'Night' march on Diag goes co-ed

By Marta Brill

Daily Staff Reporter

For the past 21 years, female University students and community members have marched to protest violence against women. But this year, men are invited for the first time to participate in the Take Back The Night rally and march, beginning at 7 p.m. tomorrow on the Diag.

During the event, students and local residents are planning to join together to take a stand against rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and violence due to sexual orientation and gender.

"The Take Back The Night march reclaims the spaces taken away by the ever-present threat of violence while celebrating our collective strength and the strength of those who marched before us," said organizer Anna Phillips, an LSA senior.

"Unfortunately a lot of the demands we have made over the past 21 years have not been met," Phillips said.

Although support services for survivors of sexual assault have improved, she added, people need to take accountability for sexism, racism and violence - all factors that contribute to violence against women.

"In part, this event is about confronting all these larger social problems," Phillips said.

Speakers scheduled for the rally include local musician Lisa Hunter and activist Suzanne Sippola, as well as poetry by RC sophomore Eseohe Arhebamen. Three survivors of sexual assault are also scheduled to speak about their experiences.

Sexual violence against men will be also be addressed in the rally and march.

"In the year 2000, we cannot ignore the one in four women and the one in six men who are survivors of sexualized violence," Cathryn Antkowiak-Howard, who has participated in past Take Back the Night marches, said in a written statement. "We must take a stand against violence against anyone."

But Rackham graduate student Gary Brouhard said the White Ribbon Campaign, an all-male organization that discourages violence against women, is planning a workshop as an alternative. Brouhard said that although men are invited to participate he thinks an all-female march could be empowering for women.

"I respect that women-only space," Brouhard said.

The workshop will focus on "how men can change their daily lives to help stop violence against women," he said.

The White Ribbon Campaign began in 1991 in Canada after a man brought a gun into a university classroom and executed all the female students. It has spread worldwide in an effort to stop brutality against women.

It is important for men to take part in the feminist movement, Brouhard said, because equality of the sexes will never be achieved without the help of 50 percent of the population.

"At some point in the process, men are going to have to get involved," Brouhard said.