Reclaim the Night marks the start of the anti-violence campaign, Summer of Respect

Contact: Ashley Harrison on 02 6290 2166 or a.harrison@wchm.org.au

Violence against women is recognised as a global problem. The United Nations defines violence against women as ‘any act of gender-based violence that results in physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women’. This is irrespective of whether the act or threat of violence is committed in public or in private.

In Australia, one in five women is likely to suffer from physical or sexual violence during their lifetime (ABS 2010). Reclaim the Night is an opportunity to make a statement against the institutional and societal values that give rise to this, to raise awareness of the issue in our own community, and to give voice to those one in five who have suffered in silence.

In this year’s Reclaim the Night we hope that participants will reflect on the history of RTN, the progress made along the way, and state their hopes for the future. Historically, the Reclaim the Night march was a women-only event, a reaction in the mid-70s to police advice that women should stay indoors during the time of the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’ (a British Serial Killer). Women took to the streets in the first Reclaim the Night to protest against, and challenge the assumption that women invite violence through their behaviour, or appearance. To protest, and challenge the assumption that women should be chaperoned by men in order to be safe, or that women must seek approval from men to be in public spaces.

Drawing on the tradition of Reclaim the Night we march to remind the community that such problems still affect women today. Victim blaming and shaming is wrong. It doesn’t not matter how someone dresses, where they go, how old they are, how many sexual partners they have had, whether they are married, or how many drinks they have had…NO ONE ever asks for, wants or deserves to be sexually assaulted.

Reclaim the Night is the opening event of the ACT Women’s Services Network Summer of Respect campaign. The Summer of Respect runs through until International Women’s day on the 8th of March. is the opening event of the ACT Women’s Services Network Summer of Respect campaign. The Summer of Respect runs through until International Women’s day on the 8th of March.

Be sure to follow on facebook, http://www.facebook.com/summerofrespect