{"id":8493,"date":"2018-11-01T01:02:47","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T09:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=8493"},"modified":"2018-11-06T16:02:11","modified_gmt":"2018-11-07T00:02:11","slug":"abbys-house-hosts-take-back-the-night-during-domestic-violence-awareness-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/abbys-house-hosts-take-back-the-night-during-domestic-violence-awareness-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Abby\u2019s House hosts Take Back the Night during Domestic Violence Awareness Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bailey Thompson<\/strong> | News Editor<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the rain pouring outside, a room full of Western students and staff came together on Oct. 25 \u2014\u00ad in the midst of Domestic Violence Awareness Month \u2014 to offer community and support to those affected by domestic and sexual violence. Paper hearts with messages of hope and Abby\u2019s House Advocates dressed in blue vests were spotted throughout the room.<\/span><\/p>\n

To open the event, Abby\u2019s House Director Aislinn Addington and a number of the student advocates explained that Take Back the Night was first held in the United States in 1975 when a young microbiologist named Susan Alexander Speeth was murdered while walking home from work. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we know that attacks and assaults do not only happen in the night,\u201d Abby\u2019s House Advocate Gisela Ayala<\/span> shared. \u201cData shows that women are at risk at all times of the day because women are most likely to be abused or attacked by people that they know, not just strangers in the dark. We also know that folks of all genders experience interpersonal violence and we are here to support all survivors.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, advocates led the crowd in a silent reflection where attendees listened as a gong sounded every nine seconds \u2014 a sound that symbolized the amount of time that passes between each instance where physical violence occurs in the United States. <\/span><\/p>\n

At this time, Addington introduced Carli Rohner, the Campus Advocate Coordinator from the Oregon Attorney General\u2019s Sexual Assault Task Force.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cViolence is preventable, and we all have a role to play in that,\u201d said Rohner. She shared that their goal is to figure out how to \u201cbuild communities that…can respond and take care of each other better,\u201d and to \u201cmake sure that (domestic and sexual violence) doesn\u2019t have to happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rohner also encouraged those present to think about a reality in which violence is not rampant, although she acknowledged that this can be hard for many to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCulture is not stuck,\u201d said Rohner. \u201cWhen we think about it over time, our humanity, collectively, has done some really wildly different things if we look back 40, 50, 60, 100, 200 years ago. We\u2019re doing things differently now\u2026and most of the change that we see, especially with in the United States context, is driven by students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If Western students want practical, tangible steps they can take, Rohner emphasized that most things that are interruptive of negative behaviors really don\u2019t take long to do: go to a Green Dot training, share campus resources like Abby\u2019s House or the Student Health and Counseling Center, support people with marginalized identities and don\u2019t be afraid to take time for self-care.<\/span><\/p>\n

The biggest and most basic things she suggested \u2014 to believe survivors who come to you.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what they tell you,\u201d said Rohner. \u201cI\u2019ll give you two phrases: \u2018I totally believe what you\u2019re saying\u2019 and \u2018It wasn\u2019t your fault.\u2019 When folks hear that\u2026they are 80 percent more likely to get help and assistance moving forward and much less likely to experience some of the bad things we talk about in terms of like PTSD and other effects of trauma.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Following the talk, students were given the microphone and a platform to share their stories and experiences with violence. An emotional time for all, a number of students gave accounts that moved them and the audience to tears. For many, these memories were hard to share, but freeing to not carry alone anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n

To conclude the event, marchers took up signs and glow sticks and chanted in unison as they walked through campus. With empowering statements including \u201cwe won\u2019t take it anymore,\u201d \u201cviolent acts have got to go\u201d and \u201csurvivors unite,\u201d they joined together to take back the night.<\/span><\/p>\n

After marching, the group gathered in a circle, lit candles and shared why they wanted to end domestic violence \u2014 daring to dream of a brighter future.<\/span><\/p>\n

If students would like to talk with someone about these issues, they can contact Carli Rohner at carli@oregonsatf.org<\/a> or visit Abby\u2019s House or the Student Health and Counseling Center on Western\u2019s campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bailey Thompson | News Editor Despite the rain pouring outside, a room full of Western students and staff came together on Oct. 25 \u2014\u00ad in the midst of Domestic Violence Awareness Month \u2014 to offer community and support to those affected by domestic and sexual violence. Paper hearts with messages of hope and Abby\u2019s House […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"modified_by":"The Western Howl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8493\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}