The Reclaim the Night movement began way back in 1977 as a response to police implemented curfews on women. I was a member. In America the marches are known as ‘Take Back The Night’ and the first formal march with this title was held in San Francisco in 1978. In every sphere of life we negotiate the threat or reality of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment. Full Episode Original Air Date: November 4, 2018 This was of particular significance to women in the area because of the serial murders by Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, who sexually attacked and murdered 13 women across Yorkshire betweeen 1975 and 1980. Those men who choose to commit these crimes are to blame. The Reclaim The Night march gives women a voice and a chance to reclaim the streets at night on a safe and empowering event. Women there demanded, "the right to move freely in their communities at day and night without harassment and sexual assault" 2 . Read more about the Reclaim the Night campaign here. An ICM poll commissioned by Amnesty International in 2005 found that over one third of the British public surveyed believed that women were sometimes wholly or partly to blame if they were raped, for example if they had been drinking, if they flirted or dressed outrageously. These were reviewed in the UK Women’s Liberation Movement magazine Spare Rib and titled ‘Germany: Women Reclaim The Night’ (Issue 61). ... • Reclaim the Night, Leeds. 40 years later we still march. They called their campaign, 'Reclaiming the … Inspired by the news from Germany, women in Leeds formed a Reclaim The Night group to take collective action against rape and male sexual violence against women. We march to demand justice for rape survivors. The purpose of the march is for women to "reclaim the night" from perpetrators of … Sun 13 Nov 1977 19.15 EST 19.15 EST On Saturday night groups of women in cities all over the country took to the streets. This was not a helpful suggestion for any women, those working late shifts or night shifts, or those involved in prostitution who often had no choice about whether they went out at night or not. In America they are known as ‘Take Back The Night’ and the first one was held in West Germany on April 30th 1977. Reclaim the Night came to the UK over 40 years ago. In 1977 women in Leeds took to the streets to protest the police requesting women to stay at home after dark in response to the murders of 13 women by (recently deceased) Peter Sutcliffe. The first Reclaim the Night events were torchlit marches in West Germany protesting sexual harassment. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. “Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group wants to hold a women only midnight demonstration on the theme of ‘every woman has the right to walk alone at night without fear’ and ‘fight rape.’ Today we walk for the same reasons. Feminists and a variety of student and women’s groups were angered by this response and also by the sensationalising of the serial murders, which they felt hid the real fact that all too many women are affected by male violence and that this was in fact common. A recent survey by the young women’s magazine More in 2005 found that 95% of women don’t feel safe on the streets at night, and 65% don’t even feel safe during the day. Seven women lost their lives in believed domestic violence incidents across Australia in the lead-up to the event. Reclaim the Night activists march through Manchester, February 2017. Yet our conviction rate is the lowest it has ever been, one of the lowest in Europe, at only 5.3%. In April 1977 ‘Take back the Night’ marches against sexual harassment were held across towns and cities in West Germany. Co-ordinated by the Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group, they were held as a gesture of collective action against rape and male sexual violence against women. They were called by the Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group, who were inspired by news of co-ordinated women-only ‘Take Back The Night’ marches against sexual harassment, held across towns and cities in West Germany on the 30th April 1977. The first Reclaim the Night march was held in Leeds in 1977, when women protested a night-time curfew put in place by police as a response to the Yorkshire Ripper murders. Reclaim the Night It's 1977, and the first Reclaim the Night march takes place in Leeds in response to the curfew imposed on women to protect them from the Yorkshire Ripper. 73% worry about being raped and almost half say they sometimes don’t want to go out because they fear for their own safety. In Britain they first began on 12th November 1977 when marches took place in Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, London and … The first Reclaim the Night marches in the UK were held across the country on 12 November, 1977. This was particularly significant to women in the area because of the serial murders by Peter Sutcliffe, dubbed by the press as the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’, who sexually attacked and murdered thirteen women across Yorkshire between 1975 and 1980. Because we still have not got these rights; because women are still blamed for rape and male violence. Reportedly, the first ever ‘Reclaim The Night’ march with that title was held in Rome in 1976 to protest against a rise in reported rapes. The Leeds Revolutionary Feminist group called for women to march in cities across the UK on the night of 12th November 1977 against rape and for a woman’s right to walk without fear at night, they advertised this in national newsletters and publicised it to women’s groups. The people to blame for these crimes are the men who choose to commit them. Did you know that the maximum sentence possible for rape is life imprisonment? Inspired by similar marches in West Germany, the Leeds march was partly in response to the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’ murders and the police reaction, which was to tell women they should not go out at night unless absolutely necessary. This means that more rapists were convicted in the 1970s when Reclaim The Night marches first started than they are now. The police response to these murders was to advise women not to go out at night, effectively placing them under curfew with unhelpful advice that ignored the needs of women who – because of work demands – had no choice about whether or not to be out late at night. Over the years, the marches have evolved to focus on rape and male violence generally, giving women one night when they could feel safe to walk the streets of their own towns and cities. Probably not, because rarely are rapists even reported or convicted, let alone with a realistic sentence. MacDonald's murder changed the police and press's perception of the Yorkshire Ripper murders (later discovered to be by Peter Sutcliffe) and resulted in public furore and increasing anger amongst women. Hundreds of women took back their cities on that night, marching with flaming torches through centres and back streets alike. The police response was to tell women not to go out at night, effectively