Activism Blog Post 1

Emily Helm

WST 3015

Prof. Tweed

March 18, 2012

Activism:  Thursday I attended the NOW meeting on campus. We made posters and a banner for the Take Back the Night event next Thursday, the twenty-second. I made a nice cloth banner for Take Back the Night. The markers we were using for the banner bled through the cloth and stained the table, so now I know for next time to put another paper between the banner and the table surface. I also typed up driving directions to UCF to give to attendees. Next week I’ll come up with new chants to use at Take Back the Night. This may be challenging because I want them to rhyme, but they need to be appropriate.

Reflection:  My experience working with NOW UCF reminds me a lot of Megan Seeley’s “Fight Like a Girl.” In organizing Take Back the Night, NOW strives to bring together members of the UCF community by “finding commonalities with one another so that we share the common goal of ending all discrimination and creating a world where we are not only treated but also regarded as equal” (Seely 15). NOW does this by allowing all to realize and reflect on the ways in which violence affects the entire community, even if one has no personal experience with the issue. A goal of Take Back the Night is to “stand up and speak out against sexual violence” (History 1), which is what Seely Means when she says, “we can raise our voices to speak against injustice” (Seely 16). NOW has done many of the actions Seely lists as tools to promote Take Back the Night and its message, including tabling, vigils, rallies, marches, poster awareness, and house parties. I believe NOW has accomplished Seely’s overall goal in terms of activism—politicizing one’s life and extending that to community outreach, and has done this while making the activism process “something that is creative and fun” (Seely 19).

This is where I see NOW UCF and Seely’s approach to activism hitting a wall. Spreading awareness and gaining community involvement on an issue are absolutely vital to activism; it is the space from which the real institutional change emerges—but rallying a community together is only the beginning. Empowering participants is really important, but their involvement against the issue needs to be sustained. Creating a situation where people show up, smile and hold a sign, and go home feeling really good about themselves isn’t the most productive form of organizing. It’s important to empower people and then hook them into participating more. If I were to help organize a similar event in the future, I would hold a group reflection after the event, or invite them to the next meeting or action; make sure they know that he fight isn’t over.

Reciprocity:  Through this experience being on a planning committee, I have gained personal empowerment. I notice a change at NOW meetings in the way other members treat me. Because I am in a position to organize and give instructions on how to promote Take Back the Night, I find that others come to me more with questions on what actions to take. I’ve gained leadership experience and insight into organizing events on a feminist issue. I’ve realized the importance of connecting macro-level issues to the community and individual, and of empowering all participants in an action.

Works Cited

"History." Take Back The Night. Web. 18 Mar. 2012.

<http://www.takebackthenight.org/history.html>.

Seely, Megan. "Fight Like a Girl." Fight like a Girl: How to Be a Fearless Feminist. New

York: New York UP, 2007. 15-25. Print.