This wasn’t supposed to be Mariam Mohamed’s first rally against sexual violence.
She had planned to go to Take Back The Night at Davidson College in North Carolina, where she previously attended. Instead, she lay in a hospital bed after overdosing on 65 pills.
Two weeks prior to her first suicide attempt, she lost the case against her sexual assaulter.
She said she was assaulted three months into her freshman year at Davidson. After losing the case and filing for a restraining order against the perpetrator, she transferred during her sophomore year to UF.
“It’s a double-edged sword — hearing the stories and knowing that it’s such a common thing that happens,” Mohamed, now a UF women’s studies junior, said at the UF rally. “But at the same time, knowing that there are so many people who understand what you’re going through is really comforting.”
The Take Back the Night rally took place Wednesday night on the Plaza of the Americas. The event was put together by UF’s Sexual Trauma Interpersonal Violence Education, or STRIVE, a group overseen by GatorWell that’s dedicated to education on sexual trauma.
During the event, a couple hundred people marched down Union Road toward Southwest 13th Street. They moved down West University Avenue and Fletcher Drive before leading back to Union Road and the plaza.
Shalini Mirpuri, a peer educator for STRIVE, said the event has been put on by the organization for the past four years but has been held at UF since the 1970s.
“For as long as college has been around, college sexual violence has been around,” said Mirpuri, a 26-year-old UF marriage and family therapy graduate student.
STRIVE’s budget from GatorWell was used for the event, which cost about $3,000 to $4,000 to put on, Mirpuri said.
Jessica Trochez, a 20-year-old UF psychology junior, made a poster in support of survivors that read in green marker, “Rape is not sex. It is violence.”
Take Back the Night is an international march for sexual violence awareness. Trochez’s Violence Against Women UF professor inspired her to attend.
“It’s comforting to know that it’s not only in this little area in Gainesville that you’re acknowledged but also around the world,” Trochez said.
After returning to the Plaza of the Americas, an open mic was held for survivors to share their stories. The audience was asked not to record anything that was said in order to maintain a safe space. Mohamed was one of the people to take the stage and consented to publicly share it.
“I am able to stand before you today and share my story, not to garner sympathy as a victim or to wallow in my tragic past, but to inspire you to take a stand alongside me,” she said, “and empower yourself by making sure your voice is heard.”
People march on Plaza of the Americas during Take Back The Night.
