PEACE starts at home
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Girl Fest protestors in front of the home of a sex-tour operator, who soon after closed his business. Demonstrators dressed in white with white and black face paint; each representing the 1 million women and children caught in the sex-trade against their will. November 2003.

With many Hawai‘i residents having ties to South East Asia and the Philippines, the islands have been used as a direct portal to the sex-trafficking trade of that region––Girl Fest has fought against the sex-trafficking industry in Hawai‘i. In November 2003, demonstrator protested in front of the house of a known sex-tour operator and helped to close his business "Video Travel."

Festival organizers have also endeavored to create Rape-Free Zones or RFZ initiatives: template-like programs that can be implemented in any kind of community, like a campus, a city or even a country. And as a key partner in the development of the University of Hawaii-based RFZ, Girl Fest is hoping that by making information and training resources available, the growth of this concept will continue.

The old saying is that you start in your own backyard, thus the work of Girl Fest is playing an important role in Hawaii’s efforts to be a “safe zone” for  all its girls and women. However, in order to understand the significance of Girl Fest Hawai‘i one needs to understand the larger context of national and international efforts of similar focus, such as the annual performances of the controversial “The Vagina Monologues” and the United Nations sponsored “International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women,” both efforts are working to protect women globally.

Statistics from the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network show a decline of rape, date rape and assault of approximately 69 percent since 1993. However, the United States still sees, on average, over 200,000 victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault annually––that’s a rape every 2.5 minutes! An important fact to remember is that an estimated 59 percent (statistical average of the last five years) of all rapes are not reported.

The overall status and welfare of women and girls across the world is worse. The United Nations Populations Fund (UNPF) reported in its State of the World Population 2000 Report that, “Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some other way — most often by someone she knows, including by her husband or another male family member; one woman in four has been abused during pregnancy.” The UNPF is working to create a mechanism that helps to bridge the gap between the human rights mandates on the United Nations level with the daily happenings in the home, which is where a great majority of the violence against women occurs.

• United Nations Population Fund's on-line exhibition
  to help ending violence against women worldwide

So, as the support for Girl Fest Hawai‘i continues to grow, the hope is that a poetry slam performance or film showcase will provide an entry point for local residents to learn about the global network of organizations that are working to change the future for all women of the world.