Tell your story. We want to hear it. We want everyone to hear it.

IT HAPPENED TO ME At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime — with the abuser usually someone known to her. Violence against women and girls is a universal problem of epidemic proportions...And yet, many people are unaware of the pervasiveness of violence against women. To give women an opportunity to tell their stories, this website has been created, where women who have endured violence against them can tell their stories by filling out a testimony form. The stories are anonymous and are not intended to be used in any legal proceedings. Our purpose is to give a voice to women who have suffered violence and to raise awareness of the pervasiveness of violence against women. Violence testimony will be recorded and arranged as a continuous audio album, entitled IT HAPPENED TO ME. If you have endured rape, battery, sexual slavery or female genital mutilation and would like to tell your story, you can do so here. Just fill out the testimony form. TESTIMONY To submit your story, fill out the testimony form. IT HAPPENED TO ME is just getting started. Women's stories will be published here on the site soon, as well as recorded. SPREAD THE WORD If you'd like to let others know about the project, you can download a flyer that you can email or print. CONTACT alexandra at happenedtome.com

ABOUT THE PROJECT It Happened To Me is produced by artist-activist, Alexandra Jacoby. Her primary work for the last six years has been vagina vérité™, a book of vagina portraits [documentary photographs] for women. So we can see ourselves for ourselves. Jacoby is participating in V-Day’s 2007 Worldwide Campaign by creating Vagina Festival, a visual-audio-performance art experience. Proceeds from Vagina Festival will be donated to V-Day to support its efforts to end violence against women worldwide. IT HAPPENED TO ME will be debuted at Vagina Festival. VAGINA FESTIVAL  › Vagina Festival is a collaboration among artists and the community. The festival’s mission is to: • raise awareness of the pervasiveness of violence against women • show support women who have survived violence and to honor the women who have not • create a space where people can come together and women’s stories can be told • celebrate women, peace, creativity and collaboration. The Festival will take place Feb. 16-18, 2007, at Agni Gallery 170 East 2nd Street, Manhattan. Learn more about Vagina Festival.

Tell your story. We want to hear it. We want everyone to hear it.

© IT HAPPENED TO ME 2006.