Check out my conversation with  few of the other people involved in Take Back the Night: Port Hope, Avril Ewing, Maggie Robbins, and Sarah Kennedy (with contributions from Meghan Sheffield and Ashley Bouman).

We talk about:

– Our event this year
– What each of us think about the choices the Port Hope committee makes compared to the choices other groups make for Take Back the Night events (ie. the way we chose to involve men, not blocking off the streets, not involving police, choosing to celebrate coming together and not just to address the heavy vibes etc)
– What the theme “building community, building hope” means to us
– Why we’re each involved
– Why being involved in this event keeps us well

and more!

If you’re wondering about the stats I sourced:

• • 7 in 10 people who experience family violence are women and girls.32
  • Women are about four times as likely as men to be victims of intimate partner homicide.33
  • Women were 10 times more likely than men to be the victim of a police-reported sexual assault in 2008.3
  • Women are twice as likely as men to be victims of family violence.38
  • Women who experience spousal violence are more likely to endure extreme forms assault including choking, beating, being threatened with a knife or gun, and sexual violence.39
  • About 80% of victims of dating violence are women.40
  • Girls are 1.5 times more likely than boys to experience violence at home.41

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