Initiative looks to end violence against women

Strike, dance and rise were the names of the three strategies used by activists across campus to fight gender violence as a part of yesterday’s One Billion Rising movement.

People across the world celebrated the movement, which works toward ending violence against women, said Laura Luciano, assistant director for the Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance.

“We want to raise awareness of violence against women,” she said. “Our main goal is to eventually not work in this field. I have been here for 15 years, and it has not ended. We need a dramatic change.”

Luciano said Eve Ensler, the creator of the play “The Vagina Monologues,” began the movement to raise awareness of prevention of violence against women.

One out of every three women experience some form of violence in their lives, she said.

“We are demanding a change in the statistics,” she said.

Defenders of gender violence used the “strike” strategy earlier in the week by placing placards on all five campuses, Luciano said.

“They asked students, faculty and staff to sign and pledge against women’s violence,” she said. “There are over 100 on each of the five campuses, and our goal is to get 700 signed. So far over 600 have gone up.”

Luciano said members of the University community signed the placards.

“We have gotten signatures in all the student centers from passing students,” she said. “We even got the Scarlet Knight to sign up.”

On the steps of Brower Commons yesterday on the College Avenue campus, members of the One Billion Rising movement used the “dance” and “rise” strategies. Luciano said the gathering included dancing, poetry readings and releasing balloons into the sky.

“The first poem, called ‘Rise,’ was written by Eve [Ensler] specifically for this event,” she said. “The second poem, called ‘Over It,’ was written for V-Day last year.”

Three students read ‘Rise,’ taking turns reading specific lines. For ‘Over It,’ random people from the crowd were selected to read individual lines, Luciano said.

“‘Over It’ is powerful because it is saying that we are over it,” she said. “We are over rape, over abuse and we want it to end.”

After the poems and dancing, the event ended as the crowd released balloons to symbolize how the one billion women worldwide who are victims of violence should rise above it.

Lisa Smith, coordinator for the University’s Domestic Violence Services, said the movement is a worldwide effort that brings people of all ethnicities together.

“This kind of violence transcends culture, transcends age [and] transcends socioeconomic levels,” she said.

Smith said she is amazed that the University is willing to hold events like One Billion Rising.

“I’m proud that our office is a part of this event,” she said. “We are joining in an international effort.”

Ruth Anne Koenick, director of the Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance, said she has worked for the anti-violence movement for over 40 years, and supports the efforts of One Billion Rising.

“This is so phenomenal to think about how to end violence,” she said. “I’ve been at Rutgers for 22 years, and I love that we can do this.”

Brady Root, a University graduate student, said the planning for One Billion Rising began last year.

“This is the beginning of our campaign for V-Day, [the global activist movement to end violence against women held on [Feb. 14]” she said. “We will be tabling and campaigning from now until we present ‘The Vagina Monologues’ in April.”

Kristen Maddock, a University graduate student, said the issue should be talked about more.

“We can move the world into change. Our hope is to make the one billion [victims] into zero,” she said.

Maddock said women’s rights should be defended at all times, even when infringed in a joking manner.

“You should stand up to your friends when they make rape jokes, or if they call someone a slut,” she said.

Benny Del Castillo, a School of Arts and Sciences senior, said she hopes the One Billion Rising event will inspire people.

“I hope that people can take something out of this,” she said. “I hope it empowered them to take action.”