https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/62030/archive/files/44c5c74e9bc0932a745ce21b661942d1.pdf?Expires=1787184000&Signature=u%7E%7ElbtWpXkVmQr-YZuuNyYCRhoEkhtIwKx0eW2bhoHI48Jzg-HP%7EgX49BGrfx1auQn-GTestxLjSmEfvC-g0mOFsEWmAfMX-7N-ktPcED0I5n16XXD%7EGItFVq%7ENhVHgQraWiNyl7-1qJvYEsdyTNNidi7WhmFyALFtXXgWO3kYsmorwxaSsiEj9CHvgIThooA4vUo4%7EfXLs8JG81OansdBJL6eD4D88gzKn3Z0aUctwghNE1wx62axWiCzteShCCx%7EWc2dAivq73CJ3HNOd6DexY0U6d1BGAocthCwshMHJ7FiInbuDvKptcwkuYLUsrYop1gIUarvOLgLUyiqEQIA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 023feb6f841180bb294e7acaf62d1923 PDF Text Text 4 Monday, October 6, 1997 It's a Rig ht, Not a Pri vile ge by Jesse Finkelstein N lght comes faster In the autumn. With less sum mer sun to keep it at bay, darkness settles over the city earlier each evening. I notice this as I walk towards Pare Lafontaine, where Montreal women are meeting to take part in the 18th annual Take llack the Night March. Moving quickly down the street, I glance instinctively into cars and down alleyways, and wonder if the park will be we11-lit. I keep up a good pace by matching the rhythm of my footsteps to the chant in my head - a manlra I have repeated at previous marches: "Women unite! Take back the night!". I consider that slogan. !think about laking back, reclaiming. !try to imagine a time and space in which the night was presumed to be ours. This night does not belong to me. I feel vulnerable walking alone through the nearly deserted park, and find myself clenching the house keys in my pocket. I hurry past a man leering at me from his perch on a bench, willing myself invisible. I am relieved to sec a small group of women gathering around the meeting-place at The.tLrc de la Verdure. Nathalic Lcvcille, co-ordinator of the Con cordia Women's Centre and a n.arch organizer appears anxious: it is seven-thirty, our planned departure time, and few women have arrived. "Our meeting place is poorly-lit," she says. "I'm worried that may make it difficult to find , or that it may have discouraged some women from coming. We should have thought of this before." Women usually take such consicle;·ations for granted, and Lend to avoid dark, quiet places at night. Perhaps organizers overlooked this point because of the nature of the march: each year at Take llack the Night, women's safety is assured. Finding refuge in numbers, we Lake on city streets confidently, boisterously. without fear. For a few hours we revel in this freedom ami, chal'ting, whistling, and en shouting, demand that safety be respected as a right instead of a privilege. u. ABSOLUTE RIGHT 4 0 "Women's right to be free from violence is an absolute right which cannot be mitigated by empirically discovered social causes," contends Radhika Coomaraswamy in Some Reflections on Violence Against Women . One poster publicizing the march displays the horrific results of violence against women by listing the names of hundreds of women killed by men in Quebec since December 6, 1989. Yet violence comes in many shapes and sizes that can harm Take Back the Night, 1997 women in di(ferent ways. Although most people associate violence with brute physical force used against another person, johnson and Sacco write in Re- "it's a power thing." Violence has many facets, it seems, and affects women in ways we may not anticipate. This is what Karen Hurland suggests as she rallies the growing crowd of women in Pare Lafontaine. Co-ordinator of Stella, an organization promoting the rights of sex workers, Hurland insists that "women are affected unilaterally by violence and all SAVOURING SOLIDARITY my friend Emily tells me about her unique form of self-defense. "Act Women shouid be angry. And like a lunatic," she explains, "and we are. But not all of the partici- no one will bother you." She pants of the march felt that vio· claims she walked all the way searching violence against women lence against women should be down Ste. Catherine Street late one that, "for J.llOSt women, subtle addressed in such aggressive Saturday night shaking her body threats of male violence, unpreterms. Responding to march slo- and emitting strange noises and : dictable situations that potentia11y gans like "no more patriarchy, no she was left alone. We laugh about could turn violent, are more commore shit," two McGill students say this although we both know she is monplace. For some women, dethey feel that the march is too an- serious. Women are resourceful. pending on their work or living gry, too aggressive towards men. V'/e can be experts in the art of environment, they ing safe. As Emily exist almost on a and I trade tactics a daily basis. The fear woman approaches and the harm these us to ask for money. "Women are actions cause qften She needs a few dolgo unnoticed." affected unilaterlars for transportaNathalie Lcveille tion to and from ally by violence has told me about work until she resome ways in which and all women ceives her next violence affects her paychcck at the end have a right to as a disabled of the month. She woman. "Some of safety." knows of our march, the most common she says, and would -Karen Hurland forms of violence," have come if she had she tells me, "arc