Reclaim the Night

"Walking home at night should not be scary. We live in a strange society. If fear of our neighbours is considered normal, but many people are. Many women I know are afraid to walk alone in the dark, due to a perceived high danger of facing violence.

This is not a wholly surprising state of affairs when adverts everywhere remind women to drink responsibly and to take care to avoid danger, and when we live in a country where 1 in 4 women are raped in their lifetimes. I know too many people who have been raped, and those are just the ones that have told me about it.

The NUS (National Union of Students) performed a study of students and their experiences of sexual assault and violence – 7% of students experienced serious sexual assault at university, and more than 25% had been sexually assaulted at university.

It was perhaps the other findings of the survey that were more shocking, the vast majority of perpetrators of violence against women were known to their victim, and the acts of violence happened in their own homes.

Overwhelmingly (though not exclusively) the victims of sexual violence are women

Only 10% of the serious sexual assaults were reported to the police, which is the same reporting rate from any sector of society, and this doesn’t even begin to take into account how many of these reports become convictions. 43% of the victims of serious sexual assault in the NUS study had never told anyone about their experience.

The lack of reporting is attributed to a feeling of shame, and fear of being told that it is their fault. To be clear – rape is the fault of the rapist, not the victim.

Whatever the victim was wearing, or their sexual history, the blame should never be attributed to them. The study from the NUS also looked at the wider culture that students live in.

Nearly 70% of their respondents reported that they had received unwanted sexual attention at university from catcalling and inappropriate questions about sexuality and relationships, to more serious sexual violence.

Overwhelmingly (though not exclusively) the victims of sexual violence are women, and the

Only 10% of the serious sexual assaults were reported to the police, which is the same reporting rate from any sector of society, and this doesn’t even begin to take into account how many of these reports become convictions

perpetrators are men. It is often easy to say that women should take care to avoid being raped, because women get raped. It is perhaps more pertinent to tell men that some men rape, and that they should take action to stop this happening.

One action that comes from this dire state of affairs is the Reclaim the Night movement. Women standing together to re-assert their right to walk safely at night and their right not to be subjected to violence or to be blamed for any that is perpetrated against them. Reclaim the Night is a night-time march that happens every year in London and in other cities across the UK and the world, where thousands of women come together and shout in opposition to violence against women.

Joining a demonstration is a very powerful action – it might not change a law, or wave a magic wand, but standing up for what you believe in has a positive effect. Thousands of women marching past a group of people out in central London on a Saturday evening chanting, “yes means yes, and no means no”, has the potential to make them remember about consent or consider the consequences of their actions.

All of this may be a too idealistic view of the positive effects of joining a march such as Reclaim the Night, but not to forget the impact on those taking part – it is somewhat empowering to know that sexual violence is not the victim’s fault, and that there are so many others with you standing up for your right to be safe from rape and other violence.

The culture of rape in the UK cannot be ignored, and protests, such as Reclaim the Night, are one way to make sure the problem is not forgotten.

If you wish to join the march with others from Imperial, meet on Embankment Place (near Embankment underground) at 6pm on Saturday 24th November.