Take Back the Night @ Brown
Tonight, I attended a Take Back the Night march and rally. It's been storming here in New England, so I wasn't sure how many people would turn out -- and it ended up only being a small group of people, but what was incredible about this particular march is that the majority of those who came out to show support were men. Even one fraternity came out in support, dressed in their Greek letters.
We carried signs and handed out fliers and chanted as we walked through Brown's campus in the rain, and even marched through several dorms -- including a few frat houses -- and through a couple of student rec areas and dining halls. While a few people did join us on the march as we continued, what I was rather relieved about was the lack of opposition that I heard might have occurred. In past years at Brown, frats protested Take Back the Night with extremely hurtful and misogynistic signs and counter-chants. This year, we did not receive any resistance or opposition at all.
Though the vast majority of participants were undergrads, and the grad community was severely under-represented, I was really glad that I got to participate this year, especially as it culminates Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Some of the things we chanted:
"Take back the night / the time is near / we will not be controlled by fear!"
"Women / United/ Will never be defeated!"
"2 4 6 8 No more date rape!"
"Yes means yes / No means no / Whatever we wear / Wherever we go"
"Out of the halls and into the streets / We won't be raped, we won't be beat"
"Hey hey / ho ho / date rape has got to go!"
"People unite / Take back the night!"
It was really quite encouraging and heartening to see all these guys -- especially frat guys walking through the streets and going into other frat houses chanting, "Women / United / Will never be defeated!" -- especially since there were way more men at this particular march than women (a particularly sobering and disappointing fact).
Of course, sexual assault and rape happens to men as well, but it was still quite encouraging to see men take a stand against sexual violence and assault and not feel a shred of embarrassment screaming, "WOMEN UNITED!"
Some statistics:
Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted
1 out of every 4 women are raped on a college campus
1 out of every 6 women are raped in America
1 out of every 10 men are raped in America
15 out of 16 rapists will never spend a day in jail
Approximately 2/3 of assaults are committed by someone known to the victim
We carried signs and handed out fliers and chanted as we walked through Brown's campus in the rain, and even marched through several dorms -- including a few frat houses -- and through a couple of student rec areas and dining halls. While a few people did join us on the march as we continued, what I was rather relieved about was the lack of opposition that I heard might have occurred. In past years at Brown, frats protested Take Back the Night with extremely hurtful and misogynistic signs and counter-chants. This year, we did not receive any resistance or opposition at all.
Though the vast majority of participants were undergrads, and the grad community was severely under-represented, I was really glad that I got to participate this year, especially as it culminates Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Some of the things we chanted:
"Take back the night / the time is near / we will not be controlled by fear!"
"Women / United/ Will never be defeated!"
"2 4 6 8 No more date rape!"
"Yes means yes / No means no / Whatever we wear / Wherever we go"
"Out of the halls and into the streets / We won't be raped, we won't be beat"
"Hey hey / ho ho / date rape has got to go!"
"People unite / Take back the night!"
It was really quite encouraging and heartening to see all these guys -- especially frat guys walking through the streets and going into other frat houses chanting, "Women / United / Will never be defeated!" -- especially since there were way more men at this particular march than women (a particularly sobering and disappointing fact).
Of course, sexual assault and rape happens to men as well, but it was still quite encouraging to see men take a stand against sexual violence and assault and not feel a shred of embarrassment screaming, "WOMEN UNITED!"
Some statistics:
Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted
1 out of every 4 women are raped on a college campus
1 out of every 6 women are raped in America
1 out of every 10 men are raped in America
15 out of 16 rapists will never spend a day in jail
Approximately 2/3 of assaults are committed by someone known to the victim