OU Students “Take Back the Night”
By: Delanie Howell
"Out of the halls, into the streets, we won’t be raped, we won’t be beat!” Thursday night students around the University of Oklahoma Campus Corner were coming out of bars and restaurants to hear the chants of “Take Back the Night” participants. “Take Back the Night” is an annual event put on by the Women’s Outreach Center at OU that is aimed at helping victims of sexual assault regain their confidence and informing others about the resources available to them should they or someone they know experience sexual assault in the future. The event included poetry, testimonies offered up from victims in the crowd, and then a candlelight march with chanting.

Lauren Zuniga, who is a performance poet and the Co-director of Oklahoma Young Writers, was asked to be the speaker at the event, but afterward said the whole thing had moved her as well. “I was feeling gut-punched every time a girl stood up and told her story, and then, when they guy stood up and told his story, I about lost it. That was really, really moving. And then, walking around and shouting, seeing candles behind me and in front of me was really encouraging.”

Lauren Zuniga addresses a crowd of attentive students at Take Back the Night, presented by the University of Oklahoma Women's Outreach Center. PHOTO: Delanie Howell

The University of Oklahoma is not the first to host a “Take Back the Night” event. According to Takebackthenight.org, the official website for the movement, “Thirty-three years ago, women started to stand up and speak out against sexual violence under the banner Take Back the Night. During those years, Take Back the Night became known internationally as a visible way to take a stand against sexual violence, specifically violence against women.” However, at this year’s event on the OU campus, it wasn’t all about women; there were men present in the crowd as well, listening to the stories and taking it all in. One male attendee, Brandon Paul Ranallo who is a junior at OU said, “It was amazing. It was definitely life-changing.”

One of many candles that were carried during the march around Campus Corner. PHOTO: Delanie Howell

Sexual assault and domestic violence are issues that are felt worldwide. Matt Atkinson, Director of Rural Sexual Assault Programs at the Oklahoma Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, has said that most people who study rape statistics, himself included, will tell you that the national average is that about one out of every 6 women will experience rape, or an attempt, in her lifetime. With this kind of number, programs like Take Back the Night are an important step in both prevention of and recovery from sexual assault.

The Women's Outreach Center is selling these T-Shirts in an effort to raise awareness about the importance of consent. PHOTO: Delanie Howell

Emma Newberry-Davis, the Interpersonal Violence Awareness Intern at the University of Oklahoma Women’s Outreach Center, said that she really enjoyed the entire event this year but there were definitely improvements that could be made for next year. “I think we just have to work on promotion and advertising. Really just making it known that it’s important, that people should come and that, um you know, it’s worth coming out here in the cold to do because it really will, like, change you, change your life.”