UF students will march tonight to show sexual violence won’t be tolerated.
In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, UF’s Sexual Trauma/Interpersonal Violence Education will host its fourth Take Back the Night march and rally from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the Plaza of the Americas.
Last year, the students marched almost 2 miles, starting at Norman Field, wrote Erin Smith, a UF psychology senior who’s attended the event for the past two years, in an email.
Those who attend can share stories, make posters and listen to two speakers, said Rita Lawrence, an adviser for STRIVE and the interpersonal violence prevention coordinator for GatorWell.
STRIVE, a peer education group at GatorWell, worked with UF’s LGBT Affairs and the University Police Department’s Office of Victim Services to organize the rally. They started planning it in December, she said.
Lawrence said sexual violence isn’t new, but more people are talking about it.
“The rates have stayed the same, we’re just suddenly paying more attention,” she said. “This is a way to be a supporter to survivors, to intervene when you see something weird going on and to take a stand against rape culture, which allows sexual violence to happen.”
Smith, a 21-year-old peer advocate for the Office of Victim Services, said she’ll march today to bring change.
“I think it’s important to fight for something you believe in, and I think it’s important to demand respect,” she said.
