March Men!

To the Editors of the Crimson:

On Thursday April 21, women will unite to Take Back The Night. Take Back The Night is an annual rally designed to highlight and help address the problems of sexual harassment that women face each day, and, more perilously, each night.

But women must not march alone. Just as whites and Blacks have united on civil rights issues, men must join women in their fight to be free of sexual harassment. Thirty-four percent of all women at Harvard have been sexually harassed. Such abuse will stop only when the community as a whole makes it clear that sexism is categorically unacceptable.

It is understandable that men might be apprehensive about attending a rally for women's rights. As is the case with all groups fighting against abuse, women's rights groups enunciate a variety of solutions to their problems. Some activists are more radical than others. Take Back The Night is not a euphemism for man-bashing. The goal is not division--it is unity.

Like homelessness and racial hatred, sexual harassment is a problem for the community. Women live with this problem every day and every night. Now it is time for men to join them in their fight. The first step is to understand the problem. The second step is to bring it to people's attention in order to find a solution.

Men must march tonight, not just for their sisters, mothers, and friends, but for their community and themselves. Jeff Goldberg '88