The Brandon University Women’s Collective will be holding its annual Take Back the Night march on Wednesday, September 18th. Sarah Tomchak, BUSU’s Women’s Commissioner, says that, “Violence against women is often kept behind closed doors. I’d like to see a big number of people out to support our women and show that we’re not going to be silent about it anymore”. Take Back the Night’s website explains that, “At least one out of every three women worldwide has been beaten, forced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime by a partner, relative, friend, stranger, employer, and/or colleague. Of these crimes, less than 50% are reported to the police. It’s time to make a change”.

The Take Back the Night march will begin at 7:00pm on the 18th. There will be free pizza in SUDS afterwards.

Leading up to Take Back the Night, the Women’s Collective hosted a self-defence workshop on Monday, and on Tuesday, September 17th, they will host an “Airing Dirty Laundry” event in the Courtyard, where people can write messages about sexual violence or other gender-related issues and get them off their shoulders. The Collective hopes that through activities like these, we can reduce stigma associated with sexual violence, help give people the tools to prevent sexual violence, and empower our society to change.

Republished from The Quill print edition, Volume 104, Issue 3, September 17, 2013.