Taking back the night

Hundreds filled the Park Blocks Thursday as student groups and community members gathered with signs and tables to promote sexual assault prevention for the fifth annual Portland State Take Back the Night event.

Take Back the Night, an international movement that began in the 1970s, is intended to draw attention to sexualized violence and give victims a place to share their stories. Event organizers said that this year’s attendance was higher than in previous years.

The Women’s Resource Center (WRC), PSU’s queer community and the student group Men Against Rape handed out informational fliers at the event, which started at 7 p.m. Thursday night outside of Smith Memorial Student Union. The event featured live music, performances, and free food and drinks from the Spicy Pickle, a restaurant near campus.

Kayla Goldfarb, a volunteer and employee of the Student Activities and Leadership Programs, emceed for the event.

In one of the evening’s more serious moments, people shared their personal stories of assault with close to 200 people gathered around the stage in the Park Blocks.

The event also featured theater performances about sexual assault put on by Portland Community College’s Illumination Project, a program designed to promote equality among students and community members. Many members of the Portland community also spoke at the event about sexual safety issues.

Christa Orth, a women’s studies professor at PSU, spoke to the audience about queer and transgender violence. Chris Wilson, from the Allies and Change Prevention Center, addressed how men can be women’s allies in sexual assault prevention. Oregonian columnist Renee Mitchell was also a guest speaker.

Attendees could also participate in the WRC’s interactive art project and learn about the more than 20 community agencies that showed up to support the event.

Men Against Rape, which formed in February, held a precursor event to Take Back the Night, starting at 12 p.m.

Calling it “Give Back the Night,” Men Against Rape organized their event around the idea of responsibility.

“[It’s] not on the premise that men have the ability to give and take power, but to recognize their responsibility,” said Kelsey Pine, the WRC chair for Take Back the Night.

Pine added that men typically do not march in these kinds of events. She said that the WRC wanted to “include the queer community and men because we wanted more people involved. Anyone can be a perpetrator or a survivor.”

Representatives from Men Against Rape wore pink and black T-shirts reading, “Be a part of the solution” throughout the day, showing their support with an interactive table. Encouraging passersby “to register their penises” by testing their knowledge with a quiz about consensual relationships, the group gave out a “licenses to thrill” pass to those who passed the test, then had them frost their own “penis cookie.”

Members of the group also gave out proactive advice against sexual violence over the course of the day.

“We all have various reasons for being involved,” said Ethan Young, founder of the Men Against Rape Portland chapter. “For me personally, I just looked around and decided that shit is fucked up. I wanted to be involved, but we didn’t have a group here so I decided to try and start one.”

Now 30 members strong, Young said that the main goal of the group is to focus on and question why sexual assault occurs.

“We want to gain an understanding and work with the Women’s Resource Center and other groups to take preventative measures,” Young said.

Bands played throughout the evening on the outdoor stage. Members of Men Against Rape, PSU students and people from throughout the Portland community performed spoken-word poetry centered on sexual violence and awareness. People who attended the event spoke out periodically, chanting solitarily and in unison about assault.

At press time, a candlelight vigil and a demonstration march were planned to close the event. The vigil, according to Pine, is “a way to honor and respect victims and survivors.”