Take Back the Night

I just imported this from a facebook note:

So, it's that time of year again where we all get together and have an event that none of us want to happen: Take Back the Night.

I wish we lived in a society where such an event would be deemed absurd and unnecessary.

But we don't.

We instead live in a society that harbors hate and resentment towards women, that is in turn expressed through abuse and violence. Unspeakable violence. Every year I am appalled at the stories I hear. Every year I am driven to disbelief that I go to school with rapists and abusers. I sit in class with them. I interact with them. Daily.

But every year, I am also amazed at the power of women. I am amazed at our strength, our kindness, our compassion, our love, and our fight. Our sisterhood. Our willingness to support each other, and fight this together.

Let's face it, we live in a violent society. We see violence everywhere. It's been permeating our minds since birth, and it has gotten to the point where we no longer even blink an eye when we hear statistics about such violence. People can still sleep at night knowing that 1 in 4 women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime.

But when you see it, when you hear it, coming from a woman sitting across from you, it becomes real. It becomes unbearably real. So real that you don't even want to look, you don't want to hear. You want to clasp your hands over your eyes and scream so that maybe somehow you can shut out the palpable suffering, but even if you can't see it, even if you can't hear it, it's there. It's there in every woman, man, and child on this earth. Everyone could tell you a story about how violence has affected their lives.

This has got to stop.

All of it.

I don't want to have to have this event. The fact that it exists, means that society has FAILED. Fifty people is a lot for Webster, especially for an event about sexual assault. It's an all-time high for us. But it's still not enough. I want this talked about outside of events like TBTN. It's only one night a year, so let's make this happen every night of the year. Every day. Every second of every day I want people to know that rape is wrong. Molestation is wrong. Domestic violence is wrong. Stalking is wrong. Sexual harassment is wrong. Street harassment is wrong (Hello! Can we talk about this?!). Let's make THAT part of our national dialogue.

I don't care what Barack Obama's preacher said. I don't care what color Hillary Clinton's pantsuit is. However, I do care that John McCain voted against an equal-pay-for-women bill. Douchebag. Let's talk about that!

Apparently the Missouri state legislature just got rid of an item in a bill that would provide $1 million to fund rape kits and counseling.

A senator actually said, "You can't feed all the cows."

Is this what America has come to? We're comparing rape victims to livestock?


However, all that being said, no matter how enraged I am, I am also encouraged. Encouraged by all of the strong women around me who know exactly what it is to know complete and utter hopelessness, but who are survivors anyway.

What I've heard tonight, I will never forget.