Take Back the Mic

I just came back from Take Back the Mic, a spin off from Take Back the Night.  I have seen posters and flyers about this event but have never been involved.  I have heard from my dorm window the shouts in the night, "We are women, we are men, we will fight to take back the night!" Tonight was my first involvment with these organizations that fight to end violence against women.  While I didn't participate in the poetry slam I did enjoy my time listening to the heart felt, passion filled speakers.  I was really happy to see both women and men sharing their stories and the stories of others.  I didn't know that 1 in 4 women are a victims to men, I hadn't thought about the women around me that have battled with these memories and hurtful words from others, I never once thought about my mother, my grandmother, and many other older women that have trusted others to take care of them in a time when they cannot take care of themselves.  I cannot even imagine. And now, now that I know about even more things that I know that I didn't know before I am again lost for what to do.  Walking home tonight I began to think about how sad and true it is that women do need to look behind their shoulders in the night and carry around pepper spray just in case some man feels like attacking.  We are all just human beings! We're all equals, I don't understand why one is made to be inferior. I don't understand.

I also did, however, come away with a new understanding and angle to see men.  I enjoyed listening to the men speak out against violence. Some talked about how they used to use and/or abuse women but have changed.  It was interesting to hear them talk about how they have felt that all women see them as animals or users. So while I have a heightened awareness I will look at men differently now.  I think that while women are looking at men with the generalized view, we have men seeing women thinking these things.  I think the first step in ending the violence is education.  We cannot continue living with these misconstrued ideas about what everyone else is thinking.  If women continue to think that most men are attackers, and most men believe that this is what women expect than we are not going to get very far.  The solution starts with our thoughts, which than can become our actions.