Gender beliefs as a dimension of tactical choice: the ‘Take Back the Night’ march in Sweden

Abstract

Two main explanations of tactical choice among social movements are repertoires of contention and characteristics of collective actors. Feminist theorizing suggests another dimension of tactical choice: the role of gender beliefs. This paper examines the relationship between these three explanations by drawing on a qualitative study that explored how activist groups in Sweden selected the ‘Take Back the Night’ (TBTN) march as a tactic. Begun in the 1970s, the TBTN march has been performed around the world, usually on central city streets at nighttime, to protest gender violence in spaces presumed to be gender neutral and safe for women. Our findings resulted in three themes that captured how activist groups selected it as a tactic: a routine performance in publicly visible urban settings, alignment with preferred forms of feminist organizing, and refusal of normalized fear and violence in the seemingly safe city. Each theme corresponded to one of the three explanations and shed light on a different dimension of tactical choice. We propose three heuristic tools for identifying these dimensions: making claims, enacting claims and reclaiming spaces. The different dimensions relate to distinct conceptions of power: centralized authority, movement agency and gender power relations respectively.