Not to be confused with Valentine’s Day or Vagina Day, V-Day is a movement held on February 14 to bring attention to violence against women and girls.

One out of three women will be exposed to sexual or physical violence in her lifetime, according to the World Health Organization.  Gender-based violence ranges from rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation, and sex slavery.

The movement against these atrocities was established in 1998 in New York City by women intrigued by Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues.  According to V-Day website, these women found that they, too, had stories to share and that there needed to be action taken instead of having the play be strictly “a moving work of art on violence.”

York High School has been paying tribute to V-Day for all 16 of its years as a movement.  It was first embraced by Amnesty International but now resides with feminist club EMPOWER.  The club sets up fliers and posters around school to spread awareness about what the day means.

For student involvement, red felt letter V’s have also traditionally been passed out for students to wear as pins.  Along with the V is a strip of paper with a small summary of V-Day so students know what they are being handed and why.

“The purpose of the V pins is to raise awareness and draw attention to the global epidemic of sexual assault and violence against women that we are all responsible for helping to fix,” said EMPOWER adviser Ms. DiTomasso.

In the past there have been misunderstandings about how male students should relate to V-Day.  Some had thought the movement was an attack on the male student-body.  However, EMPOWER members assure that V-Day is about supporting women, and not about blaming men.

“V-Day is important for the whole school because domestic abuse can happen to anyone, not just women; raising awareness about it is an important step in changing things,” said senior Parker Smart, EMPOWER member.  “It might be uncomfortable to hear some of the statistics, but ignoring them doesn’t mean they aren’t true.  And I think it’s important to remember that V-Day is not meant to be an attack on men or to make men feel guilty… it’s about reducing violence.”