[Tbtn] "TBTN history and statement" text

[ruxandra m costescu]

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Ruxandra.

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History and Statement of the March: 

The Take Back the Night March is an annual women-organized event to publicly express women's determination to struggle against the sexism and violence that plague our communities and circumscribe our lives. 
Take Back the Night began in Europe in the early 1970s with a focus on poverty, single mothers, and prostitute safety. The march later came to the U.S., focusing primarily on prostitute safety, pornography, and street safety. Starting with San Francisco in 1978, it became an annual event nationwide as well as in other parts of the world. Take Back the Night was first organized in Champaign-Urbana in 1979 by Champaign County Women Against Rape, and has continued to annually re-energize women's struggles for social justice in our community. 
While initially the event aimed to protest conditions causing women to feel unsafe when we are alone at night on the streets, "night" is also a metaphor for the fear, isolation, coercion, and cruelty that all women experience daily in a rape culture. Take Back the Night offers women an opportunity to take what might otherwise be private experiences of injustice, and break the silence by publicly naming these wrongs. By so doing, we symbolically reclaim our bodies, our homes, our workplaces, our streets, and our lives. 
Violence against women encompasses much more than individual acts of physical brutality. Women have historically been, and continue to be, subjected to a systemic violence which denies us access to resources and decision-making power. Domestic violence, sexual violence, sexual harassment, racism, homophobia, poverty, denial of reproductive freedom, and inadequate access to safe and affordable health care all impinge upon the lives of women in ways distinct from men's experiences of these injustices. Further, all men -- whether they realize it or not -- benefit from the privileges they accrue by virtue of living in society marked by such vast disparity of opportunity. Thus, Take Back the Night is not solely about sexual assault. Rather, it is an act of solidarity against the predominantly male-perpetrated systemic violence that shapes our lives. 
Since Take Back the Night is about women taking back what we've been denied by a male-dominated society, planning the logistics of and participation in the march portion of the event are limited to women and transgendered persons only. This is in no way intended to trivialize violence against men or men's anti-violence efforts. Rather, marching to “take back the night” is a time for women to stand in solidarity to reclaim our streets and our bodies -- without the help or "protection" of men. The rally and other aspects of the event address overarching issues and include men. 
One of the primary goals of the Take Back the Night Planning Committee is to work with as many people as possible from both the U of I campus and the Champaign-Urbana community. Not only do we aim to gather a diverse group of women for the annual march, but we also hope to initiate ongoing dialogue and organizing around the issues addressed by the march, and therefore encourage any and all involvement.