Temple Men Walk a Mile in Her Shoes
WRITTEN BY: RYAN SILVERTHORN
Yesterday, Temple men stripped off their sneakers and sandals and strapped on high heels to show their support for female students. The fifth annual Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, which took place on March 30 this year, had over 300 students registered to raise awareness for sexual assault and to promote the importance of asking for consent.
Founder’s Garden was full of walkers, volunteers, and onlookers asking what was going on. It wasn’t until a few minutes before the walk that everyone cleared out only leaving the walkers in Founder’s Garden.
According to the National Sexual Violence Research Center, one in five women are raped in college and more than 90 percent of women who are raped or assaulted don’t report the crime.
Most of the male students agreed that walking a mile in heels was not an easy task. Before the walk started there was an opening ceremony of female students thanking male students for looking out for them, each with a different way of doing so.
After a few opening words from students and faculty the walk started around 11:45 a.m. The students started and finished at Founders Garden with students – both male and female – cheering for them the entire walk.
Once the walk was finished and the walkers could take off their shoes, they breathed a sigh of relief. Taji Mayes, a freshman at Temple, said that he was “hurt and very sore” and admitted that high heels were not easy to navigate in. However, despite these complaints he said that he will do the march again.
“I think that the message is more important than the pain in my foot,” Mayes said. “It’s all about awareness and I think that it’s a very positive thing that needs to happen, so I will be back here next year, with the same pain in my foot.”
