A “call to end violence against women” will be issued as the SMU Women’s Center rallies the community to recognize the brutality against women, according to Maria Walker, the program advisor for the SMU Women’s Center.
The SMU Women’s Center and the Women’s Interest Network joined powers to put on the program Take Back the Night, which begins Tuesday at the Women’s Center on campus at 8 p.m. – east of Fondren library – and ends at the center of campus with a gathering of all those who want to stop the violence occurring against women.
Take Back the Night is a part of a national movement to acknowledge the treatment of women and empower women to use their voices for change.
This program serves to get all those persons together, in one spot, who wish to stop the violence against women. There will not be a speaker or a lecture; rather, this is an opportunity for people to make a campus and community outcry noting the violence against women.
“All persons interested in ending violence and sexual assault against women are inspired to attend Take Back the Night,” Walker said. “We also encourage individuals committed to ending violence against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to attend.”
This program aims to reach to everyone, not only women, because everyone is surrounded by this violence.
Criminal behavior has been seen on SMU’s campus in individuals asking women to model and such. However, Walker does not see these recent occurrences as the cause for this program; Rather these instances are the perfect demonstrations of the harassment, says Walker, and objectification that we need to understand and stop.
Walker says a stop to these sexist actions will come only when all women and all those interested in women’s lives speak out against the violence. Nothing can change if no one is informed, but, more importantly, society needs to develop a modernized view – women do not experience complete equality, Walker said. Women must take a stance and use their voices to chip away at the equality issues that are at the root of violence against them.
Walker hopes to see numerous students at the Take Back the Night program.
“I hope that all women feel empowered to confront violence and stand together to affirm all persons to have the right to live in a community without violence and all persons have the right to be heard,” Walker said.