Still Reclaiming the Night

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Documentary

Summary

Krupa Padhy traces the history of the protests organised in response to police advising women to stay inside after dark for their own safety during the Yorkshire Ripper killings. The movement declined in the 1990s, but marches resumed in the 2000s. Closer to the present, the documentary recalls the rise of the #MeToo movement and the protests that followed the murder of Sarah Everard in 2021

Review

Anna Jones

“Do not go out at night unless absolutely necessary, and only if accompanied by a man you know.”

This was the controversial advice issued by the then-named West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police in 1977 in an attempt to protect future victims from Peter Sutcliffe. Understandably, many women were incensed, adamant that they should be free to walk anywhere without fear, and it prompted the first Reclaim the Night March through the streets of Leeds on 12 November 1977.

This is not a problem that’s gone away and journalist Krupa Padhy traces the subsequent history of Reclaim the Night. While the movement declined temporarily in the 1990s, marches resumed in the 2000s and were prominent in both the response to the murder of Sarah Everard in 2021 and the #MeToo movement.

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