Women and men across the country will be showing their respect and love for vaginas during Vagina Friendly Week.
Ball State University's week begins today, with events occurring throughout the week.
"The main goal of the week is to bring awareness about women's issues and also to raise money," said Aruna Kumaran, campus organizer for the Vagina Monologues. "We're mainly a fund-raising organization and the money that we're raising, most of it goes to A Better Way, a women's shelter here in Muncie."
Other money raised will go to the national V-DAY organization. This year V-DAY is spotlighting the problems facing "comfort women," or women who were captured and forced into comfort women stations where they were made to perform sex acts for the Japanese Army during World War II.
V-Day began in 1998 with inspiration from Eve Ensler's Obie-Award winning play, "The Vagina Monologues."
"I think that it is really important because people have this idea that women sometimes don't need to fight for equality and things like that," Kumaran said.
However, many women around the world and in this country are still in horrible situations with substandard living conditions, abusive relationships and worse, she said. "We still do need to raise awareness about those things and fight against those things," Kumaran said.
This week also promotes community among women because, so often, women bring each other down instead of being friends and supporting each other.
"For me personally, it's about getting across the message that we need to respect women more," said Susan Atkinson, Vagina Friendly Week event organizer.
The panel discussion today will focus on abusive relationships and how to recognize the early warning signs and how to find help.
For the Sex Feud game on Tuesday, organizers surveyed people from around campus, asking questions about sex, Kumaran said.
Curtains open on "The Vagina Monologues" Wednesday night in Pruis Hall.
"Vagina Monologues is an opportunity for people of different backgrounds and genders to come together and experience a fun and very moving way to open up discussion about sexuality and women's issues," Kumaran said.
Thursday's Open Mic Night will feature all kinds of acts from poetry to songs to theatrical readings.
On Friday, the Brown Bag Discussion will wrap up the week of events.
"We're hoping to open up a dialogue about how women in the world are treated and how we really do share a lot of the same struggles," Kumaran said.
Atkinson said organizers put a lot of time into planning each event.
Some Catholic universities around the country, including Notre Dame University are opposed to "The Vagina Monologues" coming to their campuses because of the nature or the performance.
"Since 2003, the Cardinal Newman Society, a fringe group dedicated to the renewal of Catholic identity in Catholic higher education, has campaigned against the V-DAY benefit productions of 'The Vagina Monologues' at Catholic Colleges and Universities in the U.S.," according the the V-Day Web site.
In 2005, about 40 of more than 1,100 colleges and communities that staged productions of "The Vagina Monologues" were Catholic universities, the Web site said.
"Well I think it's sad that people feel like they have to censor that part of themselves," Kumaran said. "People have sex ... There is nothing wrong with that and nothing wrong with your sexuality. I feel bad for people that want to hide that part of themselves."
The purpose of the play is to embrace a woman's sexuality, Kumaran said.
"Many campuses have had the show before, and now all of sudden its like they're moving backwards in their open-mindedness," she said.
Part of going to college is becoming a well-rounded person and realizing other points of view are out there, she said.
"It's hard when you're dealing with a religious organization," Kumaran said. "I respect their decision because they made their beliefs known to begin with."
She said she wished people would be a little more open-minded, though.
"We're just painting a portrait of real women who are out there in the real world," Atkinson said. "We're just telling their story ... passing the message along."
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