Valentine’s Day is not just a day to celebrate love, but a day to celebrate life, liberation and freedom of the body. Otterbein has joined the global campaign that aims to put an end to violence against women and demands gender equality.
This movement, called One Billion Rising, will not only move down the brick roads of Home Street, but will be sweeping across 160 countries.
One Billion Rising will take place on Feb. 13 and 14, and this is the first year for the movement.
“It redefines a movement by inviting women to dance for change,” said Rae Reed, an Otterbein alumna.
Reed graduated in 2011 with a degree in journalism and has taken on the role of getting publicity for One Billion Rising.
Reed said she became involved with the movement because of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies group on Facebook.
A link was shared on the Facebook page and according to Reed, planning began right away for the event.
According to junior Nicole Gonthier, Otterbein is the only school in central Ohio that will be participating in this movement.
Hannah Ewald is a sophomore women’s, gender and sexuality studies major and is also involved in the event. “I think it’s great that this small liberal arts school can make such a loud name and be a part of such an important movement,” she said.
One Billion Rising is organized to show the world and those that see the collaboration of women in their strength, in their numbers and their power across the world.
“It’s seen as a taboo thing because no one wants to talk about the rape or violence of women,” Ewald said.
Maddie Holmes, a sophomore double major in psychology and WGSS, said, “We are physically oppressed by rape and by violence that are enacted upon us, we should use our bodies to create joy and to own our own physicality and it shouldn’t be something we, as women, are afraid of.”
The two day event begins Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. with the WGSS screening of the documentary “The Line.”
“The Line” is a film about the line of consent that is blurred in culture. The film will talk about what consent is, where to draw the line and bring awareness to the issue.
Other activities will include a campus conversation on Rape Culture, a dance mob and an open movement class called “Free Your Body.”
All the events are being presented by WGSS and are open to both men and women.
English major Jacqlyn Schott said the dance mob is a way for victims to take back their body from rape culture by dancing for joy and expressing themselves in their own terms rather than somebody else’s.
The main message being stressed over the two day period is the difference between the yes and no of consent.
“Every woman and man should feel empowered to love their bodies for what it is,” said Alex Shaffer, the president of Tri-Iota, the WGSS honorary society. Schaffer is a junior creative writing and WGSS double major.
“So many women feel chained after being abused, and this event will give women a chance to rise,” Reed said.
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