Men took to the streets Saturday to try out some new shoes more suitable for a night out rather than an afternoon protest.
About 70 pairs of high heels teetered down Court Street on Saturday, while 30 women — mostly in flats — served as “sideline support” carrying signs, chanting with the larger group and cheering on the stumbling men.
The event was formed so male participants could gain awareness of the gender-based violence that sometimes occurs when women don such footwear, said Bill Arnold, graduate assistant for bystander intervention and prevention education and one of the event’s organizers.
The event came at an ideal time for Ohio University, though it had been five months in the making, said Hannah Abrahamson, outreach coordinator for gender initiatives for the Women’s Center.
“Our campus has become, to a certain extent, a hostile environment for women and men who have been assaulted,” Abrahamson said.
The mile trek gave some participants a better insight into a culture of which they may not have been aware.
“I hadn’t really thought about how much violence against women is such a big deal and so it really made me think about it more,” said Jacob Gilbert, a freshman studying mechanical engineering.
Gilbert and other participants sported shoes borrowed from the Women’s Center, which have accumulated over the event’s six-year history, or from female friends and family members.
With the event’s relatively low cost, money made from T-shirt sales and donations will go to support the Survivor Advocacy Program. Prior to Saturday, the event had raised about $100 in T-shirt sales, Abrahamson said, though donations from the day had not been counted.
At the heart of the culture, the event hoped to bring to light the societal norms that have left too many women victims, Arnold said.
“At the bottom of all these things is (the) kind of toxic, hegemonic version of masculinity that we as our society promote, even though most of us disagree with it,” he said.
The only way to combat that gender stereotype, said Susanne Dietzel, director of the Women’s Center, is for men to stand in unity with the women who are the victims of male dominance.
“Women have done much of this work already, but only men can stop violence against women,” she said.
“Walking a mile in her shoes” is a start to ending the violence, Arnold said, but symbolic measures alone will not stop sexual assault.
“What people sort of lose sight of is that it’s not enough to not be part of the problem; you also have to be part of the solution,” Arnold added.
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