Take Back the Night Rally Draws 400 To Protest Violence Against Women

Chanting and singing "Women Unite, Take Back the Night," more than 400 people last night joined in a rally and candelight march through the streets of Cambridge to protest violence against women.

Sponsored by the Radcliffe Union of Students, the fifth annual rally is part of a national Take Back the Night movement which aims to increase awareness about harrassment of women.

The procession followed a rally at which area feminist leaders, students, and faculty members discussed violence against women. Local recording artist Patti Larkin appeared in a benefit performance along with the Radcliffe Pitches and Toba E. Spitzer '85-'86.

Carrying banners and candles, the group wound its way from Memorial Church past the Science Center, where curious students flocked to the windows of Cabot Library.

The crowd continued through the Law School and Cambridge Common as they chanted, "However We Dress, Wherever We Go, Yes is Yes and No is No." The group stopped briefly in front of the D.U. to protest against date rape before proceeding to the river.

As they passed Quincy House, the group hissed and booed after someone noticed two naked mannequin legs taped to a ceiling in a third-floor room.

The procession ended on the steps of Memorial Church, where it had begun. Marchers let up a cry of victory and joined hands to form a circle which spread throughout Tercentary Theater. Someone started singing, "We Shall Overcome," and within two words, the more than 250 remaining marchers joined in the song.

The Rally BF

Martha Friend of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center opened the rally, saying, "We found ourselves living in a culture that condones and in fact, promotes it [rape]. Every time a whistle or jeer is defended as a compliment, our rape culture is enforced."

"No longer can we dismiss rape as perverts ordeviants dragging their victims into darkcorners," Friend said of the high rate of date oracquaintance rape. "Some of us may have learned toexpect it, but we do not accept it," she said.

President of the Boston chapter of the NationalOrganization for Women (NOW) Jennifer Jackman toldthe group that students had helped revive thefeminist movement.

"We put to death forever the myth of thepost-feminist era," she said. "The spirit of thefeminist movement has been revived."

Charging that the University's commitment toprovide education about sexual harrassment isinadequate, Professor of Biology Ruth Hubbardsaid, "We have to hold the University accountableto provide the type of environment where peoplefeel safe from sexual molestation.