A Chance for Change: Take Back the Night Rally and March

One in six women in America will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, according to statistics from RAINN, Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. In addition, college women are four times more likely to become victims of sexual violence then any other age group.

Facts have prompted protests to end such violence. Womanspace, a student-run organization at Virginia Tech, is hosting its 19th annual Take Back the Night Rally and March on Thursday, March 27 at 7 p.m. to raise awareness about this issue.

“The whole idea of getting people together to see how many people really want to work on this issue is an empowering occasion,” said Susan Anderson, the faculty advisor for Womanspace.

The event, which hopes to attract 500 to 1,000 people, will assemble on the Drillfield between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. near the chapel. The rally will begin at 7 p.m. and at 7:30 p.m. participants will engage in a candlelight march through campus and downtown Blacksburg, and then return to the Drillfield for a closing ceremony according to the Womanspace website.

Take Back the Night has three major purposes, according to Anderson, “First to raise awareness and educate the community about resources available for survivors. Second, this is what we hope the march itself does, we hope to energize and empower the community to actually want to lessen violence in our community…and the last thing we hope to accomplish is to give people tools that they can do in their everyday life to lessen violence.”

To accomplish these goals, women from the community are invited to break their silence and share their stories with others. “Seeing all these strong women come together to protest violence is going to be a moving experience. I hope it will empower me to continue my own healing process from being a victim of abuse,” said Cassie Smith, who plans on attending Take Back the Night for the first time.

For other survivors who plan on attending the event, Anderson said that she hopes they “ feel in the crowd a respect for them, an anger for what happened to them, and a sincere wish to stop violence.”

Take Back the Night is one of several events hosted by Womanspace dedicated to raising awareness about violence against women. It is the coming together of both men and women to create change in our community. “It is going to take men and women working together to stop violence,” said Anderson.

To learn more about Take Back the Night and how it first began visit the official website at www.takebackthenight.org.