Men don heels to walk 'in her shoes'

LOGAN — Their feet aching but spirits high, 161 male students and employees at Utah State University shed their sneakers Wednesday in favor of high heels.

Each of them pledged to walk a full mile in women's shoes.

"Two-four-six-eight! We support the end of rape!" they chanted, armed with picket signs designed to raise public awareness about sexual violence.

"I am man enough," the signs proclaimed, "to walk a mile in her shoes."

Now in its fifth year at USU, the "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" campaign is sponsored by the campus' Sexual Assault and Anti-Violence Information Office.

"This is an opportunity for men on our campus and in our community to voice their opinion that 'sexual violence is not acceptable to me, and I am willing to walk one mile in high heels to prove it,' " said coordinator Rachel Brighton. "Whether we realize it or not, each of us knows someone whose life has been impacted by sexual violence. When we invite men to be women's allies in ending violence, we send a powerful message to our community that will encourage other men to start thinking about how they, personally, can do their part."

Derek Kent, a student from Clinton, participated in the event because he has friends who have been sexually assaulted.

"I understand that it's not just the victims who are affected by rape," he said, "It's their friends, it's their family, it's their future relationship partners, because that barrier of trust has been affected. It's a really hard issue, and I wanted to help put a stop to it."

"As I've walked around and felt my feet hurting," said Ryan Knighton, a SAAVI social-work intern, "I've thought about all the victims who are out there hurting because of sexual assault. It's helped me to remember them and to remember that it's not OK. As men, we can make a difference and do something about it."

Whether wearing black heels, gold heels, red sandals or jeweled slippers, students used humor to address a serious problem on college campuses nationwide. Each pair of fancy footwear was intended to help an old adage hit home: "You can't understand a person's experiences until you walk a mile in her shoes."

With current estimates suggesting that one in four college women have been sexually victimized, SAAVI had a lot of shoes to fill. "Statistics show that 350 women out of every 10,000 have been raped," said Knighton, "and we have about that many women here on campus. About 96 percent of these rapes go unreported, but we want to get the word out that this is happening more than you would expect."

Milt Johnson, an administrator in the Disability Resource Center, took the SAAVI challenge seriously because of his seven daughters.

"It hits too close to home," he said. "I've walked this route four times today, and my feet hurt pretty bad. But this is my third year being involved, and I have to keep walking."

The odds that it could be one of his own were what really hit home.

"The statistics are pretty disconcerting," he said. "Statistically speaking, this could be two of my daughters."

E-MAIL: hellojenniferc@desnews.com