The Night is Ours: Revisiting the history of Take Back the Night
As long as women have been bought and sold for sex, they have experienced sexual and domestic violence at the hands of men. Although we may brush away this violence as normal or biological, there is a long history of women rallying against this violence. Many communities and college campuses across the United States participate in Take Back the Night (TBTN), a march and protest of violence against women.
Some believe Take Back the Night dates back to 1877 when women in London took to the streets to protest the violence and fear the experienced at night. The first known TBTN in the US took place in 1978 in San Francisco’s Red Light District, organized by Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media. Currently, Take Back the Night or similar protests are held throughout the world as a way for communities to denounce all violence against others, although most marches still retain a strong anti-sexual violence focus. Locally, this year marks the 30th anniversary of Champaign-Urbana taking back the night!
Taking it Back
As feminist author Andrea Dworkin has said, “Women are often told to be extra careful and take precautions when going out at night. In some parts of the world, even today, women are not allowed out at night. So when women struggle for freedom, we must start at the beginning by fighting for freedom of movement, which we have not had and do not now have. We must recognize that freedom of movement is a precondition for anything else. It comes before freedom of speech in importance because without it freedom of speech cannot in fact exist.” The night is both symbolically and physically a barrier to women’s movement – something most women are well aware as they plan their routes home from nighttime jobs, tests, or parties.
The founders of Take Back the Night created these rallies and marches to find and share their voice, to be heard when violence against them is mostly silenced and ignored, and to walk in solidarity, strength and reclaim the night as a theirs- safe from violence against them- even if only for one night. Historically, these marches were women-only, signifying women’s strength and ability to protect themselves and to reclaim their own night.
Why the Violence?
As Suzanne Pharr posits, violence against women is one of the arms of sexism, along with economic oppression and homophobia. Systemically, violence against women (and other kinds of violence targeting marginalized groups, such as LGBT folks, folks with disabilities, poor communities, and folks of color) is an effective way to keep certain elements of institutional power in place, unquestioned.
Upon women, the social impact of this violence and the threat of that violence, limits women’s social mobility (don’t go out at night, don’t go out alone) which impacts jobs women may feel able to take, schooling (night classes or exams), and ultimately the economics of women’s lives. More than that, significant time is spent on wondering about physical safety; time that, as Ross points out, men don’t have to spend or consider. Men (especially white middle class straight men) are allowed to move around in the world without these concerns, mainly because of luck (of being born white, straight, etc.).
Men Preventing Men’s Violence
In this year’s Take Back the Night, men are invited to march alongside women as allies and supporters. More and more men are taking an active role to eliminate men’s violence against women. As anti-sexist activist Jackson Katz puts it, “Men should be pretty upset that some men are acting this way, it’s an insult to our gender, and we need to call these guys out.” In addition, men are realizing how violence against women, traditionally thought of as a “woman’s issue” affects them-the women in their lives that they care about. If we’re going to end violence against women, it’s going to take men and women working together.
What We Can Do
JO: Violence against women is not inevitable; we have and continue to change aspects of the violent culture in which we live. An important part of Take Back the Night is standing up and naming not just the overt acts of physical violence which can be themselves difficult to name, but also the seeds of that violence (i.e., attitudes, name calling, harassing, lying, consumption of objectified media images) - and do it as women, proud and loud.
Here’s a quote from takebackthenight.org that we think sums up TBTN:
“Welcome to Take Back the Night- A place free from sexual assault and abuse. We invite you to become part of the solution, part of the end to sexual violence. Here is a place to take a stand, a place to break the silence. Here we can Take Back the Night!”
We couldn’t say it better ourselves.
Join us next week as we discuss teens taking charge of their sexual health.
