HERSTORY
LISTEN
TO: JULY 2007 - WOMEN'S
RADIO INTERVIEW WITH CO-DIRECTOR JESSMAYA MORALES
and FOUNDER KATHRYN XIAN
Some of the Girl
Fest Hawaii crew at the Learning Center
at Ka'ala Farms in Waianae, Hawaii
Girl
Fest has been working to prevent violence against
women and girls in a collaborative way since
2003 with its headquarter festival based in
Hawaii. Girl Fest has successfully ventured
into un-chartered territory by using the arts
and education to prevent violence in the community.
Girl Fest also has used alternative approaches
to education through outreach workshops. Increased
public awareness and education of men’s
violence against women and of viable preventative
measures were the result.
Girl
Fest also collaborated with local social serivces
and educational institutions in its mission.
Emergency services for abused women are now
more visible, and Girl Fest and its partners
have created an environment for women and girls
to come forward and ask for help. In addition,
Girl Fest’s Men’s Program has inspired
community male educators engage in our fight
to prevent violence against women.
Girl
Fest was established on the premise that, whether
in Hawaii, the mainland U.S. or the rest of
the world, public awareness is not just a passive
activity, but an integral part of the prevention
of harm. Girl Fest furthers awareness by giving
women and girls a safe environment in which
to find and express their voices with confidence.
Through
this first step in empowerment, women and girls
may seek ways in which to better their lives
through education, to cultivate their own unique
voices, to encourage themselves and others in
collaborative projects—to create their
own setting for individual and social progress
beginning with the work they must do within
themselves.
Hawaii
2004
Girl
Fest speakers and performers included: Sonia
Sanchez, scholar and award-winning writer; Winona
LaDuke, former vice-presidential candidate for
the 2000 Green Party ticket; Esther Vicente,
co-author of the domestic violence policy of
Puerto Rico; Jackson Katz, member of the U.S.
Secretary of Defense’s Task Force on Domestic
Violence in the Military; Emily Hubley, animator
of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch;”
Doria Roberts, musician; Marc Bamuthi Joseph,
Youth Speaks (SF); and Alix Olson, poet.
Hawaii
2005
Girl
Fest speakers and performers included: Jackson
Katz, member of the U.S. Secretary of Defense’s
Task Force on Domestic Violence in the Military;
Jamie Kalven, author of “Working with
Available Light;” Jessica Neuwirth, president
and founder of Equality Now; Derek Ellerman,
co-executive director and founder of Polaris
Project; Elaine Brown, former leader of the
Black Panthers; The Guerrilla Girls on Tour;
Mystic, Grammy Nominee; Jennifer Johns, Hip
Hop artist; Youth Speaks (San Francisco); Bevy
Comedy Improv Troupe; Bridget Gray, HBO Def
Poet; Ishle Park, cast member Def Poetry Jam
on Broadway; Rachel Kann, L.A. Slam Poetry Champ;
and Andrea Gibson, Denver Slam Champ.
THE
RAPE FREE ZONE INITIATIVE
Girl
Fest and The Safe Zone Foundation founded the
Rape-Free
Zone Coalition (RFZC) on April 4th in order
to assist the University of Hawaii (UH) in taking
the lead in preventing violence against female
students on or near campus. The UH System was
declared a Rape Free Zone by Interim President
McClain on August 29th 2005.
This
declaration was recognized by both parties to
be more than a public declaration against rape,
due to a recent spate of rapes in and near Manoa
campus. It is a work in progress in which the
UH collaborates with the RFZC to establish more
demanding standards for security, policies on
sex assault, and in creating a viable violence
prevention educational program for students,
coaches, athletes, university administration
and staff. The goals is to ensure the safety
and well-being of all students so that their
access to a university education remains unimpeded
by issues of criminal sex assault and administrative
response.
The RFZC members include professors from the
UH Women Studies Program, educators from the
Sex Abuse Treatment Center and from Catholic
Charities, community activists, graduate and
undergraduate students, and attorneys. The RFZC
meets monthly with the UH Interim President
David McClain on protocol and sex assault reporting,
scheduling of anti-sexism and violence prevention
training, reports on security upgrades, and
other issues focusing on the implementation
of greater campus security.
On
August 29th the President of the University
called a press conference publicly declaring
the University System a Rape-Free Zone. The
University, the RFZC, the Sex Abuse Treatment
Center, and others collaborated on the first
of a series of educational trainings for the
UH students, faculty, staff, administration,
athletes and coaches with the 2nd Annual Girl
Fest Hawaii Men’s Program led by Jackson
Katz, leading anti-sexism trainer and founder
of MVP Strategies. This training was an unprecedented
event in the University’s history.
ANTI
SEX-SLAVERY
American
patrons of sex tours from the United States
to foreign countries have been known to victimize
children, both boys and girls as young as fourteen,
and victims have come forward who are as young
as five and eight years old (MSNBC report, October
18, 2004). In November 2003, Girl Fest coordinated
a well-publicized, peaceful demonstration outside
the business address of Melvin Hamaguchi, sex-tour
operator promoting the “Ultimate Asian
Sex Tour,” who soon after shut down his
business, Video Travel.
Early
in 2004 GiRL FeST Hawaii representatives presented
testimony on behalf of Equality Now in favor
of House Bill 2020, a bill making sex-tourism
a criminal offense in Hawaii. With record speed,
HB 2020 was signed into law as Act 82 by LT.
Governor Duke Aiona on May 19th 2004, the first
law of its kind in the nation. This legislation
is lauded by supporters from the Philippines
to India and is now being used as a precedent
to enact similar legislation in New York.
Girl Fest has started an Anti Sex Slavery Research
Group and Community Online Forum. Visit: www.girlfesthawaii.org/traffic
VDAY
In February 2004, Girl Fest organized the V-Day
Honolulu Worldwide campaign of the Vagina Monologues
at the Hawaii Theatre, to a sold-out audience
of 1400 seats, with an all local cast of nine
women and one transgendered individual. The
cast included authors Lois-Ann Yamanaka (Blu’s
Hanging), Nora Okja Keller (Comfort Woman),
and Native-American poet Joy Harjo.
Cast from left to right:
Joy Harjo, Selah Geissler, Nora Okja Keller,
Grace Caligtan (sitting), Lois-Ann Yamanaka,
Tanisha, Jacquie Yang,
Brenda Kwon, Jennifer Vo. (Missing: Kasi Nunes
and Sami Akuna)