The Vagina Warriors

By Herm Valenzuela

I was going thru my computer to delete most postings and clear-up my overloaded "bank" for the new year and came upon this commentary I thought you'd be interested to read.

There are over 200,00 American women, including children & elderly, who are abused and mistreated in the U.S. yearly and over a million world-wide. This includes the clitorial castration of Africans before they reach menstruation, selling girls in the Indian sub-continent as boys are preferred, slavery in other poor countries including the harvesting of body parts for organ donors, suicide bombers from Al Queda or Talibans, stoning Muslim women who are seen with a male not her relative, incest or other physical abuse including demeaning verbal harangues that lead to lowered self-esteem that leads to prostitution.

You don't have to be a psychologist to predict the long-term effects- mental dysfunction, depressions, alcoholism and/or drug abuse or a doomed future even if they come out of it. Many did and are fighting back- The Vagina Warriors - a million of them here in the U.S. of America- and I met some of them yesterday in Manhattan!

We don't need to travel far to know of these- when you land at the MIAirport and right off it's gates are malnourished mothers with babies in their arms (some are for "rent") for alms or visit the Remedios church in Ermita and besides the gourmandic Max's & Aristocrat restaurants children are selling "bric-bracs" & "knick-knacks" instead of going to school. Of course these are mostly economic issues that I doubt the new election candidates could practically solve if elected- a vicious circle once again!

During my first Summer in N.Y.C. (Aug/69) 250,000 young men & women gathered in Woodstock and begun the peace movement- these "hippie generation" are older now. Yesterday, young Pilipina & American "Amazons" gathered in the Philippine Consulate on 5th Ave and presented their Vagina Monologues- "to high-light the status of women's issues, fight for recognition as well as to relate & declaim the terrible testimonies of many". Their monologues were mostly funny and satirical; I had the impression that their performance was not a comedy at all not like the famous off-Broadway play- "Menopause". The ladies barred their sexisms w/o being salacious but abandoned animation with no-holds-barred eroticism including loud vocally exclaimed ecstasy without being pornographic and did not sexually excite the audience- at least but brought down the house with applause.

One of the highlight of the performance was the monologue of Grace Baldisseri- an award-winning poet, community organizer and actress/director who spoke about the "harrowing experiences of thousands of Filipinas, 'comfort women,' who where cursed, drugged, physically and mentally abused, sterilized and forced to sexual servitude by the Japanese Imperial Government during their occupation of our country.

Background: There were two famous POW camps in the Philippines- The concentration camp in Capas, Tarlac & the internment camp near Los Banos, Laguna. There were over 2,000 Gis and allied civilians with unknown numbers of Pilipinas, some Chinese and a few Koreans ("imported" by the Japanese military to "service" their soldiers. They were housed in a "Shuko" were they were forced to service 30-40 soldiers a day and fed rice gruel w/ wilted vegetables and/or almost rotten sea-foods. These sex-starved soldiers knew where they should go because the women's huts/shacks had a banner reading "jugun inanfu"- for military comfort women. During Grace's declamation, these "survivors" were present in their old but colorful embroidered attire and danced the "Pandango sa Ilaw" (Dance of Lights) to represent the hopes of other abused women- I was deeply moved!

To date, one of these Vagina Warriors are still making concentrated efforts for the Japanese government to properly compensate them. I believe China was already financially compensated heavily for their despicable acts during the Sino-Japanese war in the "rape" of Nanking including Korea during the Japanese incursion there. (A related reading about concentration camps is "The Broken Jewel" by Harold Robbins and the movie "The Great Raid" starred by Benjamin Bratt). As an "appetizer" two young Vagina Warriors exhibited their martial arts talents with gusto and controlled force amidst ear-drum shaking drum music that depicted they can now defend themselves from aggressors. Also a solo song ala Joan Baez that reminded me of Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind." The Consulate was packed and mostly attended by 90% of ladies- produced by Mia Fernandez and directed by Theresa Tantay-Wilson- two energetic and talented Pinays. Their V-Day campaign is a "catalyst mobilizing women and men to heighten awareness about violence against women and girls to empower them and find collective voices and demand an end to the violence that affects women around the world!"

If and when they perform near your city I highly recommend that you attend- you'll laugh till you cry!!!

"What won't kill you will only make you stronger!" - Anon

Here's Grace's Poem:

Bruised Flower

The loveliest flower in the garden
That was how they called me then
Young and old praised me to the sky
Smelled my fragrance as they passed by
Then came a roaring wild beast from nowhere
That old bastard abused and left me there
My petals devoured, no longer the same
My stalk broken as I cried loud in pain.
Now I am bruised, broken and ugly
I am ostracized by society
I felt so ruin, betrayed and angry
Oh, how I cursed what he had done to me.
No longer the fairest and loveliest flower
No longer adored but I am now a 'flower power'
Millions gather each year for women like me
They empower us with their great advocacy
V-Day event started twelve years ago
This global movement made my heart aglow
TVM is a stageplay about women like us
It helps build our confidence, dignity and trust.

Grace G. Baldisseri
V-Day New York 2010
Philippine Consulate
Fifth Avenue, N.Y.C.

P.S. If you wish to know more about the Vagina Warrior Movement or
where/when is the next performance pls e-mail Grace at: gbaldiserri@yahoo.com(I forgot their web's address). Volunteers are welcomed!