Take Back The Night

About Take Back the Night

Take Back the Night (TBTN) is an event that happens on college campuses across the United States to bring awareness to sexual violence issues and provide an opportunity for survivors and others to share their experiences with violence in a powerful space after rallying and marching together. SHARE is the lead planning organization for the event that usually happens during the last week in April, which is widely recognized as Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). Explore our saamatstanford.com to learn more about SAAM.

Take Back The Night is composed of three campus events: the Rally, the Campus March, and the Speak-Out.

The Rally is an opportunity to hear from survivors, experts, and activists in the Stanford community about sexual violence and what Take Back the Night means to them.

The March is an opportunity to unite as a community against sexual violence and share messages of hope and empowerment. By marching we show solidarity and support for survivors and reinforce our commitment to ending sexual violence. Typically, participants in the March carry posters and signs that share important messages like why they are marching or what Take Back the Night means to them.

The Speak-Out. The primary goals of Take Back the Night are to uplift the voices of survivors and raise awareness about the issue of sexual violence; the Speak-Out accomplishes these goals in an incredibly powerful way. It is an opportunity for survivors to share their story with the community and it showcases healing, vulnerability, and support.

Thank you for your participation in Take Back The Night 2024! Stay tuned for Take Back The Night 2025!

Looking Back: TBTN 2023 Drawing Connections: Prevention Demands Equity

In 2023, the SHARE Office aimed to make April a time to recognize the importance of incorporating equity advocacy into our survivor advocacy. Individuals with multiple marginalized identities often face higher rates of sexual violence and abuse. Survivors also face a variety of intersecting systems of oppression that may prevent them from receiving the support they need and deserve to survive and thrive. In order to prevent sexual violence and support survivors, we must address all forms of oppression, including but not limited to homophobia, racism, sexism, transphobia, classism, ableism, and anti-Indigeneity. Eliminating sexual violence and abuse requires ending all forms of oppression. Throughout the month of April, we highlighted the strength and advocacy of various marginalized communities and encouraged all communities to take action to end all forms of oppression.

Looking Back: TBTN 2020 Honor Surviving, Embrace Thriving

In 2022, the SHARE Office aimed to make April a time to honor surviving and embrace thriving. Survivors often embody the traumatic effects of sexual violence and thus focus on survival as a means of restoring a foundational sense of control that is often disrupted. Yet, survivors deserve to heal and thrive as vibrant humans. When we thrive, we experience an abundance of strength, connection to others/self, and joy, and embrace all parts of ourselves as friends, artists, athletes, and more. On any given day, we could be surviving, thriving, or both. In 2022, during Take Back the Night, we wished to center both narratives - to honor surviving and invite us to embrace thriving.

Looking Back: TBTN 2020

The theme for Take Back the Night 2020 was Shine Light, Shine Bright. That theme illuminates the light survivors' powerfully possess. When we collectively shine light on survivor stories, our community will shine brighter because of it! Due to COVID-19 precautions, we created a virtual TBTN experience; you can see how we transformed and commemorated TBTN this past year by visiting www.saamatstanford.com/tbtn.