‘Bike Back the Night’ ride will raise awareness of sexual assault

It’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month and two local women’s groups are teaming up to host a Bike Back the Night ride tonight.

Erin Danielson is an intern at Portland State University’s Women Resource Center and co-chair of this year’s Take Back the Night/Bike Back the Night event. She says they’ve found a bike ride is, “An excellent way to help spread awareness to a larger audience than we could with just the march alone.” She also wants to clarify that, “The purpose of the bike ride is not to raise awareness about women being assaulted while biking.”

I did this ride back in 2008. Check out my photos and recap here.

Learn more on the event’s Facebook page and via the blurb below from a press release:

In celebration of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Portland Women’s Crisis Line and Portland State University’s Women’s Resource Center will be collaborating to host Take Back the Night/Bike Back the Night on April 25th, 2013. This year, our theme is Military Sexual Trauma: Break the Silence. TBTN/BBTN seeks to end sexual violence in all of its forms including sexual assault, sexual abuse, dating violence, and domestic violence. Our goal is to create safe communities and respectful relationships through awareness events and initiatives.

We invite you to become part of the solution and break the silence about sexual violence in our communities. The event will include an empowering rally, music, guest speakers, a choice of march or bike ride, a survivor speak out, and a unifying vigil.

Our first speaker is from Basic Rights Oregon and will share us information about interpersonal violence and the LGBTQ community. In addition, our keynote speaker, Dr. Rebecca Hannagan, a visiting Associate Professor of Political Science and an affiliate faculty member of the Center for Women, Politics & Policy, will inform us about the issue of military sexual trauma. One in three women in the armed forces will be raped during her service. Men also experience higher rates of sexual violence in the military.

For more information, contact:

Portland State University’s Women’s Resource Center: www.wrc.pdx.edu
Portland Women’s Crisis Line: http://pwcl.org/
Take Back the Night history: http://www.takebackthenight.org/index.html