putting them under curfew. In Rome in April 1977, 20,000 women mobilised in solidarity with Claudia Caputi, a young woman viciously gang-raped by 16 men, and subjected to further violence when she brought the case to trial. Inspired by similar marches in West Germany, the Leeds marches were partly in response to the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’ murders and the police reaction, which was to tell women they should not go out at night unless absolutely necessary. This inspired women across Britain to form their own Reclaim The Night marches, which took place simultaneously in 11 cities in Britain in 1977 in response to the “Ripper ” murders in Leeds. Co-ordinated by the Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group, they were held as a gesture of collective action against rape and male sexual violence against women. Union … In Australia, the first Reclaim the Night marches were held in 1978, inspired by marches which were taking place all over the world at that time. Reclaim the Night marches were first held in the UK in 1977, inspired by similar marches which had taken place in Germany. The Reclaim The Night marches started in the UK on the 12th November 1977, when torchlit marches were held across England in Leeds, York, Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle, Brighton and London. The first Reclaim the Night march in the UK was in 1977 in Leeds. Today we march, as so many women have done before us to say that we are NEVER to blame for rape and male violence. Today, we are still fighting for those rights. Reclaim the Night was originally established in 1977, by feminists who wanted to respond to the murders conducted by the Yorkshire Ripper. The Campbelltown event has run for the past 20 years. The Reclaim The Night marches started in the UK on the 12th November 1977, when torchlit marches were held across England in Leeds, York, Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle, Brighton and London. On April 30 th 1977 German women marched against sexual harassment on the street and called their protest, ‘Take Back The Night’. They made the point that women should be able to walk anywhere and that they should not be blamed or restricted because of men’s violence. Women - particularly in Leeds and the North of England - felt the police response to the Yorkshire Ripper murders was slow and that the press had barely reported on them until MacDonald's murder. The Reclaim The Night marches started in the UK in the 1970s. In 1977, when the first Reclaim the Night march was held in Leeds, I was just 15 and remember watching it on the news with a growing sense of … The UK marches started on the 12th November 1977 in Leeds, York, Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle, Brighton and London. Women in England, Scotland and Wales took up the idea of Reclaim the Night marches to challenge the notion that women's behavior caused the violence perpetrated against them. Their message was clear: women should be able to walk anywhere, and should not be blamed or restricted because of men’s violence. We march today to demand our right to live without the fear or reality of rape and male violence, we demand an end to male violence against women, we take back this night to win the day. The police response at the time was to advise women not to go out at night alone, in order to keep them safe. Reclaim the Night is a movement started in Leeds in 1977. Rather than asking men to stay at home, women were told to remain inside in order to be safe from violence. Our inspiration came from West Germany, where on the night of April 30th 1977 feminists marched in many … On April 30th1977 German women marched against sexual harassment on the street and called their protest, ‘Take Back The Night’. These were organised by women in Leeds, outraged and protesting violence against women following the sexual assaults and murders of 13 women perpetrated by Peter Sutcliffe. Reclaim the Night Movement. But when a young student woman was murdered, the press and the police seemed to take more notice. The marches were inspired by “Take Back the Night” marches being held in West Germany on the 30th April 1977. It was part of the Women’s Liberation Movement in England, through which women started demanding for more representation at work, equal pay and the right to make independent decisions about abortion and other aspects of their lives. Reacting on two killings of women in the streets,on the 1st of March 1977 women in West Berlin started demonstrating at night - later to be repeated as Walpurgis Night every year on May Day eve. Women are still blamed for rape and male violence. Since 2004, the London Feminist Network has organised annual Reclaim the Night marches to make a stand against rape, sexual assault and all forms of male violence… Hundreds of women in the UK took to the streets on 12 November 1977 in protest. We demand the right to use public space without fear. Over the years the marches evolved to focus on rape and male violence generally, giving women one night when they could feel safe to walk the streets of their own towns and cities. Women in the area were angry that the police response to these murders seemed slow and that the press barely reported on them when it was mainly women involved in prostitution who were murdered. The police reaction led to the Reclaim the Night movement being formed in 1977. Reclaim the Night started in the UK in 1977, when women marched through the streets in Leeds to protest a night-time curfew on women – the police’s response to the Yorkshire Ripper murders. ‘Reclaim the Night’ was created as a movement in Leeds in 1977. According to the British Crime Survey (2001) there are an estimated 47,000 rapes every year, around 40,000 attempted rapes and over 300,000 sexual assaults. We demand this right as a civil liberty, we demand this as a human right. Exactly 40 years later these marches are still being held across the country. This year’s Reclaim the Night march was part of an annual effort which began in the UK in 1977, and intensified in protest of police response to the Yorkshire Ripper, who murdered sex workers, which resulted in a warning to all women not to go out at night. In this article I shall trace the emergence of the Reclaim the Night (RTN) march in the UK in 1977 and explore charges of racism made against the protest soon after its founding; which have been frequently repeated since. The first Reclaim the Night marches in the UK were held across the country on 12 November, 1977. Reportedly the first ever ‘Reclaim the Night’ march was held in Rome in 1975 to protest against a rise in reported rapes. Women and men marched alongside each other through Oxford Road, Manchester to fight against misogyny. A radio show in Greater Manchester for women, by women. We march today to demand our right to live without the fear or reality of rape and male violence, we demand an end to male violence against women, and we take back this night to win the day. The police reaction led to the Reclaim the Nightmovement being formed in 1977. 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