(Photo © J. Maus)
Bike Back the Night, the annual ride and rally to increase awareness of sexual violence is happening this Thursday (4/29). The ride is hosted by the non-profit Portland Women’s Crisis Line and the Portland State University Women’s Resource Center.
The PWCL works to end domestic violence by educating and empowering our community. They operate a 24/7 crisis line and “sexual assault advocacy program.” By riding bikes through our city streets, they not only raise awareness for their work and their important message, but they reclaim public space.
I was at the inaugural ride in 2008 which had well over 100 people. This year, the event is both a ride and a community march. It will begin with a rally and entertainment at the South Park Blocks at 6:00 pm and the ride/march will begin at 7:00 pm.
Here’s the event flyer (full event details here):
[Publisher’s Note: This is a new feature I plan to post each Tuesday. If you know of a bike event happening in or around Portland and would like it to be considered for Event of the Week, please contact us. ]
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Thanks for posting this, Jonathan!
This is fairly pointless…isn’t every night “Bike Back the Night?” If not, why not? Responsibility shouldn’t be a date on the calendar.
I’m confused by your comment Paul.
You may have quickly glossed over the article, this event is to raise awareness about sexual violence. An issue that many people should be more aware about, but are not.
Hope I get out of work in time for this event and Take Back the Night.
Thanks for the post Jonathan!
I see plenty of women riding bikes in Portland at all hours of the day and night. Is there a problem?
this is an event to raise awareness about sexual assault. i don’t think they are commenting specifically on the level of safety (from assault) for women who ride bikes in portland.
Sometimes I really wonder how well-thought-out some of these “awareness” events are. Reminds me of the “Awareness Fair” episode of Clone High. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFeSvlsCpiU
Note that I do not usually participate in activist events. But I support their existence and belive the are an important tool of cultural change thorugh awareness and visibility.
and so offer the following.
‘Take Back the Night’ http://www.takebackthenight.org/history.html
has been around for 30 years and is part of a greater body of activism regarding women and their bodily integrity(ie. rape, DV, sexual assault, murder etc…) that is tolerated by our patriarchal culture at large (please note men this does not mean fault is laid at YOUR feet, this is a systematic cultural issue involving and affecting ALL of us).
This is a bike version of that walk.
1 out of 4 American women will experience domestic violence at some point in her life. 1/3 of women murdered are murdered by their partner.
600 women a day are raped or sexually assaulted.
Women between the ages of 20-24, poor and minority women are at the greatest risk.
That this event takes place at night has more to do with the symbolism of the night than whether or not it’s safe for women in that area to be out at night.
As much as we want to consider women as having reached full equality and autonomy in this country it is far from true. We can all sit around and pretend it’s true and keep the status quo because that feels more comfortable to you but I think it chafes just a little.
I appreciate the sentiment, but it sounds a bit too much like fear mongering to me. Plus, why does everyone have to enlist cycling in their cause?
I’m sorry that that BURR and Paul Johnson, both of which I believe are male, seem to think that women riding at night is the indicator of a society free from sexual abuse.
Unfortunately, sexual abuse is less a product of an unsafe streets than it is a product of a world where women receive less health care, less schooling, less pay for the same work, and many women worldwide are still not allowed to vote, own property, ride a bicycle, or leave the house without a man.
Perhaps you would understand better what living in a woman’s shoes is like if you spent some time listening to the stories of women. Luckily, Bike Back the Night is a great event where you can listen to the story of and provide support for abuse survivors in your own community. Even better, it involves bicycles as a form of empowerment (not fear-mongering.)
Please do not put words in my mouth, I don’t know where they’ve been.
My objection to it is that the ways have nothing to do with the means in this case. Intuitively, “Bike Back the Night” would be a cycling advocacy event. Because it’s a cycling event that has nothing to do with cycling, I question it’s relevancy both on the street and on this blog.
And how can you have less healthcare and less schooling in a country that doesn’t pay for either and leaves the burden to the recipient? You can’t have less of either than zero, and speaking as a man, that’s what I get…
I also resent the implication that if I’m a man I somehow don’t understand and am complicit in sexual violence against women, and I’m supposed to feel guilty for that. I call BS on that, too.
If the women in, say, Saudi Arabia are oppressed and abused, you should go there and organize a bike ride, what good does riding here do for oppressed women halfway ’round the world?
Just like any march or demonstration, Take Back the Night is just a show of solidarity to raise awareness over an issue. Its meant to start a dialogue and educate those who are participating and those who are interested in learning.
Sexual assaults and violence against oppressed people are prevalent around the world and *even* in our fair city. It is often unnoticed and under-reported because of norms that make it unsafe for survivors. This event is one way to give voice, promote community, and find resources for those of us that have been affected by violence and believe that change and prevention are needed to stop it from happening to others. Violence against women (and men and children and animals, etc) is not just a gender issue – its should be an everyone issue.
Also, I think cycling was enlisted in the “cause” because we live in Portland and people love to bike.
So, it sounds like BURR takes exception to something MikeyLife freely admits: that the bike aspect of the event was tacked on because Portland is a “bike city”
Doesn’t bug me, but biking isn’t my “culture” so I’m not sensetive to seeing it co-opted by everyone.
Maybe next year it could be Toke Back the Night? PDX is a big Toke city, right? …and that would be more conducive to storytelling than cycling, right? It’s tough to tell the suffering stories of womyn while astride a bike.
It’s too bad we have to spend so much time and energy analyzing and dissecting the purpose of community events such as these. Adding a bicycle ride as a component to the annual march downtown only serves to expand what folks can do to make it a fun, open, and awareness raising event. Even if we were to suppose that sexual violence has ended or been reduced in our city – and it hasn’t – it wouldn’t beg the question that events like these need to suddenly end or be defended.
I guess I just don’t understand why some of the people critical of it in these comment threads feel the need to bother with putting in their point of view. There are plenty of other things to comment upon that are much more important.