Chants rang through the streets on Thursday as the 35th annual “Take Back the Night” March banded together women as well as men and non-binary individuals, to combat sexual assault, violence and rape.
This was the first inclusive year at Ohio University for the march, sponsored by the student senate women’s affairs commission. This is a decision that Talie Carter, student senate commissioner of women’s affairs and a senior studying restaurant, hotel and tourism, has been working toward since her sophomore year.
“We weren’t expecting such a large march this year, just because we know ‘Take Back the Night’ with inclusion is very controversial,” Carter said. “But the turnout we had was just incredible and regardless of size … you can hear those voices echoing through the hills.”
The night started out with a rally featuring performances from the all-female a cappella Title IX and The Tempo Tantrums, and keynote speech by political activist, Zerlina Maxwell.
Maxwell stressed support for victims and believes education is one of the greatest tools to stopping sexual violence. She also participated in the march, and agreed that the march should be inclusionary because it is an issue for everyone.
“This is one of those crimes where people don’t want to speak out about it, so literally we are going to the streets to yell at the top of our lungs so people can’t pretend like it’s not a problem anymore,” Maxwell said.
Controversy around the march has been sparked throughout the week, noticeable in previous letters to The Post, questioning the intentions and reasoning behind inclusion.
Allie Erwin, a senior studying political science, and Claire Chadwick, a junior studying sociology, are both cofounders of OU’S F--kRapeCulture and started an event to encourage sideline support.
Erwin said that the group’s ultimate goal in this was to encourage those who felt like they were not survivors or felt a need to “take back the night,” to support others from the sidelines. Holding posters, with a large amount of male participants, the group of sideline supporters ran to different stopping points to cheer on the marchers.
Some adjustments to the chanting had to be made, such as changing the words from “Hey mister, get your hands off my sister” to “Hey, don’t do that thing, you can’t touch my sibling.”
“I was originally upset by the exclusion of non-binary people, but the gradual changing of the chants was a very positive experience,” Stephen Hemmer, a senior studying English, said.
Carter said she enjoyed how the crowd reacted to each other, willing to put a little creativity in order to make everyone feel comfortable in the march.
“Just to actively see that … to see the evolution of these chants very, very quickly and the creativity that’s spurting is very promising because it allows for the real reality that this event, these programs will change and it may be fast, it may be slow, but it’s there,” Carter said.
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