Monday, July 14, 2025



Inappropriate quote

I wrote this article for Friday’s Argus, and am resubmitting it because the staff neglected to publish it. I am writing in response to Glaister Leslie’s comment regarding Take Back the Night, in which he said, “I feel it’s important for me and for other guys to know these things, so we can treat our women better.” While I appreciate Leslie and other men taking the time to attend this important event, I was disturbed by such reductive reasoning and interpretation.

First of all, his inclusion of the possessive pronoun “our” in his statement is dually unnecessary and offensive. Possessive pronouns are utilized to demonstrate ownership, and the appearance of the word “our” in this particular instance suggests a dangerous reproduction of the historical male appropriation of the female body. Such an implication directly opposes the intention of Take Back the Night, which demands that women become liberated from the shackles of male domination of their bodies. In order for such an event to occur, men must recognize and support women as autonomous agents, belonging only to themselves. One manner of accomplishing this is for men to closely examine their everyday language, as the latter is both the igniter and fuel of oppression. For example, instead of saying “our women,” Leslie could have simply used women,’ which would have both accurately conveyed his point and, more importantly, given more validity to his implied commitment to fighting sexual violence.

While I maintain that male presence at Take Back the Night is greatly needed (see Laurie Paul’s eloquent Wespeak on this matter in Tuesday’s Argus), I view such word choice as patronizing and patriarchal, both of which are closely related and have coalesced to keep women in a perpetual state of subjugation.

Therefore, remember it’s the night that must be taken back—not a man’s sense of ownership of a woman’s body.

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