The Proms at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport suggested "that the Proms was one of several big cultural events that many people did not feel comfortable attending" and advocated an increase in multicultural works and an effort to broaden the audience. Her comments received wide criticism in the musical world and media as being a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the Proms, with Gordon Brown even distancing himself from her remarks. In the 2009 season, which ran from 17 July to 12 September 2009, the total number of concerts reached 100 for the first time. The principal anniversary composers
Take Back the Night (organization) safe from sexual violence. On November 7, 2009 the first Take the Back the Night annual conference took place at Columbia University. While some Take Back the Night marches encourage men to participate, others still have refused to allow men (even male victims of sexual assault) to be involved under the claim of creating a "safe space" for women. Several critics have argued that this ignores the struggles of male victims and fails to provide them male role models, as well as implying the need to "take back the night" from all men, not just the minority who are perpetrators