Take Back the Night event empowers sexual assault survivors

Last week, the MSU VOICE Center hosted its annual Take Back the Night event to celebrate and support survivors of sexual assault. The VOICE Center is an on-campus resource for anyone, including faculty, who has experienced, survived, or supported a survivor of interpersonal violence.

Take Back the Night, which took place on April 11 and 12, included an open exhibition about the impact of violence in the Bozeman community, several guest speakers, a vigil, a march and a talking circle, which is a new event this year.

On Wednesday night, students gathered for the talking circle, a confidential space for students to speak and listen to one another. The event coincided with a period of high tension on campus due to the recent death threats to MSU’s Queer-Straight Alliance (QSA). Organizers were initially unsure if holding the event would be beneficial on campus.

“There was a moment of, alright, well, do we cancel this event and keep space for everything that’s going on?” said Hope McWilliams, who is part of the student staff at the VOICE Center. “But that quickly turned into creating a healing space, a space for people to connect. I think that’s what a lot of people need right now.”

At the talking circle, VOICE Center leaders passed out play dough to ease tensions in the room, then turned the conversation over to participants. “A big part of what we do at the VOICE Center is just listening,” McWilliams said.

The talking circle lasted for over an hour. Participants sipped iced tea and shared frustrations and stories with one another. “I feel a little bit lighter,” Rebeca Montano, a VOICE Center volunteer, said after the circle. “I feel happy to know that I’m not alone and that there’s people who also care and people that are angry. I feel happy to be part of a community that listens to other people and makes them feel heard. That fills me up with a lot of joy.”

“With everything going on on campus right now, there’s a lot of anger, and sometimes it can feel really frustrating to feel like you’re the only one talking about it,” McWilliams said. “I wouldn’t say that any anger is necessarily relieved, I wouldn’t say that I feel safer on campus than I did before. But I think there’s strength in numbers and there’s also something very powerful about knowing that you’re not alone in it.”

Madi Herman, the VOICE Center’s educational specialist, felt that the talking circle was successful. “No matter what people ultimately talked about, the whole point was to come together, feel heard and be seen, and that’s exactly what happened,” Herman said.

After the talking circle, participants gathered in the Sunrise Plaza outside of the American Indian Hall to hold a vigil, led by Anna Slown, director of the VOICE Center. “The work we’ve done today is challenging,” Slown reminded participants. “Take some time and space to think about your own history and experiences of any sort of violence, and also those of our community. Hold some grace and kindness towards your body for all that it’s doing in such a hard time,” she said.

After a moment of silence, participants began their march across campus bearing signs and chanting messages supporting survivors and condemning sexual assault. The march ended near the MSU Duck Pond, where participants chalked rainbows and supportive messages on the ground, reminding viewers “you are loved.”

Suzanne Loviska, a VOICE Center volunteer, felt that the timing of Take Back the Night was ultimately successful. “I think it’s good that this event did kind of land at the time that it did land at because I think the queer community experiences a lot of sexual violence as well as violence in general,” Loviska said.

She also noted that Take Back the Night coincided with the ASMSU Week of Belonging. “I feel like the two events tied together with a common underlying theme of unity and support for one another,” Loviska said.

Take Back the Night was the first of two events that the VOICE Center will host throughout April, which is International Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The Bozeman Monologues will be the next event on April 27, where community members will share stories about survivorship, identity and other impactful life experiences.

The Bozeman Monologues will take place at the Emerson Center for the Arts and Cultures. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for community members. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.

To access the VOICE Center for support or updates on future events, check out: https://www.montana.edu/voice/