I am doing research on Take Back the Night, but to no avail. The kind of stuff I want to find out is origins, first event, and general bachground. Could you help? It is for a class, but I am a feminist attending St. Lawrence University. Thanks, Natali

Thanks for your note to FEMINIST.COM. Here are some basics on Take Back the Night:

The term was first used in 1978 as a theme for a national protest march in San Francisco. The march took place at night, following the first feminist conference on pornography...Over 10,000 people marched down residential streets...The event was the largest antipornography march in the history of the women's movement....

This is paraphrased from an entry of this name in The Readers Companion to U.S. Women's History edited by Mankiller, Mink, Navarro, Smith, Steinem. See the book for more information.

—Amy