BITCHES ARE PEOPLE TOO!!, Interview with Take Back The Night Spoke Options

[Wes Flexner]

Interview with Annie Hollis, A Spokesperson For Take Back the Night

Wes Flexner-What is Take Back The Night?

Annie Hollis-Take Back Night is an annual event in which protests violence against women, including domestic violence/partner abuse,
rape(especially date and acuaintance rape) and stalking. This is not an anti-man event. Doods come too. The event will
take place May 12th at the Wexner Center Plaze, at the intersection of 15th Avenue and High Street.

WF-Who organizes the event?

AH-Women and Allies Rising in Resistance(WARR), a feminist student organization at the Ohio State Univeristy.

WF-WARR?! How does WARR feel about the Diplomats?

AH-I can't really comment on WARR overall since most of the members aren't into hip-hop and probably have no idea
who they are...but I personally enjoy their work. I don't think Cam'ron and Juelez are actually raping people so I'm down
with it.

So you don't find Cam'r on to be a Rapist?

AH-Nah, I don't think so. Maybe I should look up a police report or something. But he can probably sleep with whoever
he wants to, I don't think he would have any reason to rape people.

WF-HAH. So Take Back the Night would welcome Cam'ron if he showed up. So this is not some man-hating event.

AH-Not at all, man. We welcome anybody who wants to come out and support the cause. All we're saying is that rape,
domestic violence, and stalking are serious problems that aren't being addressed enough by the media, by the government,
by anyone, really, and it needs to stop. Violence against women has been ignored for way too long. And it can end, but
we need everyone--men, women--to work against ending violence.

WF-What happened with Channel Six last year. I heard there was some controversy around their coverage of
Take Back the Night?
AH-It was either a woman from ABC or Fox, but since they're combined, I guess it doesn't make a difference. She showed
up to do a segment at and about the event and after she did it, was basically told by the people above her that if she
ever did anything remotely feminist at the station again, she'd be fired.

That seems fairly inline with Sinclair Broadcasting. They were the ones that were gonna air that Anti-Kerry Movie during the
election. Why do you think media outlets like Sinclair are so anti-feminism?

AH-Yeah, we weren't really surprised by what happened, but it sort of renewed my outrage at the media. That's a really
hard question to answer 'cause there could be so many answers to it. Sinclair is obviously Republican, and feminism and
the Republican Party don't mix. I think that a lot of people are unjustly scared of women having power. It doesn't make any
sense to me, but from their perspective, maybe they think that a woman in power will try to repress men or something, which
is basically impossible to do because white men control everything and a takeover would require a lot more than one
powerful woman. I don't even think there should be a takeover, because we need to work for true equality between
genders, which we don't have.

WF-Doesn't seem like a bad platform. So what is the main focus of this years this years Take Back the Night?
AH-We're focusing on domestic violence, stalking, abuse, and date and aquiantance rape. Did you know that 85% of college-
aged rape survivors were dating or friends with their attackers? It's scary to think about. Even if you're getting drunk
with someone you've known all your life, you never know who's going to turn on you.

WF-On the Ohio State Campus seems like a booze fuels lots of libidos. Is there any advice you have for males that are hanging out with drunk girls?
AH-It's mostly situational, but a couple things I can say are, if she says no, even once, don't take it as she's playing hard to
get or fucking around with you or whatever. Just stop. And even if she isn't responding to your advances and just being
quiet or whatever, leave her alone. Basically, if it doesn't seem like she's enthusiastic about getting some with you, just
leave it alone.

WF-Seems some fair guidelines. One time I was passed out from being drunk and I woke up to a girl.umm..She basically
was having sex with me. I told her to stop and she did. But she was having sex with me without my consent.
Would this be rape?
AH-Yeah, I'd say so, since she started it without your consent. You know, how can you give consent if you're not even
concious?

Just curious. So what do you have planned for the May 12th Take Back Night Event?
AH-We're going to have an open mic where people can come and do spoken-word or just talk about anything related to the cause.
We also have a women-only march planned, but during this, there will be seperate programming for the men who attend.
There's also a clothesline project where survivors can design their own tee-shirts, speakers from different rape prevention
and education organizations, and a speakout where survivors can talk about their experiences in a safe space.

Take Back the Night is May 12th @ 7 pm. Wexner Center 15th and High. Thanks for your time Ms. Hollis.
AH-No problem. Dipset Bitch!!![B]

This post has been edited by Wes Flexner: Apr 30 2005, 07:47 PM

[Wes Flexner]

Hey, I am glad you took the time to read it.
As far as painting. I don't think it was in their agenda.

This post has been edited by Wes Flexner: May 1 2005, 11:14 AM