harassment and Nigerians’ fight to end child marriages.

Visit One Billion Rising for Justice to find out more or to learn how to get involved.

About the Writer

Aimee Millwood is a writer with wanderlust who currently lives in Hanoi, Vietnam. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she received her BA in Literature with an emphasis in creative writing. She believes everyone has a story to tell and is interested in the use of personal narrative to give voice to people whose stories are not always heard. She credits growing up in both Hawaii and Georgia with her constant desire to explore the concept of home and how places shape who we become. Although she has spent the past two years traveling in South America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, she believes a physical trip is not the only means of travel – at times, just the wind on your face during a long drive or the scent of a campfire can rejuvenate the soul. You can check out more of her work on her blog, www.stopdroptravel.com.

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The Culture-ist