VALDOSTA — In front of Odum Library, a group of male students could be spotted wearing T-shirts, gym shorts and women’s high heels.

They strutted across Valdosta State University’s campus to raise awareness of sexual assault — with other students, faculty, staff and community members following behind them — carrying signs that read “End Rape Culture” and the event’s name “Walk A Mile In Her Shoes.”

It’s an annual march held at college campuses across the nation since its inception in 2001, and VSU would be no exception in holding the event the afternoon of April 18 during Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

The message is simple: men wear high heels in order to sympathize with women and their experiences, said Leo Malinao, a Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity member who led the event.

“I am currently wearing my significant other’s thigh highs,” Malinao said. “It’s a little tight, but any pain or uncomfortability we feel is just a tiny fraction compared to the physical and emotional pain that these women feel when they’re sexually assaulted and their cases aren’t taken seriously at all.”

The opening ceremony was held in front of Odum Library with student, faculty and community speakers citing statistics that painted a picture of just how real sexual assault is in the nation.

To bring it home, The Haven’s Taylor Strickland said the temporary domestic violence and sexual assault victims shelter did 81 sexual assault exams last year.

Of those 81 exam cases, 26 of the victims were college-aged.

“During those sexual assault exams, these people have gone through so much and experienced so much trauma,” Strickland said. “It’s not just their physical bodies, but it’s emotional.”

During their march, the group walked past an art installation provided by The Haven called “What Were You Wearing?”

On display were simulated clothing items worn by victims of sexual assault during the incident.

The point of the installation, said Heather Grizzle, The Haven’s SANE coordinator, is to show it doesn’t matter what a woman is or isn’t wearing in the instance of a sexual assault, even though the accusation is popularly tied to blaming sexual assault victims.

“There is nothing that you wear that would prevent or cause the sexual assault,” Grizzle said. “The only thing that causes sexual assault is the perpetrator. They are 100 percent to blame.”

Other organizations who assisted in supporting the sexual assault awareness event were the VSU Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Task Force, VSU Counseling Center, Women and Gender Studies Department, VSU Campus Recreation and VSU’s Office of Student Diversity and Inclusion. 

Katelyn Umholtz is a reporter with the Valdosta Daily Times. She can be contacted at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256.