RECLAIM THE NIGHT March- Oxford- Tues 28th November 2006!

Is this protest *really* necessary?

Have I missed something here? Has Oxford suddenly become the rape capital of Britain?

Victims of homophobic or racist violence, asylum seekers, animals, plants... but not women. Asking for equality of experience is just asking too much. It's not appropriate. It's not important enough.

Cheers for that, gents. At least we know where we stand.

victims of violence are of all sexes, races, ages, religions and sexualities so why make this march exclusive to women. surely we should all feel safe to walk the streets at night? i often fail to see how events like this are condusive to improving the situations they try to confront as they really never bring about open dialogue on the reasons for their occurence in the first place. so why not change the call out to "anyone who wants to feel safe at night in their own neighbourhood come along and celebrate unity and safety at the same time"

just a thought

Granted there are copious victims of oppression that are not necessarily restricted to just women.

HOWEVER

Women, account for approximately 52% of the world's population and are still victims of violence and oppression, even in these so-called 'enlightened times'. Oh, and don't even get me started on the pay gap in the UK...

In 2004, a piece of research commissioned by the Home Office revealed that:
'One in twenty women have experienced serious sexual assault, while one in five women and one in ten men have been victims of domestic violence...[and that g]ender is a significant risk factor. Women are more likely than men to be subject to interpersonal violence, especially sexual violence.'
From 'Domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking: Findings from the British Crime Survey, 2004'
 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs04/hors276.pdf

There's also Amnesty International's campaign against violence on women. AI reported that:
'30% of people in the UK think that violence against women is OK and 50% think that domestic violence should be kept behind closed doors'
More details -  http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=10265

Bit on the history of 'Reclaim the Night' here:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_Back_the_Night

See you on the streets x x x

while i'm not opposed to 'reclaim the night' type stuff, a couple of things come to mind:

1. iirc the main victims of street violence are young men, women may *fear* more when out alone at night, but this might be grounded more in cultural/social pyschological factors than in statistics, which relates to;
2. there's a danger of perpetuating the idea that rape/sexual violence is something done by a fundamentally different 'Other' in a darkened alleyway, when in fact in the majority of cases the perpertrator is known to the 'victim' and the assault takes place somewhere familiar and 'safe'.

anyway, best of luck, feminism/anti-patriarchy *should* be immanent to socialist/anarchist politics, but unfortunately it often isn't so nice one for organising around it, despite my qualified apprehensions.

Does my teenage daughters experience of being asked on the street by men and boys she doesn't even know, since she was 11years old, whether she gives blowjobs (or 'shines' as they are called by youth these days) not violence? Thats what it feels like to her and her friends.

Older Feminist - Marched in Cardiff in the 80's, nothing has changed.

 http://www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2006/1018roberts.html

check the lies feminists come out with, just to stir up hatred towards men and women.. it helps the new world order