Take Back the Night is an international event and non-profit organization with the mission of ending sexual, relationship, and domestic violence in all forms. Hundreds of events are held in over 30 countries annually. Events often include marches, rallies and vigils intended as a protest and

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

against

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

and other forms of sexual, relationship and

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for '' intimate partn ...

. In 2001, a group of women who had participated in the earliest Take Back the Night marches, came together to form the Take Back the Night Foundation in support of the events throughout the United States and the world.

History

Take Back the Night Foundation's Board members have participated in Take Back the Night marches and events from the 1970s to the present day. One of the first "Take Back the Night" marches was held in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

in October 1975, after the murder of a microbiologist, Susan Alexander Speeth, who was stabbed to death while walking home alone. Early Take Back the Night events include a protest in San Francisco against pornography in 1978. "Take Back the Night" was used as the title of a 1977 memorial read by Anne Pride at an anti-violence rally in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Events

Events typically consist of a rally followed by a march and often a speak-out or candlelight vigil on violence against women. Early marches were often deliberately women-only in order to symbolize women's individual walk through darkness and to demonstrate that women united can resist fear and violence. (Most marches in the present day include men; the organization differs as each event is organized locally.) The women-only policies caused controversy on some campuses; activists argued that male allies and sexual assault survivors should be allowed to march in support of women and male victims of sexual violence. In current practice, Take Back the Night events are not only inclusive of men, but include men as survivors, bystanders, and supporters. Many colleges, such as Wesleyan University in Connecticut, allow men to participate in speaking on their own experiences with sexual assault.

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

in Maine organizes a similar candlelight vigil and walk that encourages students of all genders to show solidarity for survivors on campus and in this nation. Michigan State University's Take Back the Night event includes a list of demands to the university community to end sexual violence. While the march began as a way to protest the

violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened ...

that women experienced while walking in public at night, the purpose of these marches was to speak out against this violence and raise community awareness as a preventive measure against future violence. The mission of Take Back the Night has since grown to encompass all forms of violence against all persons, though sexual violence against women is still the top focus. The word ''night'' was originally meant to be taken literally to express the fear that many women feel during the night but has since changed to symbolize a fear of violence in general. This helps the movement incorporate other feminist concerns such as

and

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

within the home. Take Back the Night events occur on college campuses, in major metropolitan areas, in small towns, on military bases, and even in high schools. International events have been documented in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Bermuda, Canada, Italy, Poland, Germany, Hungary, India, England and many other countries. The common purpose is to advocate for the right of everyone to feel safe from sexual violence. On November 7, 2009, the first Take the Back the Night annual conference took place at Columbia University.

Controversy and debate

While some Take Back the Night marches encourage men to participate, others still refuse to allow men to be involved under the claim of creating a safe space for women. Several critics have argued that this ignores the struggles of male victims and fails to provide them male role models, as well as implying the need to "take back the night" from all men, not just those who are perpetrators of sexual violence. Advocacy for having a broad coalition of participants including men, women, and transgender individuals alike has come from many different commentators in a variety of publications. The specific focus of some Take Back the Night events on sexual assaults from strangers and the lack of focus on

date rape Date rape is a form of acquaintance rape and dating violence. The two phrases are often used interchangeably, but date rape specifically refers to a rape in which there has been some sort of romantic or potentially sexual relationship between ...

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

parental incest Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption ...

, and other such forms of victimization has attracted criticism from a broad group of commentators such as

Megan Greenwell Megan Greenwell is an American editor and journalist. She was the first female editor-in-chief of Deadspin and editor of Wired.com. Biography Greenwell grew up in Berkeley, California. Her mother is an Episcopal priest who currently serves as t ...

of ''

Good Magazine GOOD Worldwide Inc., is a United States-based company with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle that reports on businesses and non-profits. GOOD produces a website, a quarterly magazine, online videos, and events. Content covered include ...

''. Greenwell has remarked that the use of the "righteous rape" trope by Take Back the Night participants, to refer to sexual assault in the open by strangers as being somehow inherently morally different to other types of assault, is belittling and wrong. In the higher-education context, the policy of some institutions to make Take Back the Night events mandatory for students, compelling them to attend regardless of whether they want to or not, has come under criticism by some women's rights activists as being

hypocritical Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. In moral psychology, it is the ...

and inherently self-defeating. After a 2015 controversy at

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

emerged in which a mandatory event had some football players in the audience laugh at accounts of sexual assault, try to leave early, and otherwise disrupt the process, 'Womanspace' Co-President Malavika Sahai remarked, "Requiring people to go to an event encroaches on that safe space... you don't want to be there, you really shouldn't be there."

References

External links

"Official Online Headquarters" for Take Back the Night
Resources to assist with running TBTN events, calendar of TBTN events.

(1995) an

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630022550/http://research.umbc.edu/~korenman/wmst/takenite2.html , date=2007-06-30 (1997, 2001).
Take Back the Night - Ipswich, United Kingdom
- (report on response to the

2006 Ipswich murder investigation The Ipswich serial murders, commonly known as the work of the Suffolk Strangler, took place between 30 October and 10 December 2006, during which time the bodies of five murdered sex workers were discovered at different locations near Ipswich, ...

)
Take Back the Night 2006 at UC Santa Cruz

Ireland speaks at Take Back the Night rally
(discusses men getting involved in a rally at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

)
The Rape Relief Files: Take Back The Night - Vancouver Herstory

Reclaim the Night - Brighton, UK
Feminist protests Health campaigns Protest marches Protest tactics Violence against women Women's marches

History

Events

Controversy and debate

See also

References

Further reading

External links