Students reclaim safety, sexuality

Shouts of "1-2-3-4 we won't take it anymore, 5-6-7-8 we must stop rape," rang loudly through the University campus last night, as more than 200 students gathered to march and speak out about their demand for a safer society for women. The University's third annual "Take Back the Night" commenced on College Green as people of all ages, races and genders united to reclaim the night as their own. After a musical introduction, Jane Grodnick, a member of the executive board of Students Organized Against Acquaintance Rape, and Marti Speranza, president of the University's chapter of the National Organization of Women (NOW), explained the meaning behind the tradition. Grodnick, a College senior, listed many statistics on rape. One out of every four college women are the victims of rape or attempted rape, she said. "Our voices are cries of defiance, not fear," added Speranza, a College sophomore. "From our frustration comes unity." University President Judith Rodin was the evening's first official speaker. Rodin said she was proud to see students helping to create a society at the University -- and in the surrounding world -- in which no one is helpless. "We need to feel that we can be, walk, love and live together with an experience of safety," Rodin said. "The responsibility begins with each of us as individuals to take back this night and every night." Pennsylvania NOW President Barbara DiTullio echoed Rodin's sentiments, indicating that women constantly have to think about safety. "Violence is used to control women," DiTullio said. "It keeps sexism in place." DiTullio noted that traditionally, women have led "Take Back the Night," nationally and at the University. But this year, she explained, men were welcome to join women as equals throughout the evenings events. The march left College Green to twine through campus, with participants holding lit candles and chanting powerful words into the night. After the procession, the marchers returned to the Green for a "speakout." An open microphone was provided for sexual violence survivors to recount their stories. Many of the people who came forward were voicing their pain for the first time. Julie Crawford, a School of Arts and Sciences graduate student, said she believes people should not presume that first sexual experiences are always consensual. Another woman, who called herself only "Janna," said by the time she was 14, every woman she knew had been the victim of a non-consensual sexual experience. She also urged people not to buy into the myth of the black rapist. And an African American male called "Bill" who spoke out after Janna said he had only known of one black male rapist in his life. When he was about five years old, he heard his mother yelling "No Bill, stop Bill," and had instinctively gone to see what was wrong. He discovered his father raping his mother. He explained that after years of becoming hostile when people called him "Bill," he finally retrieved the painful memory that explained his extreme reaction to the nickname. "We have to realize that rape transcends class lines, race lines and also gender lines," he said. "I encourage all women and men to do their part in eradicating crime against humanity." Another male who spoke out as a victim of rape said people need to be taught that anyone can be a victim. He added that in his situation -- because the female who raped him was a minor -- he was liable for statutory rape. Women from all social backgrounds spoke out with heartwrenching stories of rapes. They ranged from one woman who was date-raped by a friend at the University to a woman who was gang-raped in the locker room of her suburban high school. "No one deserves to go through it," said one woman. "The best way to avenge a rape is to survive. And by speaking out, I win."

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