workingclasshistory:

On this day, 12 November 1977, the first Reclaim The Night march took place in the UK in Leeds, York, Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle, Brighton and London (content note: sexual violence). They were called by the Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group, who were inspired by news of co-ordinated women-only ‘Take Back The Night’ marches against sexual harassment, held across towns and cities in West Germany on 30 April 1977. This was particularly significant to women in the area because of the serial murders by Peter Sutcliffe, dubbed by the press as the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’, who sexually attacked and murdered thirteen women across Yorkshire between 1975 and 1980. Women in the area were angry that the police response to these murders seemed slow and that the press barely reported on them when it was mainly women involved in sex work who were murdered. But when a young woman student was murdered, the press and the police seemed to take more notice. The police response was to tell women not to go out at night, effectively putting them under curfew. This was not a helpful suggestion, especially for women working late shifts or night shifts, or those involved in sex work who often had no choice about whether they went out at night or not. Despite the fact that the Ripper was known to be white, police used the opportunity of the investigation to harass Asian youths. Learn more about this in our podcast episodes 33-34: https://workingclasshistory.com/2019/09/18/e28-29-asian-youth-movements-in-bradford/ https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1852157661636042/?type=3