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Art & Culture

V Is Still Leading a Global Feminist Uprising

Image by Photo by Fred Hayes/WireImage

25 Jul '25
By The Shift
25 Jul '25
By The Shift

The Shift highlights women’s stories through the lens of impact. It hopes to contextualize history and inspire action.

V

V (formerly Eve Ensler) is a Tony and Obie award winning playwright, author, and activist best known for The Vagina Monologues, founding V-Day, One Billion Rising and co-founding City of Joy. Her global work spans theater, film, and bestselling books, including I am an Emotional Creature, In the Body of the World, Reckoning, and The Apology. She writes regularly for The Guardian.

The Shift:

Who are three women that inspire you?

V:

Christine Schuler Deschryver

Congresswoman Cori Bush

Mily Trevino Sauceda

 

The Shift:

What is one defining moment in your career or life that empowered you to create change, and how has it shaped the path you’re on today?

V:

When I first started performing The Vagina Monologues, women would line up after the show to talk to me.  Originally, I thought they wanted to share stories about their sexual desires, or satisfactions, or dreams, but it turned out that 90 percent of the women needed to share stories about incest, rape, and abuse in all forms and about the pain, confusion, and challenges that shaped their lives as a result.  After months of this, I knew the problem of violence against women was epidemic and I couldn’t continue with the play unless I figured out how to address it. It was in this moment I see, looking back, that my life completely changed. Together with a group of women in New York City, we founded V-Day and used the play as a mechanism for action to stop violence against all women. Since then, some 27 years later, our global movement powered by millions has been a catalyst for personal, cultural and political change. Through The Vagina Monologues and other works curated by V-Day, activists, survivors, and artists have raised over $120 million dollars for grassroots anti-violence groups, rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, and safe houses, shattering taboos and changing the way activists make change in their communities.

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V is honored as part of The Shift’s “90 Plus One” list, which recognizes influential women shaping contemporary culture. With Gloria Steinem featured on the inaugural print cover, the list pays homage to her 91 years of activism by highlighting a powerhouse community of women shifting culture.