SXU Men Rock High Heels To Raise Sexual Violence Awareness

It didn't take long for the men to walk a mile in high heels around the Saint Xavier University campus. | Photos by Mary Compton for SXU.

Chicago, IL -- Twenty big, burly men from Saint Xavier University, including coaches, administrators, faculty and student athletes, strutted their stuff in red high heel shoes on Wednesday in a show of support for rape victims on college campuses across the country.

The “Walk A Mile in Her Shoes” organization invites men to don a pair of women’s high heels and literally walk one mile to raise community awareness sexual violence against women.

While most of the men who participated in SXU’s walk on Wednesday learned it wasn’t easy to walk in a pair of three-inch heels, it was a fun, playful event to get the campus talking about some serious topics.

“We’re an educational institution that calls attention to the idea that sexual violence is prevalent in our society,” said John Pelrine, vice president of student affairs for SXU. “It’s particularly good that we educate our young men they’re part of the solution to making it stop.”

About 1 in 5 women will be sexually assaulted at some point during her college career. Just because sexual assault is not a major problem at the Catholic university doesn’t mean it’s non-existent.

“We’re probably like most college campuses where we believe it’s underreported,” Pelrine said, rocking a pair of men’s size 10W pumps. “There may be incidents where it’s occurred and students don’t come forward to tell us, which is frustrating because we’d like to be able to deal with it.”

As the men got used to their new footwear, SXU President Christine Wiseman, whose known to students as the “president who wears high heels,” held up a pair of her own three-inch heels and told the gentlemen if they could walk up three flights of stairs wearing them “you can run the university.”

“This is more than an event about sexual violence, it’s the whole idea of respect,” Wiseman said. “That’s when equality comes in when you can look at the other and see yourself. Respect is so much a part of what we encourage and try to model here.”

It didn’t take long for the participants to do a lap around the campus wearing their heels. Clacking down the sidewalk on the Mt. Greenwood campus in their pumps, most of the guys just seemed to want to get it over with. One of the men took off his heels and walked in his stocking feet.

“I wear a size 11 shoe,” Mike Feminis said, SXU’s head football coach and the father of three daughters, ages 8, 11 and 12. “I will highly recommend to my daughters to wear flats when they get older. This is a fantastic cause that really hits home when you have daughters.”

Brian Bartelment, a web marketing specialist and alumni of the university, said it was his first year participating in the march.

“It was very uncomfortable walking. I don’t know how you guys wear these things,” Bartelment said. “The women are making their voices heard, but the men have to get on board with it as well.”

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination against students based on gender. New federal regulations now require schools to make their campus disciplinary processes more transparent, as well as update their policies concerning sexual assault.

Pelrine hoped that by walking a mile in a pair of women’s high heels demonstrated to students, there is a disciplinary process in place at SXU to deal with reports of sexual assault.

“There are a lot of resources here to support them, including a counseling center, a dean of students, the campus ministry,” he said. “Our campus police department is a sworn agency that works closely with Chicago police. If they come forward, they’ll be well cared for.”