Walk A Mile In Her Shoes

Last Saturday I attended the fundraising event called Walk A Mile In Her Shoes. It was hosted by the Rape Crisis Center and consisted of a mile long walk in which men were encouraged to walk in women's high heel shoes.
Despite my initial thoughts of how it was very sexist to ask the men to walk in 'women's' high heel shoes, I still decided to attend because I knew the event was raising some much needed money for the RCC. My boyfriend and I arrived at Polsky(where the walk was starting) about an hour before the walk began.
During the hour prior to the walk there were a couple of speakers, including a head policeman from a neighboring city. He spoke of his 30 years as a policeman and of the women he encountered who had been raped and sexually assaulted. He emphasized how men need to step out of their hegemonic patriarachal mindsets and help end rape/sexual assault. He also spoke about how a victims life can never be the same after rape, I did not agree with this part of his speech. But overall he was very moving and inspired hope in me that sexual assault can come to an end.
They had a few different little events like a 'dance-off' which was pretty comical. We then started on the mile long walk. Men stumbled around in their heels and people carried signs with slogans such as: end sexual violence, be a real man and stop rape, etc. Cars honked as we walked and it was empowering to walk with a group of people that were opposing this horribly violent act.
We returned to Polsky to view some slide shows on rape statistics and to watch the awards being handed out for the teams that raised the most money. I spoke to Denise, who has been my contact at the RCC, briefly but she was very busy running around with all the other staff mediating the event. A general feeling of hope and joy was felt in the room.
Overall, the walk raised $11,000 for the Rape Crisis Center of Medina/Summit County.
So, despite the many sexist undertones, I think the walk was a succes because it brought together many different men and women and raised a large amount of money to help end sexual assault!