Violence is open and hidden. It is not only committed by rapists, methamphetamine dealers, child molesters, spousal abusers. It’s not only committed by hedge fund exectuvies, dentists, embezzlement, retail highway robbery.
No. That’s too easy. Violence is produced by tiny minds – by uncontrolled desire, disengaged ego, by the need to control. By imagery, fantasy, flattery. By superficiality, manipulation, degradation, vulgarity. Sterility, soullessness. That is, our prevailing way of being.
There is only a holy vision: the possibility of meeting another human being, not just women, but any other and every other living being, on their own terms.
So, what would it take to make night safe for women? How can we give back the night? By mastering our own identity. If we want to give back the night, we have to do it by our actual concern for the well-being of each other, and in every way, shape and form, in work and play, together and alone – exit the cycle of violence and non-violence, establishing a culture of exquisite sensitivity.
But that doesn't mean personal change is enough. We also need the courage to go out and hold each other responsible for their actions.
Let's begin by meeting to explore the subtle, indirect (as well as obvious) ways we make violence possible. Then, let’s go onto the streets (and other ways) to ask others to join with us in self-transformation for the sake of the innocent.

Take Back the Night is a national movement which brings awareness about this problem. Women gather in cities across the United States to make speeches, protest, and march against sexism and violence. This is a natural and justified response to violence. But although it may focus attention on the problem, it still reproduces the adversarial, aggressive attitude.
Take Back the Night may be necessary at present, but women should not be forced to take this adversarial position. It’s not the duty of the abused to stop abuse, or the enslaved to fight for freedom. It’s we men who are responsible, and it’s we who must give – by mastering our own identity – in order to prevent women from having to take. Simply put, it is the difference between taking and giving.