Susan Clairmont: Take Back the Night is now ‘ungendered’
Take Back the Night has been ungendered."
For 41 years in Hamilton, this march to take back the streets after dark has almost exclusively been by women, for women.
But the world has changed.
For the first time in its history, Hamilton's powerful, rowdy, stalwart march - which is equal parts celebration and protest - will be open to everyone.
It is the right decision at the right time, I suggested to march organizers.
But I was wrong.
We're behind the times," corrected Jessica Bonilla-Damptey, director of SACHA (Sexual Assault Centre Hamilton and Area). It should have been an all-genders march years ago, knowing that survivors are all genders."
All people experience sexual violence and street harassment. And so, everyone should be able to march.
Until now, we've been leaving folks behind," says Miranda Jurilj, public education co-ordinator for SACHA and chair of the Take Back the Night committee.
One of the many beautiful things about Take Back the Night is its willingness to evolve. The history of the march, which began in North America in the 1970s and has grown worldwide, is indeed the history of our changing society.
It began with women marching through the streets at night - unaccompanied by men - to protest against violent attacks on women by male predators. By strangers.
Over time, Take Back the Night has grown from a focus on safe streets to include sexual assault and domestic violence.
Children have been involved in the march for many years. And men have been invited to attend ally workshops.
More recently, nonbinary participants have been invited to the Hamilton march - although they have not always been welcomed.
There have been instances where folks whose gender aligns with the parameters of the event have been questioned by others attending about their participation because of the (mis)gendering of their bodies and/or their gender expression," SACHA explains on its website.
This year, organizers are acknowledging that everyone deserves to exist safely in any and all spaces."
Everyone can Take Back the Night.
It is a nod to the movement's roots with an update that is absolutely necessary if the march is to continue to be relevant and meaningful. It is a recognition that street harassment can target anyone, including men.
This can include men and boys who are Indigenous, disabled, queer and unhoused, says Jurilj.
The theme of this year's march is Revolution Rooted in Love.
It marks the first in-person event since 2019, when a rally took place but the march itself - the heart of Take Back the Night - was cancelled amid controversy regarding police escorts.
A proposed change to the march route that year led police to tell organizers they would need five police escorts rather than the usual three.
That increase made some participants, who do not feel safe around police officers, uncomfortable.
It marked yet another moment when Take Back the Night has intersected with cultural change and conflict in our community.
Police don't mean safety for everybody," says Jurilj.
That march was cancelled. The following two years, the pandemic forced the gathering to go virtual.
This year, organizers are hoping for a big, loud, empowering return to a real-life gathering.
There will be nine police officers nearby to close roads for the march, but they will not be near the march participants. The goal for organizers was to maintain safety while having as little police presence as possible.
Bonilla-Damptey and Jurilj say the response to the decision to ungender Take Back the Night has been overwhelmingly positive, although they admit it's a big change for lots of people."
This change is happening for the right reasons," Jurilj says.
Susan Clairmont is a justice columnist at The Spectator. sclairmont@thespec.com
TAKE BACK THE NIGHT
Thursday, Sept. 15
- 6 p.m. at city hall - We gather (community tables, live music, Indigenous market)
- 8 p.m. - We rally (speeches and practising chants)
- 8:20 to 9:20 p.m. - We march
All are welcome. All are asked to wear masks