University Daily Kansan, June 15, 1981
Page 3
Marchers take back the night in Topeka rally
By CONNIE SCHALLLAU Staff Reporter
About 150 people gathered on the eastern steps of the Topeka Capitol to celebrate May night to participate in Topeka's annual "Take back the Night" march.
The march was organized as a protest against rape. Forcible rape increased 35 percent between 1975 and 1979 across the nation, according to the latest issue of the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. In Topeka alone, reported rapes increased 100 percent during the first quarter of this year from last year.
In 1979, 75,989 rapes were reported to the FBI, an average of one rape every seven minutes. Sixty-seven out of every million victims in the nation were raped that year.
Karen Pirrie was the co-director of the Topeka march.
"I've been a victim myself, and I don't want other women to have to go through what I did," she said.
Although Topeka held its third "Take back the Night" march, these marches are believed to have originated in New York City.
Eminy Kofir, a Topeka lawyer, was at the Topeka march and was also a participant in the first New York City march.
"I think the first "Take back the Night" march was in New York City, maybe ten or so years ago," she said. "We had all waited until it was dark outside."
there were about a thousand women and we all had candles or flashlights, as we walked through the hallway. We could see the path for us. It was a surprisingly
powerful experience walking through Central Park at night without being afraid."
In 1971, New York City had reports of 2,415 "founded" rape complaints. More rapes had been reported. However, at that time, the police could use their discretion in terming a rape "unfounded."
If a woman were raped after leaving a bar, the police might have called it an unfounded rape and thus dropped it from the list of rape complaints. Of the 2,415 founded rapes that year, only 18 cases resulted in conviction.
"The special problem in convicting rapists has always been that there aren't witnesses. Also the victims are embarrassed and the conviction rate is so low, many see no purpose of putting themselves through the trial." Kofron
Forcible rape has the lowest conviction rate out of any of the crimes listed in the Uniform Crimes Report. The rate of conviction in rape cases ranges from about 2 to 10 percent nationally.
Before the police-escorted march began, three women addressed the group of people sitting on the Capitol steps. Their message was that rape is not a sexual act, but a tool to keep women economically oppressed.
Nikki O'Neil, the song- and chant leader for the march, was the opening act.
O'Neil asked the crowd to join her in some verses. They willingly responded.
"There is a myth that rape is sexual." Susan Kraus, a clinical social worker, says she must do with sex at all. It's humiliation, degradation and economic oppression.
"But what's an even scarier myth that is emerging is the one that women deserve it. Especially if they're uppity."
women ask for it by the way they dress and act."
"You see, we have these myths that
"I mean they want to live alone, go out alone. They want autonomous, independent, self-sufficient lives."
Kraus also cited Phyllis Schlafy's recent testimony before a Congressional hearing on sexual harassment. Schlafy, an ardent opponent of the ERA, testified that virtuous women don't get harassed.
"That is an extension of the myth that virtuous women don't get raped, as if a rapist out there is going to know," she said.
"If you buy a myth, believe a myth that says that you asked for it, and you're raped, you're devastated.
She stressed that some people believed these myths.
"If these myths weren't being bought, more women would be reporting rapes and juries wouldn't be doing so much acquitting." Kraus said.
in rape, only 67 percent were prosecuted. Of those, 49 percent were dismissed or acquitted. Nine percent were convicted on lesser charges, which meant that the percent were actually convicted of rape.
Karen Field, a professor of anthropology at Washburn University, spoke on the victimization of women around the world.
"Women around the world are economically oppressed," she said.
women make up one-third of the world's labor force. They perform two-thirds of the world's work and produce half of its food.
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In societies where women aren't economically exploited, Field said, there is a corresponding lack of rape.
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"Rape is the penalty for stepping out of line and for being too independent," she said.
In Kansas, rape is a Class B felony. Maximum penalty is life imprisonment. The minimum penalty is 15 years at the judge's discretion.
"We want stricter laws, we want stricter laws. Eighty-seven percent of convicted rapists will rape again," the marchers chanted.
Field said that rape is not a new method to keep women in line. In the Middle Ages, European women who were accused of being witches were often those who were economically self-sufficient, she said.
1979, 74 forcible rapes were reported in Topeka. In Kansas in 1980, 74 raps were reported. As of June 1981, oplv 127 men were arrested.
"I had a friend who was raped and that's why I'm here. I think that this march is a good cause. Action against overdress." OD Zake, Toneka, said.
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"Many of them were healers and midwives and when men decided that they wanted to take over those professions, witchcraft accusations became a very effective way of getting rid of the competition," Field said.
"They were sexually abused and gang-raped until they were willing to confess."
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About one-fourth of the participants in the march were men. They were silent as the women chanted "See my anger, feel my rage. I will not live in a cage." Another chatter was "Stop rape, our lives, we will not be victimized."
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"That was one very early use of rape and other forms of violence in the name of economic exhilation of women."
Field said that today the threat of rape and the reality of rape effectively restrict women's free movement in the labor market.
"Women tend to stay away from jobs that require a lot of travel or night shifts. These are jobs that pay more than the clerical and service jobs that two-thirds of all women are in," she said.
In Lawrence in 1980, 26 actual raps and 11 attempted raps were reported to either the Douglas County police, the Lawrence police or the Department of Justice. In Service, according to Mary Stabb, co-director of the Rape Victim Support Service.
The men, women and children, many wearing "Take back the Night" T-shirts and buttons, walked hand-in-hand while singing "We shall over
The president of the Topeka chapter of the National Organization of Women, Tanya Hoyer, was also at the march. She was the organizer of the NOW "You're Adopted" rally. Majority's "I Love America" rally at the same site in April.
"We think the DA's office does a great job in prosecuting," Stabb said. "They are also very sensitive to the victim and then with a lot of care and respect."
"Employers like passive, fearful women," she said. "They make great employees. They don't strike or complain."
In 1880, 12 rape victims actually fled charges in Lawrence. Of those, seven men were convicted of rape. There was one hung jury and one plea bargain. As of March 1981, three cases were still pending.
The 150-member group then started an orderly procession south on Topeka Avenue.
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"I'm opposed to the proposed human rights amendment that would ban abortion and birth control," Hoyer said.
She finished by saying, "But women are going to change it."
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"I think it's pretty scary, but I think it's a real possibility that that money will be cut," Stabb said in reference to the federal program that pays for abortions for pregnancies that were the result of rape.
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