BILLIONS TO RISE UP AND DANCE
One in three women on the planet will be raped or beaten in her lifetime.
One billion women violated is an atrocity.
ONE BILLION WOMEN DANCING IS A REVOLUTION.
If reading these words makes your spine tingle, just take a look at this video.
This is the promotional clip launched overnight by One Billion Rising, a fledgling campaign founded by Eve Ensler, author of the Vagina Monologues and founder of V Day, who is urging women around the world to dance for the freedom of all women on February 14 next year.
It’s an absolutely brilliant concept.
Dancing against violence? Why not? The idea has a sense of blissful triumph about it – you can beat us, rape us, mutilate us and bully us, but we can still band together and do something as primitively joyful as dancing.
It takes the spirit of the flash mob to a whole other goose-bump-inducing, inspirational level. And it’s a great way of getting attention. Which is the point.
The dance around the world will be held on V Day in 2013 – it’s Valentine’s Day, and also the 15th anniversary of the campaign launched by Ensler to help end violence against women and girls.
Ensler told The Huffington Post: “When we started V-Day 14 years ago, we had the outrageous idea that we could end violence against women.
“One Billion Rising is an appreciation, amplification and an escalation. When One Billion bodies rise and dance on 14 February 2013, we will join in solidarity, purpose and energy and shake the world into a new consciousness.
“Dancing insists we take up space. It has no set direction but we go there together. It’s dangerous, joyous, sexual, holy, disruptive. It breaks the rules.
“It can happen anywhere at anytime with anyone and everyone. It’s free. No corporation can control it. It joins us and pushes us to go further. It’s contagious and it spreads quickly. It’s of the body. It’s transcendent.”
Already around the world women’s organisations and human rights organisations are joining the One Billion Rising movement: Amnesty International, National Organisation for Women, Planned Parenthood, and celebrities are starting to jump on board.
Our favourite so far? Robert Redford, who in this video below makes a heartfelt plea to end violence against women, saying “this is not a women’s issue. This is a global crisis.”
“I invite women – and the men who love them – to walk out, dance, rise up and demand an end to this violence.”
Would you accept Robert Redford’s invitation to dance? Stay tuned to The Hoopla to find out about where to rise up near you.
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*Lucy (Editor of The Hoopla) is a journalist and editor with almost thirty years experience in newspapers and magazines in Sydney, London, and New York. She has been published in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Daily and Sunday Telegraphs, Vogue Living, Australian Art Review, and Gourmet Traveller. Most recently the Books Editor of the Sunday Telegraph, she has also contributed to the non-fiction books, Australia Through Time, and What Women Want.
44 Responses to this article
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The Huntress September 25, 2012
I can’t dance (knee injury + menieres disease + total lack of co-ordination = no dancing for me), but I will absolutely support and encourage everyone to rise up and dance. Violence against women IS a global issue…so let us make a statement and DANCE!
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jonah stiffhausen September 25, 2012
Where’s the evidence to substantiate these far-fetched claims? They’re bogus statistics dredged up by ideologues with a vested interest in expanding the power of the state. We’ve had rape/assault laws in place since time immemorial. This sort of nonsense is responsible for the loss of liberty throughout the west, culminating in secret courts which claim the right to steal other people’s children, amongst other things. And, just for the record, women are as vulnerable to abuses of power by state flunkeys, as men. Even feminists, (Hoff Summers) accept these sort of claims are false.
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red zelda September 26, 2012
I was never raped by ‘state flunkeys’ . I was raped by a man.
how can you know what the statistics are? where do you get your statistics from…your mind? I only have to do some asking around …talking to women who can feel confident enough to tell their stories.. it may be more than one in three.
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Jenny September 25, 2012
The two above responses are written by people who haven’t been on the wrong end of regular episodes of violence themselves. One is obviously a man, the other sounds rather like one. This is not a criticism of their attitudes, rather a gentle suggestion that they may not be able to put themselves in the shoes of someone who has been there. I don’t see this event as a political protest which is demanding change, but more as an affirming celebration by women in support of each other. If you have not suffered ongoing violence then you can’t really know the feeling of helplessness, isolation, indignity, fear and loss of self-worth that is engendered by it. By holding a world-wide event such as this, we are recognising these women and the problems they face and hopefully demonstrate to them that they are not as alone as they think – that there are many out there who are just like them, and that they are recognised in the wider world by their more fortunate brothers and sisters. In other words, others are thinking about them, and encouraging them to be brave and independant. To be able to get up and dance and sing despite their lives would be very empowering. I know this, because at bad times I would turn to music, and sing along to great songs like Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”, and Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman”. And I can tell you, it helped enormously and made me feel much stronger.
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VRog September 25, 2012
The negative sentiments expressed by a couple of the posts above is disheartening and illustrates exactly why an initiative such as One Billion Rising is needed. I am your bog standard, average Australian woman, and I have been raped and assaulted by a man I trusted. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone, and I believe the 1 in 3 statistic. I’ll be participating on 14 February.
