“Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event brought awareness to abuse
One in three women will be physically abused by their husband or boyfriend, according to The Violence Against Women Act of 2005.
Chuck Derry of the Gender Violence Institute asked participants in the “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes: The International Men's March to Stop Rape, Sexual Assault and Gender Violence” event Tuesday to remember that fact and talk about it with fellow participants as they donned womens footwear and marched through downtown streets.
“I’m thrilled with the turnout,” said event organizer LeeAnne Meer of Friends Against Abuse.
Afterwards, Derry estimated that around 100 people participated in the event, which he said was inspiring for a town the size of International Falls.
Many participants carried signs detailing statistics related to domestic violence along with umbrellas, which were necessary due to the rain. At times, the large group extended several city blocks and had nearby drivers stopping and waving at the crowd.
Participant Duane Carlson Jr. said that he walked the entire mile in his womens shoes — pumps with 2-inch heels.
And while he said that the shoes were “not even a little bit” comfortable, he said that he did it for the worthy cause.
Fellow participant Van Pavleck, assistant chief of the International Falls Fire Department, said, “Nobody should be abused. One thing that scares me is that there is more out there than people think.”
Pavleck was also adamant that there is “no reason whatsoever” for domestic violence.
“There is no room for abuse in any relationship,” said Fire Chief Jerry Jensen, who also participated in the event. He said he was there to support education about the topic.
And while some participants came back wet, and some with blisters on their feet, those The Journal spoke to said that it was a worthwhile event to support the cause.
A culture of violence
After the walk, Derry spoke to a group in the Backus Community Center auditorium about gender-related violence and how to stop abuse before it starts.
“There’s something that’s happening in the culture that we’ve got that much violence going on,” he said.
Pointing again to the one-in-three statistic, he said that it was more than an isolated case of one man’s problem — abuse is becoming normative male behavior in the American culture. According to Derry, between four million and 12 million women are abused annually — meaning that the same number of men are abusers.
In order for men to experience the same level of threat of violence as women, Derry said that men would need to experience a war zone.
He pointed to language of young males, especially derogatory terms used to describe women and their anatomy, as an example of a culture that allows male hostility towards women to be normalized.
“It’s ‘bitches and hoes,’ ‘bitches and hoes,’” Derry said, when some young men refer to women.
He said that boys are taught how to act from a young age, and many are taught that, “being a girl is the worst thing.” He said that boys tease each other about running or throwing a ball “like a girl,” but it teaches males to gain an “anti-woman disdain” or “woman hating” and feelings of superiority.
“It’s hard for us to walk in their (womens) shoes if we don’t hear them,” Derry said.
Derry said that men are the key to stopping violence. He, and other members of the Men’s Action Network, are hoping to lower the abuse statistics through changing “normal” male behavior and encouraging other men to listen to women on the topic.
He added that men often don’t recognize the impact of their actions toward women, regardless of their intentions.
