Spring Break
Taking control of the situation
Rally and march confront issues of sexual violence
Tony Burchyns, Daily Staff Writer
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The event, called Take Back the Night, kicked off with a rally at the Student Union Amphitheater at 6 p.m. and continued with a boisterous march around the outer edges of campus.
According to organizers, one in five women will report rape or physical abuse in her lifetime.
The marchers, mostly women, held placards renouncing sexual abuse while reciting a bullhorn-led chant, "Hey hey, ho ho, sexual violence has got to go."
While the marchers drew supportive honks from passing motorists, the group received some negative comments when passing fraternity houses on 10th and 11th streets between San Fernando and San Carlos, according to several marchers.
"Some of them were shouting 'shut-up,' so we shouted our statements back at them," said Angie Fernandez, a member of the SJSU Women's Resource Center, which organized Take Back the Night for the second year in a row.
Fernandez, a senior, said only a few fraternity members launched insults, and she wasn't sure which fraternity houses they belonged to.
The affronts came as no surprise to Take Back the Night organizers, who, according to one lead organizer, purposefully picked a marching route that passed fraternity row.
"There's a reason why we went by the frat houses - to make them aware that there are (strong) women on this campus," said junior Erika Jackson, coordinator of the Women's Resource Center.
Jackson said that date rape drugs are becoming more prevalent at SJSU parties, and that four sexual assaults have been reported to university police this year.
Marcher Eileen Chong, a junior psychology major, said the few fraternity hecklers probably took the procession as a threat.
"I think the guys felt defensive, like we're accusing them (personally)," Chong said.
One male marcher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the rude fraternity members were "living in the past" and "perpetrating frat stereotypes."
Before the march, attendees listened to a series of speeches on sexual violence.
The rally's keynote speaker was Riane Eisler, a well-known author and cultural historian, who has published more than five books, including 1986's New York Times bestseller, "The Chalice and the Blade."
Eisler forsook the pre-positioned podium, choosing instead to maneuver close to the audience while giving her address about gender stereotypes around the world.
"The issue today is one of cultural configuration," Eisler said. "Do cultures orient to what I call the partnership model or to what I call the domination model, and how are primary relations between males and females constructed?"
Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime, according to the Women's Resource Center.
Low attendance at the rally - lower than last year's non-publicized version, according to Fernandez - did not keep Eisler from offering words of praise and hope.
"This is long-range work," Eisler said. "But if enough of us do what you are doing tonight - really hanging in there and following your heart - we'll move forward."
Other speakers included Jackson, Fernandez and Bernard Mungin, co-chair of SJSU's Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Association.
Fernandez, who works for a YWCA rape crisis center, informed the audience of recent sexual abuse statistics.
"There were more than 3,000 rapes in San Jose last year, and 25 rapes (at SJSU) between 1998 and 2001," Fernandez said.
According to San Jose police statistics, there were 37 sexual assaults in October, November and December of 2002.
Shrouds of silence around the issue of rape - and the increasing popularity of date rape drugs - are huge obstacles for college campuses, Fernandez said.
No woman should blame herself for being at the "wrong" party, Fernandez said.
"At parties, drugs and alcohol contribute to sexual violence, but they are not the root cause," she said.
It's more of a perverse power issue, Fernandez said.
"Sexual assault is not about sex, but about power and control, where sex is used as a weapon" she said.
Mungin, a senior residential adviser at Washburn Hall, said he asked the males on his floor what they thought about violence toward women, which includes using words like "bitch," "ho" and "slut."
"They don't think about how it affects (women)," Mungin said.
But he said he found a way to relate to the students.
"I asked the guys to think of how they would want their moms or sisters to be treated," he said. "I told them labels perpetuate violence against women."
Mungin, Fernandez and Erika Jackson said that men and women must work together to decrease sexual violence.
"It's important to have men consciously involved in events like this," Jackson said.
Fernandez concurred.
"Women's issues are human issues," Fernandez said.
During her introductory speech, Jackson said men, too, are victims of sexual assault.
"One in five or six men has been abused in his lifetime," she said.
Immediately following the speeches, some attendees told stories of victimization during an open mic speak-out.
Choked up, Fernandez left attendees with words of hope.
"I have been working on this campus for two years, and I want (SJSU) to be a rape-free zone," she said.
Eisler closed with similar remarks.
"We can change," Eisler said. "We can lay the solid foundations for cultures of peace."