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MichelleP September 25, 2012
Sometimes it takes a gimick to bring an issue into the headlines…movember has given a green light for men to discuss prostate cancer and mental illness through partnership with Cancer councils and Beyond Blue. Red nose day has brought much need funding and attention to SIDS. If attention can be brought to the terrible statistics outlined above by a day of dancing then let’s dance!
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sami September 25, 2012
Jenny I love your response, it is exactly right
and anyone who does not realise the extent of rape culture these days would do well to read these (actually, anyone would):http://kateharding.net/2007/04/14/on-being-a-no-name-blogger-using-her-real-name/
Anything that lets women feel supported and less alone in their experiences is a great thing, as that can only lead to more confidence in reporting these crimes, and more awareness of what constitutes rape and assault. I never realised until this year that what I went through with my ex was actually abuse. And I’m 29. I should know and recognise these things BEFORE or DURING, not years later. I should have known that my feelings were valid. I should have known that anyone saying my experiences were ‘trivial’ and ‘nothing’ were wrong.
We are raised to be polite, to not question the motives of people who might be acting inappropriately, whether they are known to us or not. We dare not ruffle feathers because we will then be labelled a ‘crazy bitch’. This is not right. It is 2012. It needs to change.
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chose that day to say she felt dead inside. Both of us had suffered violence in intimate relationships~she could not handle my post traumatic stressRo. Watson September 25, 2012
Yes dance on Valentine’s Day~dance freestyle with what your body/heart allows~ Valentine’s Day is a rather a bleak anniversary for me~as the woman I loved said she felt dead inside~not a great memory. Perhaps there was some emotional and psychological violence between us~as she ended up taking out a restraining order against me…We both have experienced violence in intimate relationships before~hers was with a woman. I had Dad’s violence,strangers’ violence and a woman partner’s violence and I was and still probably am suffering post-traumatic stress~which has left me less functioning than I used to be….I once saw some grafitti on the floor of a church in Naples “Io Sona Mia”~ and a woman’s sign ~I think it translates as “I am mine”. Yes dance.
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Ro.Watson September 25, 2012
Dear Editor~ why the red ink at something so common? I have been living in deficit around this trauma crap a long,long time, despite my efforts to haul myself out. Strangely, and not, my ex, a social worker ,works with traumatised women in her job~ she just had no patience,ultimately, with me.
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Ro. Watson September 25, 2012
P.S Restraining order is over~ and no communication from ex,or many in my former friendship circle. Admittedly once I started telling what had happened to me around abuse~ few wanted to listen/hear and it became more and more my problem~which it was and is.
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Rhoda September 25, 2012
I’d like to see it on billboards – do not rape. I’d like children made aware they are allowed to bite, kick, scream – when someone they don’t like touches them and make them uncomfortable/hurts/shames them.
Please parents – enable your children.
And yes – let’s dance.
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Ro. Watson September 25, 2012
Fight,fright or freeze. I am ashamed to say I froze on 2 strangers raping me in my home, I freezed before on physical abuse when a woman lover grabbed me by the throat,and needless to say it escalated,and I capitulated.The last one claimed she required a restraining order against me by then she was living in another state,defaming me for what would be in the category of emotional and/or physical abuse Meanwhile, after what I thought was a close a loving relationship of some years she called us off and called me a stalker. Not.. I have fought violence against others~yet I could barely defend myself.
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Ro. Watson September 25, 2012
Whoops~ I meant psychological abuse from ex. No physical violence from me, ever..She mm. .I did not object to her application for a restraining order as I realized there was no point. She used her professional status,to get me hospitalised, in the name of care,now I think not, and later, to get the restraining order she requested because I did not object. I should have objected but I had other things on my plate~ my long and wrong road~to recovery…..
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Ro. Watson September 25, 2012
Oh yeah~ example~ I once said “her breath smelt like sick”~ she had been eating a blue cheese pizzza~ she said I was suffering from”olfactory delusion”~ I think not.
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hope September 26, 2012
No matter how a woman looks o smell try not to rube it on her face coz that your comment might haunt her for the rest of her beautiful life.
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Ro. Watson September 25, 2012
I could go in to more messy details but I won’t. I have some dignity left.
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Catherine September 25, 2012
Grew up in a violent household and have never let violence into my life since. I ‘d like to think I could dance on this day, but my father is still alive and I don’t know if I can. I need to try to feel brave enough to do this; i think it will free me from the past.
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Angela Griffiths September 26, 2012
Very happy to participate in this dance…
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Angela Griffiths September 26, 2012
Happy to participate in this dance…please keep me informed as to where and how.
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jonah stiffhausen September 26, 2012
The Orwellian destruction of the language now enables ideologues to describe such everyday occurrences as blowing one’s nose in front of a spouse as “domestic violence”. On such niceties are men jailed without a jury trial, have their children stolen for ever. It is a dangerous incursion of power, brought on by women’s ludicrous grab for power. St Paul got the man-woman dynamics correct.
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David September 26, 2012
Is Jonah OK?
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sami September 26, 2012
Jonah, that is just ridiculous. When has a man been jailed for blowing his nose? Seriously.
