Eve Ensler

By ELIZABETH L. BLAND, Janice M. Horowitz, Jyoti Thottam, Rebecca Winters, VICTORIA RAINERT

Eve Ensler's play Necessary Targets, about the rape of Bosnian women, will open in New York City on Feb. 28. Her Vagina Monologues will again be the centerpiece of Valentine's Day fund raising around the world to end violence against women.

Q: Do you ever want simply to spend a nice, quiet Valentine's Day alone?

A: It's funny, I went away on vacation for a week over the holidays. It just wasn't the time in my life for it. There is such momentum in this movement right now.

Q: Because of Afghanistan?

A: I think it's a big part of it. You cannot desecrate the female population of a country and not think it's going to happen to everyone eventually.

Q: You visited Afghanistan a year ago. Was it as bad for women as we have heard?

A: Absolutely. If you want to see what misogyny looks like when it's fully realized, it's hell. It's stunning. And stunning that we allowed it.

Q: You helped organize a conference for 40 Afghan women in Brussels. What did you learn?

A: I think the women of Afghanistan absolutely know what the future of that country should be. The idea that somehow we are shoving Western feminism on Afghan women--I cannot tell you how angry it makes me. I was struck by how much clarity the women have, because they've thought about it for so long. They've kept the country alive; let's face it. Why don't we ever recognize that?