Kayla Missman
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This past Saturday, men of all ages literally walked a mile in women’s shoes to raise awareness about sexual assault and money toward RISE, San Luis Obispo’s sexual assault prevention organization. Walk a Mile in Her Shoes was presented by Safer and brought together college students and community members alike. Here, five men show off their high heels and explain why they stepped into them.
Derek Piastrelli, biomedical engineering junior
“I’m at Walk a Mile in Her Shoes to raise awareness for sexual assault to help end rape. It’s a really good cause and it’s something that happens too often, and not enough people realize how often it really does occur. Sexual assault has affected my life because one of my very close friends was sexually assaulted, and it had a big impact on her.”
Christopher Conrad, Cuesta College business student
“My friends told me about it, and one girl I talked to last year, she was a victim, so I’m walking for her.”
Jason Dierkhising, biological sciences sophomore
“My boyfriend did it last year, and he wanted me to do it with him this year, so I decided of course, and I got fabulous heels, so it’s like a win-win … I haven’t personally been in a situation where I know somebody or have been in a sexual assault situation, but it’s always good to be open for them. I found it weird when Safer told me a lot of people don’t take people seriously when they report (being sexually assaulted) to them, and I feel like that’s not something to really joke around with, so I’m hopefully working on support for people.”
Ian McCleskey, rehabilitation specialist for Family Care Network
“This is my third year coming back and walking a mile. The first time I came here, it was because I volunteered as a crisis counselor for SARP (now known as RISE), and they were like, ‘Come do this event, it’s really cool,’ and I got hooked and started doing it … Friends, family — I know plenty of people who have been sexually assaulted, and earlier in my life, I may not have been so open to supporting those individuals, so when the opportunity presented itself to me later during my life, and in college, I wanted to somehow right that wrong in some degree.”
Jude Fledderman, director of strategic projects at Diablo Canyon for PG&E
“It hasn’t affected me personally. I’ve known lots of friends, both male and female, who have talked to me about sexual abuse, and in some cases had their own instances or occurrences of it, that it was either themselves or their close family members, so that’s what makes it near and dear. And it’s just an important part of what I call society responsibility — to recognize that we have those kinds of things going on, we should try to stop them, and this is just one way to help.”
Photos by Sophia Liu/Mustang News