Yesterday was V-Day, not just Valentine’s Day, but also V-Day: a day to protest violence against women and girls. The organization V Day was founded by Eve Ensler, author of Vagina Monologues, 15 years ago.

Yesterday V-Day sponsored a global event called One Billion Rising. The name of the event refers to the statistic that in her lifetime, one out of three women will be raped, beaten, physically abused, sexually abused, sexually enslaved, or killed in gender-based violence. You get the idea. And since there are six billion people on the planet, three billion are women, and one billion will be victims.

Eve Ensler was inspired to organize this event a year ago when visiting the Congo and listening to the horrific stories told by local women. Congo is the rape capital of the world. That says it all, doesn’t it?
She felt that it was time for women around the world to rise up against this violence. So she set this day, Feb. 14, 2013 in motion.

Yesterday there were One Billion Rising uprisings in 202 countries around the world. Eve Ensler was back in the Congo, at the exact same village, to dance, protest, and rise.

I was part of one in San Francisco on the steps of City Hall from 4-6 pm. My friends and I learned a dance routine to a special song written just for the occasion called “Break the Chain.” We wore red and black and pink in honor of the event.

The event was jam packed and all sorts of people were there: students from the Art Academy, Planned Parenthood, a Filipino women’s rights group, little kids with signs, a hip hop artist, a group of Indian dancers, and Babylonia, a drag queen from Beach Blanket Babylon. It was the usual unruly and amazing San Francisco scene.

There were lots of speakers, including Mayor Ed Lee who “took the pledge” to help end violence against girls and women. The City Hall building was lit up in red-pink light by the end.

It was a great day, even though the topic was so horrible and upsetting. I think we all felt grateful to have a time and place to rise up and protest and take a stand.

Even though we were protesting, we were also celebrating as we danced. I feel we celebrated the power and strength we have together as women. We celebrated the knowledge and feeling that we can do anything together. We celebrated being women in a man’s world and our commitment to change the world, one woman and girl at a time.

Maybe it was a turning point in global consciousness. I would like to believe that. But even if that’s true, yesterday was just the beginning. The road ahead is very long and dangerous for those women who fight back. Still I take hope from all the positive change I’ve witnessed in my life time: civil rights, equal rights for women, gay rights. So maybe it’s time to reach out and help our sisters around the world, around the corner, and just make it happen.

As Eve Ensler says, don’t wait for change. Don’t ask for it. Just do it.