Protesting rape and pornography, the first American Take Back the Night march took place in San Francisco’s red-light district in November 1978. Thursday marks the event’s 29th year at the University.
Take Back the Night – a march, rally and speak-out beginning in the EMU Amphitheater at 6:30 p.m. Thursday – is the largest and oldest of the University’s Sexual Violence Prevention Week events. Recognizing April as the national Sexual Assault Awareness Prevention month, SVPW is designed to raise awareness about sexual assault, which can mean anything from catcalls on the street to rape, said Hollie Putnam, public relations coordinator for the ASUO Women’s Center.
The idea behind Take Back the Night is “recognizing that (sexual violence) is important or that it can impact anyone so we all are responsible for making our streets safe and our campus safe and our homes safe,” Putnam said.

“It needs to be a community effort to decrease the pretty common occurrence of sexual assault,” she added.
The theme of this year’s Take Back the Night is “Voices of the Unheard” with speakers – including Terrie Quinteros, executive director of the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Patrice Baker, a staff member with the University’s ROTC program – focusing on how sexual violence is a weapon of oppression.
“Patrice Baker is going to talk from the perspective of someone in the military, and how sexual assault and the military can intersect,” Putnam said. Quinteros will speak about “why sexual assault occurs and what we can do to prevent it,” Putnam said.
Today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the UO Men’s Center is sponsoring a walk through campus, marked by signs with sexual assault statistics. Originating outside the EMU Fishbowl, these walks – MOTIVATE, which stands for Men Opposed To Interpersonal Violence Acting To Educate –