History of Take Back the Night

by Jessica Arriaga

The anxiety women feel when walking alone at night, the potential fear that they can radiate the body, the danger people say “they are putting themselves in,” and the fact that a women simply cannot feel safe when the sun goes down are all reasons why Take Back the Night began

According to takebackthenight.org the first Take Back the Night in the United States occurred in October of 1975 in Philadelphia. People partook in the event after Susan Alexander Speeth, a young microbiologist was stabbed and murdered while walking home alone. The first Take Back the Night to take place over seas happened in Brussels, Belgium March 4-8 in 1976. In Belgium the event was huge, two thousand women representing 40 countries attended. Both in Philadelphia and in Belgium there was a candlelit progression; these were the first documented Take Back the Night Marches

In Europe the event is called Reclaiming the Night and it started in Rome in 1976. The reported 16,ooo rapes that year are what fueled Reclaim the Night, that is a lot of women, a lot of individuals that were affected by violence. This brings me to the point that rape does not solely affect the individual but also affects so many people associated with the victim. From Rome, the event took place in Germany, on April 30 1977, which was a place where women suffered constant harassment both during the day and at night. This important movement began to grow and become acknowledged, and the next city to hold the event was Leeds, England in November of 1977. Leeds put on the event in response to many, many women being attacked, raped, and killed. These women were all prostitutes, but that was not a welcome to violence against them

Australia and India also began putting on Reclaim the Night events. Australia’s events first aimed to raise awareness against abortion and contraception. In Bombay, India after a pregnant woman was gang raped women put on a Reclaim the Night in March of 1978

In New York, the first march for women was held in 1976 and it was not until 1977 that the slogan “Take Back the Night” was brought to light by a woman named Anne Pride. In 1978 San Franciscans put on a Take Back the Night in protest to pornography, which I find interesting being that so many of us see this event used to mainly protest violence usually of a sexual nature against women. In Canada, The Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centers declared the third Friday of September the official evening for Take Bake the Night marches nationwide

For over 30 years women have been speaking out at these Take Back the Night events attempting to combat and raise awareness of violence against women. The event seeks to eliminate all forms of sexual violence. Thousands of colleges, universities, Women’s Centers and rape crisis centers have sponsored these events all over the country, and the AS Women Center is extremely proud to be one of those organizations

Please come and join us Tuesday night for our spring Take Back the Night Event! We will be tabling both Monday and Tuesday morning. On Tuesday at 7:30pm The Women only Survivor speak out will take place and the Gender Inclusive Workshop will be going on simultaneously. We encourage women to come tell their stories, read a poem, or anything they feel comfortable sharing. The Gender Inclusive Workshop will cover bystander awareness, how we perpetuate rape culture in our society and tips on how to combat it. At 8:30 the Keynote address will be given by Kate Transchel who is a professor in the History Department on campus and has done extensive research on sex trafficking. Following the keynote will be a silent candle-lit march at 9:00pm. This event is extremely empowering and strives to promote change. So please come out and support the cause.