Events empower women, call for healing

Late on any given night, a woman walks alone across a dark campus. But she doesn't fear for her safety. She feels empowered. She knows the facts about violence against women. She knows the chances of a stranger attacking her are slim. She knows the real danger lies in her comfort zones with people she already knows.\nShe walks with her head high because she has taken back the night. \nFor more than 25 years, "Take Back the Night" has been an international event dedicated to raising awareness, dispelling myths and protesting violence against women. At the Bloomington level, the event's organizers hope to raise awareness about the reality of violence against women and send a message to the community that domestic violence is unacceptable.\nThe impact of the "Take Back the Night," which includes a rally, march and vigil, isn't what one might expect: It has not lowered the number of rapes on campus. IU Police Department Lt. Jerry Minger said reported rape statistics have remained relatively static during the years since the protest began. \nBut many say the event has achieved its goal of empowering women on campus and in the Bloomington community, as well as raising awareness, comforting crime victims and fostering a community of women and the men who care about them.\nThis year's event is chaired by Julie Thomas, a visiting professor of gender studies. She said it is hard to trace the impact of the march on the student body, since the student body changes each year. But she has noticed the effect on individuals.\n"Students are usually amazed to learn what is presented at the rally," Thomas said. "They consistently express astonishment at how many people it affects."\nThomas has also seen how the march can benefit the rest of the community.\n"Each year after the march, students want to help solve the problems they've learned about," Thomas said. "Often they're more interested in volunteering. This is a definite benefit for a place like Middle Way House, where the volunteer numbers increase."\nSenior Rebecca Snyder, the IU Student Association's health and safety director, has also seen the direct impact of the event on men and women who attend. \n"The march puts out awareness that things like this can happen," Snyder said. "Especially for men who attend, they find out it can be anyone: a sister, girlfriend, acquaintance."\nBut Thomas said those who sometimes benefit most from the event are those who have survived rape or violence. \n"I've seen a group of friends attend the march together, and one will get up and speak out about being the victim of violence," Thomas said. "The friends are shocked because they had no idea. And the friends always reach out to that woman and embrace her, and the crowd supports her."\nCarol McCord, the assistant to the dean of the Office for Women's Affairs, has witnessed firsthand the effects of the rally on victims of sexual assault.\n"When the victims hear individual stories, it brings it home again," McCord said. "People who had experienced sexual assault and had never shared it before had one of two experiences. They either felt, 'I'm not comfortable speaking about this, but I'm glad others are,' or 'I couldn't have spoken out before now, but since I heard others, I can.'"\nSenior Jimmanee Spears, herself a victim of sexual assault, said the rally sometimes helps women deal with past experiences they might never have faced before.\n"For a lot of women who come out as freshmen or sophomores for the first time, when they hear someone tell their story, it triggers whatever small thing they've been hiding in the back of their minds," Spears said. "This causes the pain to resurface and helps start the process of healing."\nSpears also said the action of yelling chants and actively protesting empowers women.\n"In our society, women aren't supposed to be loud and scream in public," Spears said. "This rally is exhilarating."\nMcCord hopes that, in addition to the impact of the events on individuals, Take Back The Night will remind the entire community that violence against women has not lessened in recent years.\n"My concern is that people have come to feel very blase," McCord said. "It doesn't have the glamour it did in the '60s or '70s. They have become passive rather than active about the issue. Our message is that violence against women is simply unacceptable in our communities"