Voices of Men

I attend the play called “Voices of Men” by Ben Atherton-Zeman at the Lunda Center last Tuesday. The play was based on men’s violence against women. I have seen some plays like this, but Ben’s performance was a lot better than others. He used different crops and mad it fun to be there.
When I first arrived I heard a bell ringing every twelve seconds. He later explained that every time he had hit the bell a woman was being abused or raped. That was shocking for me; I knew it happened but not that much. Then he showed use a video of Rocky in one of his movies pressuring a girl to come in and have a seat. When the film stopped Ben came out dressed up as Rocky. He acted just like him and asked use what he did wrong in the tape. When we saw the video clip again there was a counting on the bottom of the screen telling every time he asked her to come in, and all the different whys he did ask to come in. He explained different situations that he would work around to get the girl to say yes. After the Rocky clip we watched another clip but this time it was James Bond. Just like the first time he came out dresses up as Bond, and acted just like him. But, with this act he asked why the victim stays. There are many answers to the question I think. If they are being abused and told no one will ever won’t them. If you are told so many times that no one will ever love you, you will begin believing that person. Or if the person threatens you or your family, and you can’t get help. There are many reasons why a person stays in a relationship, not because they won’t to but, because they don’t know how to get out or get help. In Ben’s last act he came out as Austin Powers. With using Austin he explained how women should be treated. In many of Power’s movies he says “Yea baby” but, a women does not like being called different names. They have a name for a reason so someone can use it. Also a women has the chose to look and do what she wants, she does not need a man to tell her what to do.
I think Ben did a great job in this play. Violence is a big problem and with unemployment at the rate now it is more common for someone to get abuses. Please help our community stop it. Men go out and buy a white ribbon to have on your shirt to show you care. Speak up when you see someone getting hurt and don’t stand back. If you see something stop it.