For all the women who never came home. And for the women who came home bruised and beaten, battered and raped.

It is for Tegan, who was 14; for Cassie, who was 13. They survived, they testified.

And now it is for Jill, who never had the chance. Jill Meagher was allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered in Melbourne late last month and it was exactly as we feared.

Those dreadful days between her disappearance and the discovery of her body were filled with women asking each other: ''Have you heard anything?'' Or, ''Is it possible that she's run away?''

We looked at the images of her husband. Of her family. And we wondered.

It's been almost a month since we stopped wondering about her fate. But we haven't forgotten her, just as we will never forget the bravery of other women raped or murdered. It's our shared fear.

This Friday marks the 34th anniversary of Reclaim the Night in Canberra, the executive director of the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre, Chrystina Stanford, says. Last Friday, thousands gathered in Melbourne to honour Jill Meagher and to reclaim their own nights.

And this Friday, at Garema Place from 6.30pm, women and men will again come together to protest against sexual violence.

How did the original event, now worldwide, begin?

There are so many competing mythologies. Did it begin when women who heard the evidence at the International Tribunal on Crimes against Women in March 1976 took to the streets? Or did it begin when women in England, terrified by the Yorkshire Ripper, despaired when police told them to stay in their homes to be safe.

Whatever the answer, every year there are reasons to be among the women and men who come out to reclaim the night. I remember going to hear Tegan Wagner speak on the steps of the Sydney Town Hall. She was so young when a gang of men set upon her and raped her for hours. And she was only 18 when she refused to be silent any more. Rape victims usually have their identities protected but, at just 18, Ms Wagner decided she wanted to stand up on behalf of all victims. She was not ashamed. Her view was that the only people who needed to be ashamed were the adult men who'd raped her. It was heroic and her attackers are spending a very long time in jail.

But when she stood on those stairs, she spoke on behalf of all of us. She spoke on behalf of those of us who have always been safe and secure and she also spoke on behalf of the women who've been hurt. And she said she would never be afraid again.

We do not know what makes some men rapists. We don't know why.

But we do know that there are thousands of sexual assaults a year. And we know that in the majority of cases, victims know their attackers.

Which is why the ACT Reclaim the Night project is much more than just a march. It's a way of reshaping the way we think about each other. The ACT Women's Service Network calls it the Summer of Respect, an entire program designed to make us all talk, think and act on sexual violence and how we can stop it. There is no better time to launch the program than this Friday's Reclaim the Night and it will extend all the way to International Women's Day in March, with conversations and workshops, lectures and events.

If you've never been to a Reclaim the Night march, know this: the women and men who go are from everywhere. It's not only the women who've always described themselves as feminists. It's not only the women who are victims of sexual violence. It's anyone who wants a world where it is safe to be a woman alone on the streets at night.

I am sick of being told that a road not far from where I live is not safe for a woman to walk on alone. And I am sick of still hearing that women should wear a sack in order to protect themselves. And it makes me furious to hear some men say that a woman will always be an object if she goes alone to a bar, particularly if there are footballers in the bar.

I want to be able to walk through the night alone. I want that for myself, my daughters and my granddaughters.

I want to walk through the night alone without fear. Without shivering in the heat.

I don't want to accept fear as the permanent reality. And you shouldn't either. Come to Reclaim the Night this Friday. Not for Jill or Anita or Tegan. For all of us.

Reclaim the night.

See Summer of Respect details on Facebook

Follow me on Twitter @jennaprice or email jenna_p@bigpond.net.au