'Night' raises awareness about violence
April 28, 2008
About 150 people gathered at Johnson Field on Friday to raise awareness for sexual and domestic violence.
The event, called Take Back the Night, included a candlelight vigil in remembrance of the silence associated with abuse.
Event coordinator Molly Maguire-Marshall said she was pleased with the community support.
Attendee C.K. Simpson said the event helped raise awareness for abuse.
“To me, the purpose of this event is to hope that women will someday be able to walk alone on the streets safely without having to be afraid,” she said. “We should all be able to do that, and right now we can’t.”
Maguire-Marshall, president of the Reproductive Justice Coalition, said she began planning for the event in March.
“Take Back the Night is a place that’s free from sexual assault and abuse, a place to take a stand, a place to break the silence of sexual violence,” she said.
The Reproductive Justice Coalition is made up of three campus groups: Voices for Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico and Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom.
“Our organization holds events on campus about advocating protection and prevention to help women on campus find out and learn about resources for birth control and protection,” Maguire-Marshall said. “We try to do one event a month, and April’s event is ‘Take Back the Night.’”
Other organizations represented at the event included Agora Crisis Center, the Women’s Resource Center and the New Mexico Rape Crisis Center.
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Jeremy Jaramillo, spokesman for Agora, said the center’s services are only a part of the support system victims of domestic and sexual violence need for recovery.
“People always call us when they or someone in their family has been a victim of sexual assault or violence,” he said. “It’s important that people get together to receive that healing sequence of support from everyone.”
Charlene Johnson, student coordinator of the Women’s Resource Center, said anyone can use the services available for victims of violence.
“We offer immediate crisis counseling to victims, and we have a safe place for them to come where we will protect their safety and confidentiality,” she said.
Johnson said the center is working to help keep the campus community safe from violence.
“We’re currently doing a survey regarding safety on campus,” she said. “It’s been going on for three years, and we’re interested in making the campus safe for everyone. We want to know what our own strengths and weaknesses are.”
Group calls for students to take back the night
May 2, 2016
“Maybe that explains why I feel electrocuted when somebody touches me without my consent. Maybe that explains why I feel shocked nobody ever did anything about it.”
That is an excerpt of what Audrey Tobyas, a junior linguistics major and Slam poet, shared from a personal experience poem she recited at the “Take Back the Night” walk on Friday, an event coordinated in support of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Tobyas said she felt compelled to share her voice because so many victims of sexual assault, for a variety of reasons, may never get the opportunity to have theirs heard.
“One of the biggest things I struggled with was feeling like I didn’t have a voice,” Tobyas said.
The UNM Student Alliance for Reproductive Justice, who also helped coordinate SexUality Week, saw dozens of organizers and students assemble near the Cornell parking structure at around 7:00 p.m.
Nick Montoya, a junior engineering major, and Catherine Cook, a senior English studies major, organized the walk, saying they felt it was important to raise awareness in the fight to combat sexual violence on campus.
Planned Parenthood provides funding and tools for the student organization to be successful, and Montoya and Cook said they were happy to work with some of the other organizations on campus that help students and advocate for change.
Cook said resources such as the LGBTQ Advocacy Center, LoboRESPECT, Women’s Resource Center and Revoking Silence are all very valuable. She said she believes the University can continue to improve, and things are moving in the right direction.
“I think the school has taken a lot of really positive steps in the last couple of years,” she said. “But there is definitely still more to be done.”
Charlene Blackledge, a sophomore sociology major and member of UNM SARJ, said there should be a lot more University-specific training and education. She said she believes providing a better understanding of consent can go a long way in preventing sexual violence.
“Consent needs to be sober, continuous and enthusiastic,” she said. “If we have a better culture of consent, then I think sexual violence (incidents) will go down.”
A handful of guest speakers, including representatives from LoboRESPECT and the Women’s Resource Center, addressed attendants about how to confidentially and anonymously report issues and get assistance.
Bianca Villani of the Rape Crisis Center of Central New Mexico said although prevention is the ultimate goal, the community and survivors of sexual assault still need help healing.
Victim blaming is another potential obstacle people have to overcome when deciding to report an incident. Villani said victims should never have to apologize, adding that rape is not supposed to happen to anyone; it is not part of the human experience.
As the speeches concluded, people started to adorn multi-colored glow sticks as the sun began to set, picking up several hand-made signs to prepare for the walk around the campus.
As the group marched around Johnson Field, a group of football players raised their hands and cars honked their approval in response to chants such as “whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes means yes and no means no.”
UNM SARJ member viewed the walk as a positive way to bring Sexual Assault Awareness Month to a close.
