Take Back the Night History

Each year at PSU, Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) centers the voices of survivors across campus and in the larger Portland community. In 1973, Take Back the Night was birthed by folks in San Francisco protesting the serial murders and violence against women of color in Los Angeles. This effort has and continues to work toward eliminating sexual and domestic violence in all forms by providing a space for awareness, community, and action.

The Women's Resource Center at Portland State has hosted Take Back the Night since 1999. Collectively, we welcome you to center how our futures are interconnected and that a truly violence-free culture must offer safety, dignity, and access for us all. We have immense gratitude to the many folks on campus who’ve helped make Take Back the Night and SAAM possible over the years.


2025
     Theme: "Connecting Our Purpose: Liberation as a Place We Make Now"


2024

Theme: "Nourishing Reciprocity: Building a Counterculture of Care"


2023

Theme: "On Our Time: Rooting Our Resistance in Rest & Connection"

April 26, 2023


2022     

Theme: “Collective Self Determination: Power, Transformation, and Accountability”

Panel discussion with community leaders Anna So, Vo, and claire barrera; moderated by Zubbi Azubuike 

April 28, 2022


2021     

Theme: “We Are Each Others’ Future: Resistance, Resilience, and Interdependence”

Speaker: Tourmaline

April 22, 2021


2020    

Theme: “Disability Justice & Sexual Violence: Power, Healing, and Interdependence”

Speaker: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha 

April 23, 2020


2019    

Theme: “We Are Worthy: Combatting Disposability & Honoring Our Inherent  Worthiness”

Speaker: Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs

April 26, 2019


2018  

Theme: “Disrupting the Prototype: Who Gets Believed as Survivors"

Speaker: Akilah Powell, Emily Lai, Dara Snyder, Jackie Sandmeyer, Alex Herrera, Cicely Rodgers

April 17, 2018


2017 

Theme: “Consent Culture and the Freedom to Change”

Speaker: Feminista Jones 

April 13, 2017


2016

Theme: “Intersectionality and Title IX”

Speaker: Dr. Treva Lindsey (Day), Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha (Night)

April 26, 2016


2015

Theme: “Violence Against Queer and Trans Communities”

Speaker: Jackie Sandmeyer

April 23, 2015


2014

Theme: “Transforming Rape Culture: Rewriting the Narrative”

Speaker: Monica Weitzel

April 24, 2014