Saying No To Our Fear

I walked, chanted and stood recently with girls and women of all ages to “take back the night”.

… Nighttime has historically represented potential violence for women, especially the streets at night, even though the most frequent place that women are assaulted is in their own homes. There was a time when only women had curfews at night - or at least much earlier curfews - especially in colleges and worksites - supposedly for women’s protection, and probably partly for the protection of their reputation, from being considered “ladies of the night”. As protesters to those sexist rules argued in the 1970s, one can only wish that perverts and robbers waited until after hours, and in the streets, to attack women.

Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir famously said when she was still just a cabinet minister “Once in the Cabinet we had to deal with the fact that there had been an outbreak of assaults on women at night. One minister suggested a curfew. Women should stay at home after dark. I said: ‘But it's the men who are attacking the women. If there's to be a curfew, let the men stay home.' "…

- Excerpt, column by Chairperson Ginette Petitpas-Taylor, Moncton Times & Transcript, October 4, 2007. www.acswcccf.nb.ca/english/documents/TakeBacktheNight.pdf