Look around your classroom at the women sitting near you. By the time they graduate, between one in four and one in five women in college will be sexually assaulted, according to the National College Women Sexual Victimization Study. It doesn’t matter if she’s an ‘A’ student or sends text messages in class, because sexual violence affects everyone, an issue this year’s Take Back the Night event is focusing on.
Statistics can only mean so much when dealing with the topic of sexual assault.
“We hear a lot about statistics. One in four, one in six, one in three, etc. But when somebody is that statistic they are 100 percent,” said Emelia Udd, a University senior and the Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Coordinator for the Women’s Center.
Udd said the annual Take Back the Night event shows community support for those who have been assaulted and enforces the idea, through both victims and allies, that sexual violence is unacceptable.
“Being involved in sexual violence prevention is a way to break down the barrier between us and them: the sexual assault survivors and those who care about the issues versus everybody else,” she said.
The event, which is co-hosted by Sexual Assault Support Services, is broken down into three parts, said Carmen Hinckley, a University junior and volunteer coordinator for the event. Thursday’s events will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the EMU Amphitheater with a rally and guest speakers.
Each speaker will express her individual perspective on the issues of sexual violence on campus and sexual violence prevention, Udd said.
This year’s speakers include Guadalupe Quinn, Angel Lopez, Iana Matthews-Harris and Oregon State Sen. Kate Brown.
“It’s a good collection of survivors and people in power who want to make change,” said volunteer and University alumna Hannah Caron, who began attending Take Back the Night events as a child and has participated in six.
“Violence against women is all around us and having a community event like this can bring support to those who need it,” Caron said.
The second part of the event is the march, departing from the amphitheater at 8 p.m. and ending downtown at Eighth Avenue and Oak Street.
“It’s really intense, but in a way that’s very empowering,” Udd said of the energy during the march. “It’s not screaming or angry, but I think anger is an appropriate reaction” to sexual violence.
The night concludes with a “speak out,” where survivors tell their stories, and allies are invited to share their support, something Udd explained as an “intense emotional experience,” but also “a healing experience.”
“It’s a symbol for a community that doesn’t have a voice a lot of the time,” said Anthony Green, a University junior and volunteer coordinator for the event. “Sexual assault is about power and it’s how powerful people maintain control over women and children.”
Green said it’s in the best interest of the rapist when survivors don’t speak out against the assault, and by participating in the “speak out” the victim is able to regain his or her power.
Many sexual assault cases go unreported for a variety of reasons, often personal, Udd said.
“The great majority of assaults that happen, happen by people we know,” she said. A 1996 study by Ida Johnson and Robert Sigler and posted on the Oregon State University Web site said, “60 percent of acquaintance rapes on college campuses occur in casual or steady dating relationships.”
Additionally, the legal process can take months, which can be difficult for a victim to go through, especially when “the woman is the evidence, and that’s a hard thing to deal with,” Udd said.
All the volunteers spoken with for this article agreed that attending the event, either as a survivor or as an ally, is a step toward sexual assault prevention in the community.
“It’s hard because I want people to care about it, but a lot of people don’t,” Udd said. The event usually draws 500-600 student and community member attendees, which is only a fraction of the thousands of University students who are encouraged to come.
For more information on this year’s Take Back the Night event, contact the Women’s Center or Sexual Assault Support Services.
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