Aiming to decrease the number of sexual assault cases, end rape culture and empower survivors to speak out, the UA Women’s Resource Center will collaborate with other student groups to host workshops and events during April.
Carla Vasquez, a member of UA’s Students Promoting Empowerment and Consent and intern for the Women’s Resource Center will be volunteering at Take Back the Night Tucson this year. Vasquez, who has attended the past two years, said she enjoyed the event so much she wanted to take part in making it happen this year.
“It’s a great way of getting students and others to come,” Vasquez said. “Many people get something out of the event when they come, even if they don’t expect to.”
Take Back the Night takes place around the globe in 30 countries and more than 600 college campuses in the U.S. The nonprofit organization is composed of volunteers taking lead in organizing events nation- and world-wide.
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This year’s event will include a candlelight vigil, music and dance performances, opportunities for survivors to speak out like poetry and speeches, a resource fair and a march.
Take Back the Night Tucson will also host a community panel on masculinity’s role in gender-based violence and “Tough Guise 2,” a documentary that investigates the ongoing epidemic of men’s violence in America, at the Loft Cinema on April 3 at 7:30 p.m.
“A lot of people may not have been personally affected by sexual assault, so when they come, they’ll know how deep this kind of thing is within our campus,” Vasquez said.
One in four women on campus will be sexually assaulted during their time at college, according to the WRC statistics. Also according to WRC statistics, students a part of the LGBT community report sexual assault twice as often as heterosexual students, and there is an 8-percent increase of sexual assault for students with a registered disability.
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One in three women and one in six men worldwide will be victims of some form of sexual assault with less than 50 percent of victims reporting their case, according to Take Back the Night.
“People really come together and I notice everyone is very empathetic,” Vasquez said. “You may not know who you are sitting next to, but hearing the stories and hearing the people, you get a certain bond you wouldn’t elsewhere.”
Take Back the Night Tucson will take place Wednesday, April 12, from 4-9 p.m.
“The most powerful part at the end is when survivors tell their own stories,” Vasquez said. “There are a lot who cry, and it gets very emotional.”
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