MTV and Eve Ensler Partner to Bring "I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World" to Life On Air
07/29/2010
"I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE: THE SECRET LIFE OF GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD" TO LIFE ON AIR
Address Sex, Abuse and Love in the Digital Age
in a Series of Provocative New Spots
New York, NY, July 29, 2010 - Today, MTV began rolling out a series of new spots that bring Eve Ensler's critically-acclaimed, New York Times bestseller I Am an Emotional Creature: the Secret Life of Girls Around the World to life on MTV and MTV.com. Rosario Dawson, Aubrey Plaza ("Parks and Recreation") and Jessica Stroup ("90210") give voice to the legendary playwright and activist's work, tackling hot button teen issues including safe sex, sexual pressure, sexting, constant connectedness and dating abuse.
"I am thrilled to be part of this project with MTV where girls and the empowerment and protection of girls are front and center," said Eve Ensler. "It's really been a pleasure helping put a new "V" in MTV."
Many of the themes in Eve's new book directly connect to two of MTV's core campaigns: It's Your (Sex) Life (www.itsyoursexlife.com), built to support young people in making better and more responsible decisions about their sexual health, and A THIN LINE (www.athinline.org), which empowers young people to draw their own line between digital use and digital abuse.
"Eve Ensler started a revolution with 'The Vagina Monologues,' and her latest book carries that legacy forward - powerfully articulating the passions, fears and resiliency of girls today," said Jason Rzepka, Vice President of Public Affairs for MTV. "We're proud to amplify this important work and believe it will spark conversation, encourage members of our audience to honor themselves and know they have the right to be emotional creatures."
The new spots include:
- "You Tell Me How To Be a Girl In 2010," where Aubrey Plaza discusses what it means to be young and dating in an environment where you're constantly connected.
- "I Dance," where Jessica Stroup confronts the pressures of being a teen girl today, including sexting, and the need to escape from the stresses of the modern world.
- The monologue "Dear Rihanna," which captures the troubling reaction of many young women who have been the victims of dating violence, and have excused it.
- "Asking the Question," where Aubrey Plaza talks about asking the question... the prophylactic one, that is, and shows the audience that navigating this awkward moment doesn't have to be quite so hard.
- The monologue "It's Not a Baby, it's a Maybe," which explores what can happen when only selectively applying abstinence.
In addition, MTV.com will exclusively premiere interviews with Eve Ensler and V-Day Board member Rosario Dawson talking frankly about their mission, through V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls, to encourage young women to know their bodies, respect themselves, own their feelings and make their own choices.
To check out this series of short programming, read monologues from these works, or watch interviews with Eve Ensler and Rosario, please head to http://www.emotionalcreature.mtv.com.
V-Day
Founded by playwright/performer/activist Eve Ensler, V-Day is a global movement to end violence against women and girls. Made up of original monologues about and for girls, I Am an Emotional Creature aims to inspire girls to take agency over their minds, bodies, hearts and curiosities. In conjunction, V-Day has developed V-Girls to engage young women in its "empowerment philanthropy" model, igniting their activism and providing them with a platform to amplify their voices. In early 2010, readings of the book were staged in over fifteen pilot locations, where teen girls engaged in the creative process, accompanied by a specially written curriculum addressing the issues in the book. This summer, the V-Girls Book Club program launched, enabling girls and their educators to explore I Am an Emotional Creature, reflect and discuss the text, and respond to it creatively through art. The accompanying book guide will provide opportunities for girls to write and share their own monologues inspired by the book, develop visual and performance art events, and find their own creative ways to speak out on issues that matter to them. Visit v-girls.org.
A THIN LINE
MTV's "A THIN LINE" (www.athinline.org), campaign empowers America's youth to identify, respond to, and stop the spread of digital abuse. Digital abuse is an emerging issue that includes behaviors like sexting, sexting, cyber-bullying and digital dating abuse, which affect a large majority of young people today. Young people today are growing up in an environment unlike anything previous generations have experienced. Because they are constantly connected through technologies like cell phones, texting, Facebook, etc. - they are experiencing a range of new issues including pressure to send nude photos, to be available online and via text message 24/7, cyberbullying, and more. MTV built a coalition of the foremost authorities on these topics, and is addressing these issues through thought-provoking PSAs, integration into MTV's top-rated shows, innovative online and mobile tools, and curricula. To date, A THIN LINE has already led over 400,000 to take positive action.
It's Your (Sex) Life
For over a decade, MTV has been addressing sexual health issues through its Emmy and Peabody-winning "It's Your (Sex) Life" campaign, which encourages young people to make responsible decisions about their sexual health. Since 1997, the Kaiser Family Foundation and MTV have worked together on this extensive public information partnership to address HIV/AIDs, other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and related sexual health issues. Touching on topics ranging from unintended pregnancy to safe sex and HIV and STD Testing, the campaign has reached over 200 million young people since launch. The partnership includes targeted public service advertisements (PSAs), entertainment and other special programming, news segments, and free resources, including an informational guide developed especially for the campaign, and an extensive website www.itsyoursexlife.com.
About MTV:
MTV is the dynamic, vibrant experiment at the intersection of music, creativity and youth culture. For over 28 years, MTV has evolved, challenged the norm, and detonated boundaries -- giving each new generation a creative outlet and voice that entertains, informs and unites on every platform and screen. On-air, MTV is the number one full day-ad supported network for P12-24. Online, MTV.com averaged 24.5 million monthly unique visitors during the second quarter of 2010 -- up +13% year-over-year. Average video streams for the second quarter of 2010 increased +8% from Q1/2010. And MTV's successful sibling networks MTV2 and mtvU each deliver unprecedented customized content, super-serving young males, music fans, and college students like no one else. MTV is part of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Wanna know more? Come on in... www.mtvpress.com
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Contact:
MTV
Janice Gatti
212-846-8852
Janice.Gatti at mtvstaff
V-Day
Susan Celia Swan
917-865-6603
press at vday