CNT: So we have to fight the sense that we can't do anything.

Ensler: Doing one small thing will keep you alive because it will make you feel useful and connected to other people. It's how the world changes.

CNT: You've written a lot about beauty. How do women's self-perceptions vary around the world?

Ensler: There is this global capitalist epidemic making women feel bad about their bodies. In some cultures where roundness was celebrated, it's now rejected. There are eating disorders all over China today.

CNT: Where are women happiest with their bodies?

Ensler: Women in the African bush had no idea what I was talking about when I asked, 'Do you love your body?' They said, 'Of course. Why wouldn't we?' Older women in India love their bodies too. They would say, 'You can't wear a sari unless you're round—how would I hold my sari up?' But young Indians are trying to be skinny.

CNT: Does travel change you?

Ensler: Absolutely. One reason I love southern Italy is that it has resisted globalization, and so it teaches me how to be another kind of person. If you can't bear the idea of forgoing something as trivial as a modern shower, you're never going to open your soul to great transformation.

CNT: What did you learn when you visited Afghanistan under the Taliban?

Ensler: I learned that great human rights violations will impact us one day, much more profoundly than we could ever imagine. We're all connected. Every action you take is connected to somebody's welfare somewhere. You don't know that if you don't travel. I think I knew early on that the way out of depression, the way out of misery, was to try and make it better for somebody else.