To the Editor:
I am a sophomore male at Princeton University and I happened upon the article "Take Back The Night -- Not Quite" by Anshu Wahi '02 (The Dartmouth, April 19th). I think this columnist has missed the entire point of Take Back the Night. It is supposed to educate people. I myself am encouraging the Princeton University Wrestling team to attend this event and to wear their Wrestling sweatshirts. I am urging them because I think it is important to show victims of sexual violence that we as a team support them, that it is a solidarity issue. I also want my teammates to attend so that they will be edified about women's issues here on our campus. Since Take Back the Night has suffered the past few years from lack of men's attendance, what better way is there to get men to go to this function than to encourage groups of males to come? Solitary males are going to feel intimidated by groups of women, some of whom have been victims of actions of the male sex. Men need the reassurance of members of the same sex; thus, they attend in a group. If they need this familiarity to stand forth and show support for sexual victims in the community, then what is the harm? Just because we are men, just because we have testosterone and hairy faces, does not mean we do not feel vulnerable. It may be immature to need this support to stand forth to do the right thing, but the fact that there are men out there who showed up should be a happy event. What's more is that the Greek house leaders are showing those they are supposed to lead that sexual violence is not acceptable. Even if men are not there for "the right reasons," at least now they have a chance to learn something they may never have learned.
