A night for freedom and safety
by Barbara Scott
If anyone needed convincing that the women’s movement still exists,
they only needed to be in Edinburgh last Thursday evening.
The revival of the Reclaim the Night march organised by the Edinburgh Feminist
Network was a great success with around 300 women and men taking to the streets
to demand a change of attitudes towards men’s violence against women.
The march was supported by the SSP and the SSY, as well as Amnesty International,
Rape Crisis, Zero Tolerance and the White Ribbon campaign.
As well as a banner making session prior to the march, a men’s discussion
group was held and from this came a decision to form an Edinburgh group of
the White Ribbon campaign, which exists to involve men in working to end
violence against women. Bob and Neil from Lothians SSP plan to play an active
part in this new group.
The event received good coverage in the local media, both radio and the Evening
News. Unfortunately some of the comments attached to the on-line version
of the Evening News story only serve to highlight just how far we still have
to go to change attitudes.
Even the story itself focused on women’s safety while out walking at
night and missed the real point of the march, which was to demand that the
blame for all men’s violence against women including rape, to be placed
where it belongs - on the perpetrators, those men committing the acts of
violence.
Another aim of the event was to highlight the fact that most perpetrators
are known to the women they attack - friends, partners, family members -
and are less likely to be strangers.
The rally following the march, held at the Meadows, an area notorious for
being ‘unsafe’ for women to walk through, featured short speeches
from Rape Crisis, Edinburgh Feminist Network and the White Ribbon campaign,
interspersed with some moving readings which had been written by survivors
of rape.
These highlighted the appalling experiences women have to go through in the
aftermath of being raped, such as being interrogated about their sexual history
in court.
The main theme was that there is no excuse for rape and violence against
women, and that no matter how we dress, how much we drink, where we go and
whatever we do, the perpetrator of violence is always to blame, never the
woman attacked.
Iain from the White Ribbon campaign also highlighted prostitution and lap
dancing clubs as being harmful to women and contributing to the attitudes
in society which excuse violence against women.
At a time when the ‘raunch culture’ intrudes into every part
of our lives through the media; where Lothian buses advertise comedy films
using images of disembodied female body parts in underwear; and where 25
per cent of teenage girls aspire to be lap dancers and a massive 63 per cent
say they want to be glamour models rather than doctors, lawyers or social
workers, it was truly inspiring to see the great turnout for Reclaim the
Night, especially as the majority were young women and men.
The Edinburgh Feminist Network and the Edinburgh White Ribbon Group are exciting
developments and we in the SSP in the Lothians will continue to support and
work with both groups on many future events and campaigns.
Don't sit back - fight back. Join the SSP today!
To keep up to date with our campaigns check
out the website of the Scottish Socialist Voice, the weekly paper of the
SSP.
Read our election manifesto's here