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Students rally for Take Back The Night, a movement against sexual violence Credit: Sophia Ciocca , Sophia Ciocca

When she was in her early 20s, Leslie Morgan Steiner thought she had found a soulmate in her fiancé. Until five days before their wedding, when he choked her and threw her against the wall.

She thought it was a one-time thing — “pre-wedding jitters.” But he hit her twice during their honeymoon and threw a Big Mac at her in the car on their way back.

Throughout the years they were married, he pushed her down the stairs and held guns to her head. It wasn’t until her husband’s best friend approached her that she finally broke the silence.

The 1992 Wharton MBA graduate and author of the New York Times bestseller Crazy Love stood on College Green last night, sharing her experiences with domestic violence at the fourth annual Take Back the Night event at Penn.

Take Back the Night is an international grassroots event to protest sexual and relationship violence. This event, intended to support survivors of sexual and relationship violence and to raise awareness about how many victims there actually are, started in Philadelphia in 1975. It nowtakes place in numerous cities around the world each year in April, the sexual assault awareness month.

“Break the silence! End the violence!” the ralliers chanted at the Take Back the Night march. They walked all across campus — from 34th and Walnut streets down to 40th and Spruce and back up through Locust Walk — holding signs that read “Consent is sexy,” “No Means No,” and “Consent turns me on.”

“It is so critical that college campuses address the issue of sexual assault,” said College senior Joseph Lawless, chair of Abuse and Sexual Assault Prevention, which helped organize the event.

For Lawless and many others, Take Back the Night “reminds people that there are spaces supportive of survivors” where people can speak openly about their experiences of assault and abuse.

Nina Harris, the Penn Women’s Center’s violence prevention educator, added that the event lets people know there’s a community around them. “I speak with students far too often that feel so alone,” she said.

Take Back the Night was very much based on community. During the march, survivors and supporters walked arm in arm, side by side.

At the candlelight vigil, for every one person who found the strength to stand up in front of the crowd and tell their story, many more in the audience shared their tears.

“You are brave,” friends said. “You are strong.”

Between 15 and 20 people spoke, reminding the audience that survivors of sexual violence and abuse are large in number and are often still silent in shame of what has happened to them.

Members of the supporting organization, One in Four, emphasized how frighteningly often these events occur. According to the organization’s 2006 survey, Lawless — also a One in Four member — said, one in four college women will experience sexual assault or attempted sexual assault while in college.

Other supporters of the cause spoke to break the silence, as well.

Vice President of Public Safety Maureen Rush emphasized the importance of education and advocacy on the issue.

Pussies, Pens and Politics — a two-women spoken word group featuring Ms. Wise and Ms. Misconception — performed a slam calling to women to find their “inner fire.”

There is no profile for a sexual abuse and violence victim, which is a common mistake people make, Harris said. “Violence is everywhere, and Penn is no exception. We all have a part to play in ending violence.”

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