As the sun set in downtown Seattle on Thursday evening, around 200 people gathered outside of the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building. Many wore teal or carried signs condemning sexual violence. Almost all of them wore nametags that read “Jane Doe.”
Countless Jane Does have been the victim of sexual violence. This time, the Jane Doe in question is the woman who filed the September lawsuit alleging seven men at a Cornell University fraternity gang raped her in October 2024. Jane Doe’s experience and the lack of severe consequences for her alleged attackers has reinspired a national conversation about sexual assault.
The lawsuit and the ensuing conversation prompted a call for a national day of action from Women’s March, the organization behind the 2017 Women’s March on Washington.
Gender Equality Movement (GEM) Seattle organized this October 8 rally in response.
With just over a week to organize between the call to action and the rally itself, GEM spread the word via posters, social media, and 700 leaflets distributed around Seattle calling for an end to sexual violence “from the frat house to the white house.”
GEM has been around for a year and half and is headed by co-founders Zoe Mason and Amanda, who only wanted to use her first name given the sensitive subject matter. They organized the viral handmaids protests at Pike Place, which Amanda described as having a “guerrilla theater sort of vibe.” During the demonstrations, 40 protesters dressed in the iconic red cloaks and white bonnets from The Handmaid’s Tale walk through the market in groups of four and then come together presenting signs bearing sexual violence statistics. The handmaids were also present at GEM’s October 8 rally.
A modest crowd gathered at the federal building Thursday. The undercurrent of burnout, characterized by worn out faces, stood in stark contrast to the hopeful pussy hat bonanza of 2017. It’s been a long time and a lot of protests since then. GEM organizer Amanda, pointed out that “it’s tough getting people to actually continue to protest when there’s 30 things to protest a day now, every single day.”
Despite the high volume of protests and collective fatigue, some are consistently showing up. A white-haired man carrying a red bucket drum who identified himself as “Dave the Drummer” has been protesting multiple times a week for the last year and a half. “I didn’t plan on spending my retirement this way,” he says, but he’s found community among the other protestors and says that drumming “is a release.”
Others were energized by this case. Leanne, who declined to give her last name, came to the rally looking for “a safe place to scream out my rage about what’s going on in the world right now.”
“I know too many friends who have experienced rape,” says Leanne.
Attendees varied in age, race, and gender, but shared a communal rage against institutions that protect rapists over survivors.
One of the speakers was legislative candidate Hannah Sabio-Howell, who is running for Senate in the 43rd district. “I don’t know about you,” said Sabio-Howell, in front of the federal building as night fell. “But I’m tired of being told that we are responsible for not falling victim to predators, that we carry the burden of not being assaulted. Maybe predators are responsible for not being predators.”
One of the five listed demands from Women’s March emphasized at Seattle’s rally was protection of survivors under federal law. Part of that includes restoring Title IX enforcement powers. The Trump administration has decided that Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs, can mean whatever they want it to mean and have been using it to discriminate against trans students instead of protecting victims of sexual violence. In Washington, federal funding for victim services dropped 76 percent between 2018 and 2024. The exclusion of trans girls and women from school athletics is on Washington’s ballot this November and polling shows that it could pass. You can register to vote here.
The demands also call for the passage of the Equal Rights Agreement, a proposed constitutional amendment to guarantee equal rights regardless of sex. It has been ratified by 38 states but not formally recognized by Congress and the Archivist of the United States. Meredith Ruff, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, asked the crowd “How can we expect safety from our government if it refuses to recognize our equality even on paper?”
There were moments where collective rage abated into quiet reverence and solidarity as speakers like songwriter Victory Rose and organizer Zoe Mason shared their own stories of sexual violence.
“While we are not defined by our stories,” said Mason to the crowd. “We are united by them.”
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