More than 100 Cal State University Long Beach participants marched through campus last week, chanting anti-violence verses and waving signs that read, “CSULB supports Consent” and “Short skirts don’t cause rape, rapists do.”
The Associated Students, Inc. and the Feminist Organization Reclaiming Consciousness and Equality (F.O.R.C.E) hosted “Speak Out and Take Back the Night” on Wednesday night with the support of the campus-based Women’s Resource Center.
F.O.R.C.E. is a student political organization on campus that seeks to create dialogue and stimulate understanding of feminism by raising consciousness about women’s issues.
The group tries to give people who have been victims of domestic violence and sexual assault a voice, educate others and create solidarity was the purpose of the event, Danielle Carr, president of F.O.R.C.E. and senior Women Gender & Sexuality Studies and Psychology major, said.
“Create a space so other people can talk about this stuff because people have gone through
it,” Carr said.
According to the University Police statistics for 2013, there were two domestic violence reports and three reports on sexual assaults.
University Police Lt. Rick Goodwin said that domestic violence is always a problem because of what it involves.
“It’s not a big problem on campus, the reported cases on domestic violence are really low. We also deal with people on whether they want to report it or not,” Goodwin said.
Before they marched up to the Karl W.E. Anatol Center, Take Back the Night participants gathered at the Maxson Plaza by the fountains in front of Brotman Hall to listen to five guests speak briefly about sexual assault and domestic violence.
The speakers included CSULB President Jane Conoley, ASI Secretary of Veteran Affairs Wendy Lewis and Planned Parenthood representative Jessica Parker.
Also during the march, some people carried a mattress of solidarity, which is a concept that comes form a recent art performance project by Columbia University senior Emma Sulkowicz who was raped in her dorm room.
After the march was over, the event moved into the Anatol Center, where nationally renowned performance troupe InterACT performed a few scenes.
InterACT is a social justice performance troupe from CSULB that was founded in 2000 by professor of communication studies Marc Richard.
The scenes were about sexual assault and asked audience members to demonstrate ways of intervention between the perpetrator and would-be victim; it also showed ways to show support for a victim of rape.
After the performance, the audience applauded, and then the evening took an emotional turn when participants voluntarily spoke about their experience of being a victim of
domestic violence or sexual assault.
As each person told their story, the audience listened in silence – a few were weeping.
After each person spoke, they were given a white rose.
Many in attendance, such as Athena KulKarni, a junior psychology major, said they enjoyed the event’s approach to this sensitive topic.
“I think it’s great that men are out here showing support because there are male victims of sexual assault, so I think it’s good they are here,” KulKarni said.
Eric Romero, a counseling graduate student, said he came to the event to show support because he knows people who have experienced sexual assault.
“You should never judge a book by its cover, people can go through a lot of things inside,” Romero said.
ASI Secretary of Women Affairs Julissa Salas was one of the speakers who told her story about being in an abusive relationship; she said the event means a lot to her because she feels that some people do not know what happened to them, and educating about domestic violence and sexual assault is very important.
“I believe people want to educate themselves on domestic violence,” Salas said.
According to the Women’s Resource Center, the earliest showing of the take back the night event took place on campus in 2001.
According to Salas, another Speak Out and Take Back the Night event will be held in spring 2015 bringing awareness about sexual violence.
The first Take Back the Night event in the U.S., according to taking back the night website, took place in Philadelphia in October 1975, when residents rallied after hearing about the murder of microbiologist Susan Alexander Speeth, who was walking alone and was stabbed by a stranger a block away from her home. The event is now held across the U.S. and internationally.