Check your privilege.-
jonah stiffhausen September 26, 2012
Sami, this is how it works. IOs are dished out like lollywater at the request of divorce lawyers and or policeman, no evidence required. Granted without question. From there it becomes very easy to criminalize people for going about their everyday business. ie living in their own suburb , trying to regain their stolen children. Arbitrary arrest follows, bail refused and unless one wants to hang around for 10 months for a “trial” without a jury, one is forced into pleading “guilty” to charges of “domestic violence”. Parents who’ve had their children stolen find themselves in “domestic violence” courts for sending them birthday cards. The jails are full of men who’ve objected to lawyers, judges, social workers, taking their children.
David, never better thanks,
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Claire September 26, 2012
I feel so sad reading this statistic as I am that one in three women. I never thought I would be. I really want to be in that dance next year.
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jonah stiffhausen September 26, 2012
Jails also full of men who’ve been grabbed for “breaching intervention orders” put on them by the Filth, against the express wishes of their wives, girlfriends etc. It is outrageous totalitarianism for policemen to be dictating to others who they can associate with, where they can travel, and indeed who they communicate with. Unconstitutional too. Trumped up charges for “crimes” that require no evidence, in juryless courtrooms. Sound like freedom to you? Time we all woke up to ourselves and stopped accepting the comfortable placebos from bureaucrats.
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Amanda September 26, 2012
I will dance, I will dance like nobody is watching and I will also make sure my daughters join me.
It is a bit sad that Jonah used this topic to release his pent-up frustrations
Someone should give that man a hug.-
jonah stiffhausen September 27, 2012
Always available for hugs! What I say is true. These people have usurped a power they were never intended to have, constitutionally or morally, courtesly of the domestic violence trojan horse. Women get exploited by them too, in these sham courts. It is a huge industry, and they reward the party which brings them the business, so if it is the bloke, then goodnight ladies. eg. surgeons leaving their ball & chains, earning 700k pa and being excused alimony. Is that your idea of justice? These specialist courts only established because of dv propaganda and are political courts. You may escape the net, but will your children? Surely everyone has a vested interest in liberty/
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Trish September 27, 2012
I am 60 years old, and survived two violent marriages, and later found out that my daughters were sexually assualted by their stepfather. I have been now in a caring committed relationship for 10 years, I have been left with PTSD. The anger I feel is overwhelming. But I intend to dance.
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Lucy Clark September 27, 2012
Good on you Trish, and all you amazing women sharing your stories. Thank you.
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jonah stiffhausen September 27, 2012
No such thing as collective guilt either. Every accusation is entitled to be heard and tried, if need be, before a jury. The state now claims the right to involve itself in the minutiae of personal relationships. Very dangerous.
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Richele Corbo September 29, 2012
As a survivor of childhood incest & rape I choose to dance and share my connection because I know it is the path of light which will lead us from the darkness of violence! Choosing to Stand & Dance together makes me proud to know my choices of healing and breaking the cycle of abuse is a path of power, love & light!
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shalom October 17, 2012
Mr. Redford has injured the Daughter of Che and his produced film and the work by Sanchez (Benicio) has done the same. The nurse who knew Che more than all of you put together has been murdered by the people who murdered Jack Kennedy. This nurse was a lady above all things, and even though Jon Lee Anderson calls me “Che’s F-K” (by writing in callous, “Che owned his F-K with the nurse)…..why am I not allowed to be a lady also? Why would a daughter born before Ms. March was the fine wife of Che ignored in rights and proceeds and literally ordered dead by a Redford produced film? The Cuban and Argentine work is now presented as a “order to kill witnesses on the murder of JFK” and why is that? Is the oversight a blindness or a deliberate chess move? Did actors and writers and artists help in the murder of JFK? Are these movies made while the pacemaker is pulled out of the nurse who loved Che deliberately murdering witnesses or is this a lust that over-rode justice here. Because of Redford’s produced film on possible stolen rights of motorcycle diaries, the only threads of JFK that were wise and of age, are murdered; the murder buttons were pushed by the films and a hitman told me that. Now, will any remedy take place to clear anyone….or will the murders continue while Mr. Redford and Mr. Sanchez (Benicio) receive money with A and E and the others who figuratively drove their tank over the body of Che’s nurse. And, now that intel has tied the murder of JFK to 9ll is there a bigger problem here than money? What of this, are we waking up to how the chess game is done? and why is the last person to see two murdered teenagers alive share the same name as the biggest pusher…..tell us it is not so, and prove to us that this art is not a game. Prove by your actions and heart that murder is not intended by the producing of film, and clear Cuba from this picture that Sundance has painted. We have a world to create, and we have human beings to care about. If the daughter of Che were a horse, Mr. Redford, would you not have reached out by now, but, she is what? What is she, and who are you?
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Jynx Houston October 18, 2012
People like Jonah Stiffhausen remind me of the Nazis…..
No sense, no feeling, TOTALLY IN DENIAL!!
VIOLENCE AGAINST FEMALES=PART OF THE WORLD’S
BIGGEST PROBLEM:GENDER INEQUALITY….STILL!!!!!!!
AFTER THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF MALE “SUPREMACY”!! -
Jhaike November 6, 2012
I intend to dance like crazy on the 14th Feb!! My daughter is school captain in her school – how can she get her school involved?
