Take Back the Night 2026
April is Sexual Assault Awareness month, a time to raise awareness about the impact and prevalence of sexual violence in our communties. It is also a time to show your support for survivors, and Take Back the Night (TBTN) is fast approaching! Taking place in Eliot Chapel on April 16 from 7:30-9:30pm, Sexual Health, Advocacy, and Relationship Education (SHARE) hosts Take Back the Night for survivors to share their story, for others to show their support, and to demand an end to sexual violence. The history of this event is not exclusive to Reed, but instead started around 1877 when women took to the streets and protested the fear and violence they experienced in the nighttime streets of London, England. The first Take Back the Night in the United States happened in 1973, and the event spread with the second-wave feminist movement. The first organized Take Back the Night at Reed took place in 2011 under the Students for Sexual Assault Support Services (SSASS) as part of campus organizing to demand reforms to the institution’s handling of sexual assault reports. The events have then been hosted by the Sexual Assault Prevention & Response (SAPR) program and (after the 2019 departmental reorganization) by the SHARE program since 2014, with a pause in 2020 due to the pandemic.
The survivors’ speak-out is the heart of Take Back the Night at Reed: an opportunity for our community to hear in first-person the impact of sexual violence. Too often survivors are shamed and blamed, told to be quiet and to hide what has happened to them. At the event, people affected by sexual violence can give voice to their experiences with a poem, short essay, or a statement. There are many options for sharing: survivors can read their own work, they can ask a friend to read it for them, and there will be SHARE volunteer readers at the event. Survivors may choose to be anonymous or not. Stories can be sent using the QR code below. Some people may feel moved to speak by the presence of others creating safe space. It is not uncommon for people to disclose sexual assault or abuse for the first time in this supportive environment.
Because TBTN is a public event, many people in different stages of survivorship will be in attendance, so we have set up some guidelines to help prevent triggering and destabilization. We want to balance the right of a survivor to tell their story with the need to keep the space safe. We ask that storytellers not use graphic language or names and we ask them to limit their sharing to 3-5 minutes. If survivors wish to speak and be heard more privately, they can ask a peer educator to accompany them to an adjacent space. Additionally, this event isn't just for survivors; we also encourage students who do not identify as survivors, or who have not experienced sexual assault or harm, to attend if they are able, to show support for survivors in the Reed community.
The event itself is only open to current students, and is facilitated by SHARE students who are there to welcome, MC, and provide support and resources. The only professional staff member present is the SHARE program director, who is a confidential advocate and will be around campus in case urgent support is needed.
SHARE will be hosting several events throughout the month in preparation for Take Back the Night and to show support for survivors throughout the month. Of course, we are a resource year round with peer educators and the confidential advocate. We invite you to show your support by helping create paper cranes, sign a message on a scroll that will be exhibited at
Take Back the Night, and to attend as a survivor or supporter. We hope to make this space safe and supportive for everyone to feel heard and validated.
Submission form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScU1kEe-pd3zNZENQKMx6g8NxPtcDE-GbnFcb6 qNW1CBHI7lQ/viewform?usp=dialog