The women of Ohio University will Take Back the Night this evening by marching throughout campus to raise awareness about sexual assault and domestic violence.
“This issue applies to everyone, even men,” said Emily Burns, intern with the Women’s Affairs Commission of Student Senate. “Everyone has a mother or a sister or a cousin that they would not want to see sexually assaulted.”
The Take Back the Night rally and march are the final events of Take Back the Night week hosted by the Women’s Affairs Commission of Student Senate. The rally, followed by the march, begins at 7:30 tonight at Scripps Amphitheater.
From the amphitheater, the women will march through College Green and down Jeff Hill in a candlelight vigil in honor of sexual assault survivors. Then the candles will be collected, and the walk will continue through East Green, down Court Street and end back at Scripps Amphitheater, said Victoria Calderon, Women’s Affairs commissioner and a former Post employee.
“In light of the two sexual assaults reported this past weekend, if you don’t have anyone to do this for, do it for them,” said Calderon, a sophomore studying pre-med chemistry and journalism. “One in four women on college campuses will be sexually assaulted.”
There were a total of three reported sexual assaults this weekend, according to Athens police reports.
Men serve as sideline support, rallying for the women as they walk. As opposed to previous years where the men have solely been organized through Student Senate, now the Office of Off-Campus Living will organize community members to support the women, said Shannon Welch, vice commissioner of Women’s Affairs and a sophomore studying political science.
“Sideline support is vital,” Welch said. “There is a vulnerability to just marching without support.”
Beyond sideline support, awareness and help can be garnered in simpler ways such as not casually using the word “rape,” as victims can perceive it to be offensive. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, so students should take the week as an opportunity to raise awareness, Calderon said.
“Take Back the Night has a bad connotation of being a group of feminists being
man haters,” Calderon said. “I don’t hate men. This march is for all women and men.”
The week of events included the second annual men’s event where men openly discussed men’s role in sexual assault, said Burns, a sophomore studying women’s and gender studies.
“My big thing is women’s agency. Women should be able to say they don’t want sex … and not get the cold shoulder for not putting out,”
Burns said. “On that same note, I think sex should not be something that is taken; it should be shared between two people.”
jc543108@ohiou.edu
@ThePostCulture
