The local production of The Vagina Monologues is coming up in a week and The Sin City Siren is supporting this event. Now you can, too, by entering for a chance to win two tickets to one of the shows on Friday (April 9) or Saturday (April 10) night! (Of course, you can go without the contest and buy your tickets for $10 ea.) For details keep reading …

If you have never seen The Vagina Monologues, there has never been a better time. This play, written by Eve Ensler, celebrates what it means to be a woman through a variety of monologues. Ensler has since turned her play into a movement to help end sexual violence through V Day. And if you’ve seen it before, it is always great to see it again! Each performance is changed and empowered by the fresh voices that take on this powerful piece.

This year’s local performances will benefit the Nevada Coalition Against Sexual Violence, which is an organization I really admire and support. The work that they and organizations like them do is critical to so many who suffer in silence.

As many regular readers know, I am a survivor of sexual violence. As a child, I was molested by a family member for nine years. It took me years as an adult to move from victim to survivor to someone who is whole and healthy and healed. I have discovered a love for myself and others in that process where I thought no love could bloom. I know the pain, rage, sadness, confusion, heart-ache that others in that struggle may be going through. After many years of work, I can now say that I am very happy. I have love in my life. I love myself, finally. I have positive sex in my life. I have a wonderful partner in my life, whose love, patience and kindness was a part of my healing process. I have joy. And I am taking that joy to the next level and having a baby (next month!), which is something I never, ever thought I would do.

The final piece in my journey to healing has been to pay it forward as much as I can. When I was still in the struggle and hurting and raging, I did not believe it was possible to feel love, be loved or even give love freely. I did not believe that joy was something that I could have. I believed joy and happiness was for others. I did not believe that I was good enough to experience the fullness of life. And so, now that I am on the other side, I feel a deep urgency and mission to shine a light in the darkness. I’ve climbed the mountain and now I need to reach back and offer a hand, a climbing rope, a flashlight … whatever I can to let others know that they are worthy of love, happiness, joy and all the blessings of life.

To my fellow survivors I say: You are powerful beyond measure. You are beautiful. Your body is whole and wonderful and does not have to carry the scars of the past. You are an amazing warrior. And you deserve happiness, good health, joy, love, success, sex … every positive feeling in the human experience that you deny yourself or feel you are not good enough to have. You are more than good enough. Those good, healthy experiences were made for you.

So, let’s get to the goods! How can you win two tickets to a local Vagina Monologues performance and support the Nevada Coalition Against Sexual Violence? How about entering The Sin City Siren ‘Happy Vaginas’ contest?

Here’s how: I want to see your best image of a world without sexual violence! (Full disclosure: I’m openly stealing this idea from NCASV, who stole it from the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs.)

Here’s the instructions:

1. Download/print the “I am anti sexual violence and pro” flag. Or make your own! As long as it has the words, “I am anti sexual violence and pro …” it is cool with me!

2. Write your “pro” (could be kittens, the erotic heritage museum, pink hair … be creative)

3. Take a picture with your flag!

4. E-mail me your photo (include some form of contact information so I can reach you if you win!). E-mail to: thesincitysiren[at]yahoo.com (put in “@” symbol instead of [at])

5. Bonus points: E-mail your photo to outreach@ncasv.org! (You have to tell me if you do this or I won’t know.)

6. Spread the word and get more people taking fabulous images to remind us why we work to end the violence!

To kick it off, I wanted to share a photo posted on the NCASV site:

** CONTEST ENDS THURSDAY, APRIL 8 AT NOON. WINNER WILL RECEIVE TWO TICKETS, LEFT AT WILL-CALL, TO ONE LOCAL VAGINA MONOLOGUES PERFORMANCE. PERFORMANCES ARE AT PLACE GALLERY, 1054 S. MAIN STREET: APRIL 9 @ 7 P.M.; APRIL 10 @ 6 P.M. AND 9 P.M. **

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BUY YOUR OWN TICKETS ($10 EA.) OR SUPPORT THE VIVA V-DAY GROUP IN OTHER WAYS, YOU CAN CONTACT THEM BY EMAIL AT: LasVegasVM2010@gmail.com