We’ve always been fascinated by people who aren’t afraid to take on the world. One of those special people is Eve Ensler, the playwright/activist who wrote The Vagina Monologues and founded V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls. We wanted to include Eve in this first issue of Comfort, our new mag.net, because it debuts during the period after Valentine's Day when more than 2,000 V-Day benefits are taking place around the world. (Eve tells us the "V" in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine, and Vagina.) Eve works tirelessly to help bring comfort, safety, and peace to women who are abused and beaten simply for being who they are. It’s hard to imagine the things she has witnessed first-hand. Not many people we know have a resume that includes walking through minefields in Kosovo and facing down a Taliban member in Afghanistan. Talking with her can change your perspective in a heartbeat.... MITCHELL: When I first heard about The Vagina Monologues, I thought it was a comedy. Then I went to see it, and it blew me away. I could see the hurt and harm done to women because of cultural and religious beliefs. I thought of my mom, sister-in-law, nieces, grand-niece…it sent a chill down my spine. How did you start doing this? How did you find out there was a need for it? EVE: When I began performing it, women would line up afterward to tell me their stories. I thought I’d hear about wonderful orgasms and great sex lives, but what they wanted to tell me was how they had been raped or battered or incested by their uncle. I felt like a war photographer, who takes pictures of terrible things but doesn’t intervene. I knew there was violence toward women, even from personal experience, going back to abuse I suffered as a child. But I had no idea there was a worldwide epidemic. Recently my experience was confirmed when the United Nations said one in three women on this planet will be beaten or raped in her lifetime. MITCHELL: What was it like when you were in Afghanistan? EVE: It was both frightening and inspiring. The Taliban had stripped women of every possible right—from being educated to being employed to actually being allowed to eat ice cream. I actually met women who had been flogged for eating vanilla ice cream. And I was taken to a “secret ice-cream eating place” in a little town where, in a back room, they pulled a curtain around us and served us ice cream. The women lifted their burkas and tasted it…and I don’t think I ever understood pleasure until that moment. And I was amazed at how women have found ways, at such great risk, to keep pleasure alive. MITCHELL: To me, it seems bigotry disguised as religious truth is at the root of so much intolerance. I recently started an organization called Faith in America, whose mission is to stop letting religious bigotry be used to deny equal rights to the gay community. Too often, people interpret a holy text to justify their behavior. Have you found religious bigotry used to deny women rights in this country? EVE: Even nine years after I first performed it, there is still some extreme religious resistance to the play in this country. I am always surprised and disturbed when I see productions shut down for “religious” reasons when the play supports women, and in doing so, supports life in the deepest sense. BOB: The issues you’re dealing with are so big that at times they must feel overwhelming. What kinds of things has V-Day done that you didn’t imagine possible and that have inspired you to continue? EVE: One of the most important things we’ve been able to do is actually put a spotlight on injustice—to bring it to the attention of the world. V-Day raises money and awareness through benefit productions of The Vagina Monologues, which was re-enacted in more than 2,700 communities around the world last year. Since 1997, we’ve raise over $40 million, which has allowed us to create international media campaigns, educate millions, change laws, and save lives. We have funded over 5,000 anti-violence programs and safe houses around the world, from Africa to South Dakota. It has also transformed me personally. I’ve traveled to over 40 countries in the last 10 years, and in all of them have had the great honor of meeting what I call “Vagina Warriors,” activists willing to face anything for the safety and freedom of others. The struggle to end violence on this planet is a battle. These people give me hope. BOB: Each year, V-Day focuses on a different group of women who are experiencing violence. This year, it’s women in conflict zones. Tell us why. EVE: Two reasons: Because we need to honor and celebrate the invaluable strength and efforts of these women in rebuilding their communities and in leading their governments to peaceful solutions. And because war exponentially increases violence against women and girls--military, sexual, and domestic violence; lack of security as refugees; vulnerability to sex traffickers—now and for years to come. What helps create real change is exposing and condemning these crimes through media coverage, public outcry, and efforts in the communities themselves. This year, V-Day is working together with women in Hollywood, who lend their celebrity to help insure the stories of these inspiring women get heard--stories that must be told if we are going to make the violence stop. WANT TO HELP? From the first time we met Eve, we wanted to help. We hosted an event for her at the MG+BW signature store in L.A. when her play, The Good Body, opened. We donate to V-Day and recommend it on our website. While you may not be able to leave home and family for months as Eve does, here are ways you can help her heal the world: • Forward this article to four friends. Help her keep world’s attention stopping on the violence. Tell everyone you know. • Attend a V-Day benefit of “The Vagina Monologues.” See if your company, group, or school can sponsor a benefit performance. Proceeds go to local programs that work to end violence against women and girls such as rape crisis centers and women’s shelters. • Buy a copy of A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer, to be published by Villard in June. It is an anthology based on Eve’s “Until the Violence Stops” theater piece. Proceeds benefit V-Day. • Donate. Combined with the contributions of others, it makes a huge difference. Consider this: The mag.net you’re reading goes to 150,000 people. If each person made a $50 tax-deductible donation, there would be $7.5M more with which to stop the violence. And if each of the friends you forwarded this article to also contributed… To donate, click on the V-Day link below. In the “Comments” section, please tell them Lulu sent you!