If you were on the Gorham campus last Wednesday night, you might have seen and heard roughly fifty people marching around campus, shouting chants like Survivors unite! Take back the night! This event, called Take Back the Night (TBTN), is a national march aimed at raising awareness of violence against women. Another event is planned for the Portland campus at the end of the month.
Community members, student organizations, faculty, staff, and students from USM all worked at organizing this event, which kicked off with a pre-rally at 6 p.m., where supporters could make banners and buy T-shirts and candles. Take Back the Night, which is held in April as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, was sponsored by the Department of Residential Life and Resident Education.
Despite the refreshments and brightly colored banners, the somberness of the event was palpable. T-shirts lined the room reading messages like, “Not my daughter! Break the cycle now!” and “He beat my mom in front of us four kids.”
At the head of the program, which was brought back to USM after a few years hiatus, is Chelsea Rock, a Residence Director at Upton-Hastings Hall on the Gorham Campus.
“The department of residential life was searching for a program to bring the residential community to educate students about sexual assault,” said Rock, who along with Lyndsay Santeusanio, Coordinator of the USM Women’s Resource Center, helped formulate the idea to make the campus “a safe place for all – both in the daytime and at night.”
According to Take Back the Night’s web site, the origins of the march are often disputed. Some say their roots stem back as far as 1877, when women protested fear and violence in the streets of London. Others believe it was in 1976, when women from the International Tribune of Crimes Against Women took to the streets of Belgium with candles and rallied against violence against women.
TBTN was first introduced to America in 1978, when protestors gathered in San Francisco after an anti-pornography conference. Protestors marched down the city’s red light district to protest rape and pornography – which was seen as contributing to the subordination of women. Adopting the slogan “Take Back the Night,” those who had been negatively affected by pornography gathered to share their stories.
Perhaps the most emotional part of the night was the “Speak Out.”
“The Speak Out is held in an effort to get survivors to share their stories and have their voices heard among a supportive community,” said Rock. Counselors from the USM Health & Counseling Center were on hand throughout the night, in the event that those affected by sexual abuse needed someone to talk to, and express their questions and concerns.
Rock feels that USM’s Gorham campus is already a place where students can feel safe, but that they have to be proactive in order for it to stay that way. “Having a TBTN is a way to send the message that our community not only wants, but demands that this campus be a safe place where women can feel safe going out after dark,” Rock said.
Part of Rock’s role as a Resident Director is to be able to react to situations where students might not feel safe. When victimization occurs, she is prepared to give them help when needed, including getting them access to medical help or recommending a crisis support organization like Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine (SARSSM),
Cindi Amato, Executive Director of SARSSM, kicked off the Speak Out on Wednesday. In her opening speech, Amato emphasized the importance of reviving TBTN and speaking out about these issues on campus, relating that it’s an event that’s meant to break the silence. She highlighted the resiliency of the human spirit, and ability to work through trauma as aspects of TBTN.
Mentioning the SARSSM hot line as a “place to figure out what to do next,” Amato says that their role in support isn’t to tell victims what to do, but giving them options, so they can make appropriate decisions for themselves.
Education plays a key role in allowing victims to take control back in to their lives. On the Speak Out itself, Amato says that there are a lot of different ways to speak out against sexual abuse, including something as simple as marching.
While only a few people actually “spoke out,” the crowd’s silence was reflective of the seriousness of violence. Amidst a silent and solemn group of people at the Speak Out, one of the people to come forward and share what TBTN means to them was a USM Police Officer, who said he only wished the crowd tonight was bigger “to support those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.”
Another speaker, Lyndsay Santeusanio, also spoke up and said that the night was about “reclaiming our country.”
“I love that there’s so many men here,” she said, adding that men are also victims of sexualized violence.
Tracking the numbers of sexual crimes statewide and nationally can often be a challenge. “It is difficult to know. Sexual assault historically has been the most under-reported crime in the U.S. However, over the last several years, crime statistics in Maine and nationally show a rise in the number of sexual assaults reported to police. This is encouraging because we want people to speak out, get the help they need and seek justice,” says Amato.
Amato says that all of SARSSM services are available to men as well. According to the group, 1 in 5 Maine residents report that they have been victims of rape or attempted rape in their lifetime. In the U.S. in 2007 there were almost 248,300 reported rapes, which means someone was raped about every 2 minutes.
Considering these alarming numbers, the organization aims at empowering victims to speak out about sexual violence, and for those people to feel supported by their community.
SARSSM supports victims, survivors, and concerned others through their crisis and support line, support groups, Sexual Assault Response Teams (SART), and outreach. In order to promote a safe and violence free community, they offer K-12 “age-appropriate and interactive presentations” like Personal Body Safety and Sexual Harassment. They also offer community training and speaking, a sex offender notification panel, outreach to homeless, education of incarcerated youth, and support and advocacy with incarcerated women.
According to Amato, people can promote safety on campus by supporting others and their safety. “It is important to use the buddy system at parties and around campus, to speak up when you see something happening that could turn into a violent situation, and to let authorities know when it does,” Amato said.
Take Back the Night closed with an energized march around campus, with stops at almost every dorm. Chelsea Rock held a megaphone so all could hear chants like However we dress, wherever we go, yes means yes, and no means no.
A police escort was provided for the marchers. As the brigade marched past the New Dorms, onlookers peeked out their windows in curiosity of the large crowd, certainly not something you see on campus every day.
Rock says she anticipates Take Back the Night will become an annual event. She hopes it will be “something our students, staff, and faculty will come to not only expect, but to look forward to.”