REPP takes back the night
By Jessica Alway
Santa Clara students and community members will join together tonight to take a stand against sexual violence and discrimination.
As a part of the fourth annual "Take Back the Night" held on campus, all women are invited to meet at 7 p.m. at the Santa Clara Mall to participate in an event to support survivors of sexual assault and help to prevent further abuse.
Take Back the Night, first organized at Santa Clara approximately 10 years ago, will consist of a rally at the Kennedy Mall, a march through the campus and surrounding neighborhood, followed by an open mic discussion in the Brass Rail at 8 p.m.
"[The night] is about empowering women," said event coordinator Rebecca Smith, a senior liberal studies major. "It is very important that women have a voice. Everyone needs to understand that rape does happen. This is one of the times the issue of rape is really publicly looked at on campus. Obviously, the word hasn't been loud enough yet because it is still happening."
Smith is an active member in REPP (Rape Education Prevention Program), the group that has planned the event for the past three years.
This year REPP was assisted by the sexual abuse sub-division of the new Peer Health Educator Program coordinated by Jeanne Zeamba, the new director of the Wellness Center. She has helped put on other events similar to Take Back the Night at other universities before coming to Santa Clara.
"I think this march can be so powerful," said Zeamba. "Rape is such a hidden and tragic crime yet also such an important one. We need to make sure survivors realize they are not alone and they are not to blame."
The concept of Take Back the Night began in the early 1970s in Europe. In 1978 more than 5,000 women from over 30 states gathered in San Francisco for the first event in the United States. Since that time, the night has grown to represent the fear, isolation, coercion and cruelty that women experience in a rape culture, according to the awareness statement issued by the Wellness Center.
Take Back the Night now provides women with an opportunity to symbolically reclaim their bodies, homes, streets and lives - rights they feel have been denied by a male-dominated society, said Zeamba.
The event has traditionally been set in the fall, but event coordinator Rebecca Smith said she decided to change the date of the event from October to March. One of the event's goals is to stand in solidarity with survivors and other women, according to the march statement.
Smith made the change to coordinate with the majority of other universities that hold Take Back the Night marches or other similar events in the spring.
Rape and sexual abuse education is important especially to high school and college age students because girls 16 to 19 are four times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault. Women 20-24 are also at high risk; after age 24, the rate of attacks steadily decline according to the Deparment of Justice.
Over the past 10 years the Department of Justice has reported a decline in the number of reported rapes in America, but it also acknowledges only about 16 percent of occurrences are ever disclosed to authorities.
"I think this statistic speaks to the great shame, guilt and self blame that occur because of this crime," said Zeamba. "But this type of crime needs to be reported to protect other women from the same experience."
The event planning was limited only to women for the march itself. The coordinators said this is not an attempt to trivialize violence against men or men's efforts to end violence, but rather create a time when women may stand together to reclaim the night without the protection of men.
They also hope to involve as many women as possible from campus and the community. The event is a way to not only gather a diverse group of women together, but also initiate an ongoing dialogue about the issue of rape and sexual assault, according to the march statement.