Rally for Real

THE STAFF SUGGEST that many on this campus can not relate to the activities planned for Take Back the Night 1992. True, it is not just a "women's event." But that also means that both women and men, those who have experienced sexual harrassment and those who have not should be able to benefit from particpation in the program on its merits. It is foolish to feel that only matters of personal security should encourage us to particpate in tomorrow's rally and march.

Events of this past year have sensitized Americans more that ever to violence against women in this country. The Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings and the William Kennedy Smith and Mike Tyson rape trials brought concerns for the safety of women in the workplace and in the bedroom to the fore of much public discussion.

Closer to home, the brutal murder of feminist legal scholar Mary Jo Frug just a few steps from Harvard Square should make clear that instances of violence against women are more than just stories that happen to strangers. One would assume that any thinking person would be outraged at such an act of violence.

Yet, on the anniversary of her death, members of the Harvard Law Review, supposedly the best the Law School has to offer, published a grossly offensive spoof of an article by Frug that showed tremendous lack of respect for the scholar's work and for feminists in general.

With such misogynistic attitudes being aired on this campus, we should all show up behind the MAC quadrangle tomorrow night. Not merely to air time-old complaints about shuttle buses and escort services, but to express our outrage at victimizers and concern for victims of sexual harassment wherever they may be.