High heels will take over Court Street, College Gate and all the way down to Peden Stadium Saturday.
OU’s fourth annual Walk A Mile In Her Shoes march will begin at 12:30 Saturday at the fourth floor of Baker University Center.
Susanne Dietzel, director of the Women’s Center, chose senior Thomas Raabe to coordinate this year’s event because of his previous experience with the project.
This will be Raabe's third year walking in the march. Each year, participation has grown.
When the Women's Center first brought the event to OU, it had 40 participants. Last year, about 120 people participated.
“I’m tired of getting notices and crime alerts in my email,” Raabe said. “I’m tired of getting emails of sketches of college-aged kids from OUPD. … My optimistic goal is for men to actually start thinking about this. It’s real, and it happens on our campus.”
Walk A Mile In Her Shoes was created by Frank Baird in 2001, with a small group of men daring to totter around a park because they wanted to be part of the solution to ending sexual violence.
Today, the walk has developed into a worldwide movement with tens of thousands of men raising millions of dollars for local sexual assault prevention and crisis centers.
Raabe’s inspiration for the OU Walk a Mile events came from his colleague, Maria Behnke, who he said helped him promote the event.
“I’m a survivor of sexual violence, and it is something that is very important to me to share my story and help other people get involved to promote advocacy and awareness to educate people on campus with these issues,” Behnke said.
This is Behnke’s first year being significantly involved and promoting the event.
“It’s a great way to channel what had happened into something that is positive,” she said.
Behnke said she hopes the event helps raise awareness for sexual assault prevention on campus and in the community.
“It’s a fun way to get together on a serious topic,” she said. “When you see men walking in high heels down the street, it peaks people's interest.”
Along with Behnke, there have been about 15 other volunteers who have organized and helped promote the event, Raabe said.
“I give credit to a lot of people for helping out,” he said.
Dietzel said that in the future, she wants to see more empowered men and women, more men who want to get involved and a student organization dedicated to bystander intervention.
The march will last half an hour; it will start at the top of Baker and finish at the Bobcat Student Park.
All proceeds from T-shirts and donations for the walk will go to My Sister's Place, a women's shelter in Athens.
After the march, there will be a tailgate event before to the football game with food and beverages provided by Quiznos and Goodfellas.
“[The tailgate] provides a nice positive atmosphere for people to gather after the event,” Behnke said.
The event will conclude with the game, where there is a reserved section of seats next to the Marching 110 for all involved in the event.
“Once the heels come off on Saturday, the movement still goes on,” Raabe said. “It doesn’t end on Saturday. It continues on, and we will continue.”
af234909@ohiou.edu
