Take Back the Night is a march and rally that began in England during the 1970s to protest against the fear that women felt walking in the streets at night. The first Take Back the Night march and rally in the United States was held in San Francisco in 1978.

While the march began as a way to protest the violence that women, primarily prostitutes, experienced while walking in public at night, the purpose of these marches was to speak out against this violence and raise community awareness as a preventative measure against future violence. The movement has since grown to encompass all forms of violence against all persons, men, women, and children, though violence against women is still the movement's main focus. The word night was originally meant to be taken literally to express the fear that many women feel during the night, but has since changed to symbolize a fear of violence in general. This helps the movement incorporate other feminist concerns such as domestic violence and sexual abuse within the home. The march has grown from a widely publicized event that took place in major cities to an event that happens internationally from large metropolitan areas to small college campuses, all advocating for the right of everyone to feel safe from violence.

External links

• Take Back The Night March
• Ireland speaks at Take Back the Night rally (discusses men getting involved in a rally at the University of Virginia)
• The Rape Relief Files: Take Back The Night - Vancouver Herstory