Princeton community, students prepare to Take Back the Night

Upon hearing earlier this year that her friend had been raped, Joann Sofis '00 decided she had to do something.

To raise awareness about sexual assault at Princeton, she created the book "Stopping the Silence" — a collection of four women's stories that will be distributed at Saturday's Take Back the Night march.

Sofis said she was angry that her friend felt ashamed about being raped. "She felt like it was her fault," Sofis said. "So much fear and secrecy surrounds sexual abuse. To truly heal, you need to tell your story and be heard."

In relating the stories of these four women, "Stopping the Silence" provides a forum for their expression and aims to help motivate other victims to voice their fears, Sofis said.

"They are powerful stories," said Janet Waronker, the director of Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising Resources and Education. "They are expressed in a way that jolts you awake with their frightening aspects."

Waronker said some of the stories deal with "acquaintance rape," which includes date rape or abuse by someone the victim knows. "This is particularly hard to deal with," she said. "When you thought it was OK, but all of a sudden you cannot run, you are immobilized."

Waronker said the most important thing for victims of sexual assault is to receive the help they need. "The main concern is that they are safe," Waronker said. "Rape destroys one's sense of trust in the world and in people."

Women's center director Susan Overton, who helped fund the book, voiced her support for the project and Saturday's march. "It is important for the Princeton community to understand there are people on campus who have been sexually assaulted," she said.

Solidarity

Brooke Friedman '01, president of the Take Back the Night committee, said she sees Saturday's march as an effort to show solidarity among sexual assault victims and raise awareness of sexual violence on campus. "We need to support each other and support survivors," she said.

Princeton's Take Back the Night march is part of a nationwide campaign being held on college campuses this month. The event — which begins Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Firestone plaza — will include opening performances by the Wildcats and the Tigressions, free distribution of copies of Sofis' book and a reading of the book's introduction. The group will then march across campus stopping at the tennis courts, Prospect Gardens, 1879 arch and the East Pyne courtyard.

Friedman said she is optimistic about this year's Take Back the Night despite problems the event has encountered in the past. Last year's marchers were the targets of disrespectful shouts from drunk male students, and participants in the University's first march in 1987 were also harassed.

"We have a while to go in terms of creating a safe, supporting community," Friedman said. "People need to know it is not exclusively a women's issue."

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Sofis shared a similar belief in the need for a universal embrace of the issue. "Every man has a mother or a woman he cares about," she said.

In addition to the four narratives, "Stopping the Silence" also includes a drawing depicting a rape and an information section for those who may have been sexually assaulted.