A night representing resilience, bravery and unity against sexual violence toward women was held on the campus of SUNY Brockport Wednesday, Oct. 19. Take Back the Night (TBTN) is one of the oldest and most well-known Domestic Violence Prevention events held internationally across 30 countries. Brockport puts on this event each October for Domestic Violence Awareness Month starting with a rally and ending with a march through campus and the village.
Matthew Hall emphasized the importance of having survivors with different experiences speak at events like TBTN.
“There’s a lot of work around the amplification through solidarity of survivor voices not to create a monolithic one survivor experience, but really to illustrate the diversity of Survivor experiences,” Hall said.
Having these young women share so openly affected many in the room and allowed others who may not be ready to talk know they are not alone.
Brockport freshman Tatiana Bovenzi attended TBTN for the first time this year and was moved by the survivors’ words.
“Personally, I am a survivor, so it was really beautiful to see so many people come out to support the cause. Being able to hear from other survivors that are ready to tell their stories was something that was very impactful, and it made me a little emotional,” Bovenzi said.
After the survivors spoke, the large group of attendees marched through campus around the residence halls and then through the village.
TBTN is a chance to come together as one to support and stand with victims of sexual violence to allow healing and show unity.
“I felt supported, and I hope others that were there felt the same. I’m glad the campus had something like that for survivors to tell their stories and be able to stand up against this really awful thing as a community,” Bovenzi said.
Each year hundreds of TBTN events are held all over the world to ‘shatter the silence and stop the violence.’ Survivors share their stories, and communities advocate to let their voices be heard loud and clear; the night has been taken back, and change has no choice but to be made.
