MANILA, Philippines?Every year, from Nov. 25 to Dec. 10, women?s rights activists all over the world mark the International 16-Days Campaign Against Gender-Based Discrimination with protest marches, public forums and nighttime processions dubbed ?take back the night.?
With these, they hope to pressure people in power to address practices, laws and beliefs that have been causing harm, even death, to millions of women and LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals).
Everywhere on this planet and at all times, young women and girls are subjected to so much abuse, that limiting their mobility has been accepted as the best way to keep them from harm?s way. But this hasn?t done much good, either.
Many decades ago, when Israel?s woman Prime Minister Golda Meier was confronted with a spike in rapes and assaults against women, her male generals suggested that she impose a curfew on women traveling at night. The brilliant prime minister demanded, ?Why lock up the women? Who are committing the crimes?? But the thought of justifying a night-time curfew on men while women walked free was unthinkable.
In the Philippines, gruesome rapes, rape-slays and attempted murders of young women usually occur at night as well.
Many young women who have voraciously read the best-selling ?Twilight? series by Stephanie Meyer have fantasized being Bella Swann, the book?s nerdy human female lead character who falls in love with Edward Cullen, a teenage vampire.
Full moon night
In the film, Edward is played by the gorgeous Robert Pattinson. Edward comes from a ?family? of handsome vegetarian vampires who have sworn to protect humans from cannibal vampires, as well as from serial rapists, murderers, drunk drivers and night stalkers.
Between gifted altruistic monsters and misogynistic human males, which do you think young women would rather date? Unfortunately, girls don?t usually come by Edward and his kind. So they still have to learn to take care of themselves, and of one another.
During the last full moon night, the women?s groups Kalakasan and Women?s Media Circle joined Fully Booked, Viva Films and Summit Media held the women?s rights advocacy event ?Twilight Takes Back the Night.? It was with much anticipation that those who came waited to watch the movie?s trailers and behind-the-scenes interviews.
Of course, the talk on laws that protect women by Atty. Alex Dy of Ateneo Law School, and the lecture-demo on self-defense for girls by martial arts practitioner Engineer Andrew Lo brought home the message: Women need to be aware of their strengths, vulnerabilities and rights.
?Twilight?-themed games thought up by members of Twilight Coven Philippines (with movie passes and ?Twilight? posters as prizes) naturally made the gathering most memorable for the participants.
And so, after reading the books, peace-loving boys and girls, their moms and maybe their grandmothers, too, are off to the cinemas for this one. ?Twilight? may just be a book, or a movie, but it does help us imagine a world where some creatures would risk even their immortal lives, just so that human females could roam safely. At night.
