Tonight is the annual Take Back the Night March here in Canada's capital of O-Town. And it's a damn good thing. Because one look at the local newspapers makes me sick to my stomach.
- We have the trial of a Nunavut womyn who was sexually assaulted when visiting Ottawa.
- We finally have a suspect in the gang rapes of two university students at York University.
- We have a strange turn of events where the investigation into one student's vicious stabbing death in Toronto uncovers the story of a grade 9 student who was sexually assaulted.
- We have a 15 yr old boy on trial for viciously murdering a 14 year old Montreal girl.
- We have the trial of a man who ran an underage prostitution ring.
- We have the crown seeking the "dangerous offender" label for a teacher who has sexually assaulted his young female students. This is not the first time he is being charged with this crime.
- We have a new composite sketch in the murder of 7 month pregnant Kelly Morrisseau.
Oh and just yesterday, two womyn in separate instances were abducted and sexually assaulted in Ottawa. And, we're still looking for the scumbag that sexually assaulted and left for dead a Carleton University student.
And yet people question why I am a feminist. They question the Take Back the Night March. Myself, I question why we're settling for taking back the night. Logistically, only 3 of the above cases occurred at night. In the case of the womyn abducted just yesterday in Ottawa, a 14 year old girl was abducted at 7:45Am in front of Parliament Hill.
So tonight, I shall march side by side with others who understand that THIS IS NOT OKAY.
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Good lord! What paper are you reading?!
Yeah, Ottawa doesn't feel very safe anymore, does it? Take Back the Night was possibly one of the most fufilling things I've ever done, so thank you for inspiring me to go.
I was asked what marching would acomplish.
I responded with "it's designed to raise awareness." the person I was talking with said that women in North America have it lucky in comparision to other countries.
I couldn't have agreed more.
But how fair is it that in this day in age, in the year 2007, in a First World, Western Nation, that women have to be "aware" of the dangers associated with going out by yourself at night. We genuinely have to be concerned with possibly getting heckled by a homeless man, or from frat boys, or men in their cars. We have to be concerned with possibly getting assaulted, raped or worse, killed.
Not to mention that we have to fear for our children as well! I can't count how many stories I've read where women, In North America have been raped infront of their children, or their children have been abducted and used in kiddie porn, or consequently raped and left for dead. And it's men that do these things, not the other way around. It's such a rare thing to hear of a woman doing these things. And we are living in democratic, Western nations! These things are NOT supposed to be happening to us here, let alone anywhere in the world!
What these men are seemingly forgetting is that a woman gave birth to them, and consequently raised them.
I learnt so much from getting involved with Miss G and getting exposed to some of the injustices in the world. I would have never called myself a "femenist" before, but after having really come to understand the term, I'm proud to say that I am.
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