some leisure time. those subtle ways in She gives us some which people assert themselves women words of advice as over me and invade my privacy have a right we riOe through our and personal space." She gives me to safety. It pockets and tells us the example of the psychological is a popular her name is Maric. abuse she suffers at the hands of misconcepMarie stands adapted-transport taxi drivers tion that apart from most of who bring her to and from work women are the march particieach day. "Some of these men ask either pants, who are nmv me intimate questions and talk at 'good' or 'bad,' and that only 'bad' "We aren't going to get an)'\vhere," 111ing into the bar. On the whole me incessantly throughout the women are susceptible to violence. one explains, "if we can't commu- we arc young, many of us students, ride. They do this because they llut if we are to combat violence, nicate with men in a positive way. most of us white and middle class. can," she says, "because they feel we must do it together. We can- This issue must be addressed by !later come across a li:;t of women they are owed some sort of thanks not look at the situation in these women and men together." But who, according to the 1993 UN for the service they are paid to terms." many women feel that anger is not Declaration on the Elimination of provide." Nathalie says she knows Indeed, these familiar catego- the dominant feeling at the march. Violence Against Women, are parrizations break Kat Lcblond, a Montreal artist who ticularly vulnerable to violence: down in the face of has participated in several these include minority women, infacts. According to marches, says "we are happily sa- digenous groups, refugee women, the Violence vouring our solidarity. We are ex- migrant women, women living in Against Women cited to be women, to be out in the mral or remote communities, desSurvey conducted street at night, and to be safe." titute women, women in detention, in Canada in 1993, Reactions to the march are as female children, women with dis"51 per-cent of Ca- many and as varied as the 200-odd abilities, elderly women, and nadian women women there. Some women are ju- women in situations of armed con[over five million] bilant, others cautious. Some chant 11ict, most of whom do not have the have experienced at loudly, others remain silent. As a luxury or ability to attend an event least one incident of security marshall supervising the like Take Back the Night. Violence physical or sexual group from its periphery, I pay does not discriminate, but some of assault since the age close attention to what is happen- its victims are less able than othof 16." 87 per-cent ing both in and around the march. ers to "challenge and fight against have been sexually Oncoming cars pass by quickly as it," as Coomaraswamy suggests. harassed. Four in 10 we occupy one half of a street. On!leave the bar a few hours later, women have been lookers alternately chastise and humming the music I have heard victims of sexual as- cheer us on. A lone drummer out- and remembering some snatches sault. Instances of side Mont-Royal metro station fol- of poetry artists have performed. psychological vio- lows our rhythm. On St. Denis I feel "empowered." Walking Street marshalls have home, I consider giving over to a to discourage a pack of bout of Emily's lunacy, but decide "Women's right to young teenage boys instead to employ my usual from joining in. The method of self-defense. Clutching .be free from viomarch is for women the keys in my pocket, !lunge aglence is an absolute and children only, we gressively down the street, hoping explain. Men's support to emit touch-me-and-die signals. right." is welcome at th!! cel- Tonight this must be working because I reach my apartment withebration afterwards. of other disabled women who feel lence inflicted on women are too out incident. I am relieved to have the same way, and who agree that subtle to pinpoint and too many once again made it home safely. I ALTERNATIVE this subtle and very specific form to count. Regardless of a woman's think about all the women who DEFENSE of abuse is difficult to convey to age, class, colour, mobility, sexual will not. I think about taking back, those who do not have to endure persuasion or occupation, violence Outside Au Quai des Brumes, reclaiming. I try to imagine a time it. "Ultimately," she concludes, does not discriminate. where the cabaret is taking place, and space in which the night was presumed to be ours. 71Je McGi/1 Daily � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Coverage from The McGill Daily Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Paper Volume 87 Issue 5 Page Number(s) 4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource It's a Right, Not a Privilege: Take Back the Night, 1997 Description An account of the resource Coverage of the 1997 Take Back the Night Protest Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jesse Finkelstein Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The McGill Daily Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997/10/01 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF non-McGill sexual violence Take Back the Night