The Vagina Monologue starring the likes of Lydia Forson, Naa Ashorkor and others thrilled audiences last weekend. The internationally acclaimed piece of literature was staged at the National Theatre to signal the writer’s aim to fight abuse against women. According to actress, Lydia Forson, it was her dream to join this campaign as a star to fight against violence against women and girls in the country and Africa as a whole. “The name Vagina monologue was brought up to draw the public's attention to this campaign since it is our collective responsibilities as Ghanaian's to treat this issues with the urgency we do with other social economic problems” she stated. Many were those who were wondering what this V-Day was all about and what it has to educate the general public as a whole since the name “vagina monologues” alone brought into the minds of the public many questions that they hardly concluded with answers especially when a story about this V-Day first came up in the Daily Guide. Last Friday at crown Apartment hotel, Mr. Tete Yartey, head of public relation for Dudu communication in a press statement explained that the V-day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls and not what people have got in mind of having some stars exhibiting their private parts on the stage or what some has termed the “Vagina Show”. He further explained that the V-day started with the production “the vagina monologue” which was to celebrate the vagina and project feminism but changed in 1998 when the writer discovered that were a lot more that women suffered from than what happens in the bedroom. “The writer then decided to institute the vagina monologue against women and that is what is now known as the V-day, until the violence stops campaign” he stated. Mr Yartey hinted that Dudu theatre and play house Ghana is staging this play to thrill the general public and also to raise funds for the fight against violence against women and girls since the country has experienced the share of negative gender related issues such as rapes, forced marriages, verbal assault, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery. “It is sad that women, young and old have to be subjected to such atrocities at hands of those they trusted so much being it father's, uncles, pastors and the list goes on”, he lamented. Source: GHP