The annual event is sponsored by the University of Massachusetts Everywoman’s Center and took place outside of the campus’ Student Union Building.
Take Back the Night is an annual march that aims to create unity, while raising awareness of violence against women. Approximately 100 individuals met at the Student Union steps and later marched throughout campus, ending at the Everywoman’s Center in the Augusta Savage gallery in the Central Residential Area.
According to officials from the Everywoman’s Center, “The march intends to empower individual women and men to take action against violence, as well as to celebrate survivors of violence.”
The event featured singers, including the Raging Grannies, who sung songs about politics and women’s rights.
The event opened up the microphone for all attendees to speak and listen to victims of sexual and domestic violence and also supporters who voiced their concerns for protection against these crimes.
Sophia Zaman, a UMass junior political science major and counselor advocate with the Everywoman’s Center who spoke at the event, said her goal is to educate and prevent abuse.
“We live in a patriarchal society where it’s hard for a survivor to talk about the violence they’ve faced. It’s hard for them to speak out,” Zaman said. “We are trying to make sure these issues are brought to light.”
She said the educator advocates with the Everywoman’s Center work to bring issues to the forefront of social concern and also discuss prevention.
Zaman explained that if anyone seeks help for violence or abuse the Everywoman’s Center can be used as a resource.
According to Zaman, in urgent situations such as in the event that something triggers unpleasant memories for victims of sexual assault or someone is reporting a crime against them, the Everywoman’s Center representatives are available to speak for over 45 minutes. During these talks, representatives help victims establish a course of action to help aid in their coping and recovery.
Additionally, the Center offers long-term counseling services, referrals to legal services and safety services, said Zaman.
UMass theater major Liz Grande Wahlman, the president of UMass’ registered student organization VOX: Students for Choice, took to the microphone during the event with a compelling narrative speaking about the fear women face when walking in the dark at night to their cars or around campus in general.
“Anger can be a weapon against sexual abuse; if you maintain it, you can use it for a lot of good. And I’m pissed off. Are you pissed off?” Wahlman asked the marchers.
“Every time I see one of my sisters walking home at night looking over her shoulders at night, I get pissed off,” said Wahlman. “The body is the source of our resistance. It is also responsible for taking action. I want the rape culture on all campuses to go away.”
Several of the speakers shared their feelings and past experiences with the audience.
“After 20 years I realized the truth about what had happened to me,” said Jessica Curran, a ’94 UMass alumnae. “I think it’s great what you are doing here. I drove four hours down here to say this and to be here with you. Speak out.”
Marina Simons, a UMass freshman who attended the march said, “I find the statistic shocking that one in four women could be assaulted before they graduate college. This needs to change.”
“I’m a survivor and I staged a speak-out before, but this is my first Take Back the Night,” said Amanda Molina, a history graduate student who spoke at last year’s forum on sexual assault, which came after the Boston Globe and Massachusetts Daily Collegian reported the UMass administration allowed a confessed sexual assailant to remain on-campus with a suspended sentence.
I want to see solidarity among student on campus to end sexual violence,” continued Molina.
“First and foremost this event creates space for affected people to speak out about sexual abuse and violence,” said Ananda Timpane, education and training specialist for the Everywoman’s Center. “The hope we carry in the process of speaking back will be heard in joining the fight against sexual violence. Silence surrounds domestic violence. Events like this give people permission to say what happened.”
Chelsea Whitton can be reached at [email protected].
Anonymous • Apr 20, 2011 at 2:23 am
The one-in-four women will be raped statistic is totally bogus. Totally shoddy research that is a classic example of something called “variance.”
MS Magazine ran a survey on sexual assault where it asked readers to fill out the form and snailmail it back to them. Two problems — first, the women reading Ms Magazine were not reflective of women in general (any more than women reading Good Housekeeping magazine are — both are subsets of the large population).
Second, the woman filling out the survey had to go get an envelope, get a stamp, and mail it in. A motivated woman is much more likely to do this, and thus those women who had been raped were far more likely to return the survey than those who took a nonchalant attitude toward it. This is called self-selection and the more motivated participant much more often selects to participate, thus introducing variance.
THE IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW IS THAT THE 1-IN-4 FIGURE IS NOT TRUE!!!! Yes, women get raped in college, but it is far far far fewer than that. More line 1-in-400 — still too many, still something we need to deal with, but something we need to deal with realistically.
And remember one other thing — you are far more likely to be struck by a car crossing the street than to be raped by a stranger. Far more likely….