Fighting violence: Men strap on heels in support of women
By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian
Watch a video of Wednesday's demonstration
It was a serious message, delivered with a lighthearted touch - so it was hard not to laugh and join the cheering lunch crowd when the Grizzly football team and other brazen men from the University of Montana stepped into women's high-heel shoes and strutted around the University Center on Wednesday to protest violence against women.
The men marched to stop rape, sexual assault and gender violence, but first got a few pointers on walking in heels from Tori Wanty, a UM student who happens to be Miss Montana USA.
The roles were reversed Wednesday: in the University of Montana's University Center as men in high heels paraded during the “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event staged to draw attention to sexual assaults against women. Photo by MICHAEL GALLACHER/Missoulian
“Use your hips as leverage,” she said giving a pre-march tutorial, and “use your best grrrrr stare.”
Head football coach Bobby Hauck shook his head in wonderment - and concern - as he watched several of his star players promenade around the UC.
Grizzly quarterback Cole Bergquist was there, wearing a pair of pink and black strappy heels. Bergquist said he wasn't concerned about twisting an ankle, and proved light on his feet in size 15 heels.
His skill, he explained, came from practice - by agreeing to be a poster boy for the event, which was sponsored by UM's Student Assault Resource Center.
“Three of my girl friends are helping to put this event on and I wanted to help out and show my support,” he said. “So we decided to make a little sign that says ‘Walk a Mile in Her Shoes.' I got Colt (Anderson) and Colin (Dow), and the three of us posed on the football field with high heels on, with our feet up in the air looking as sexy as possible.
“The signs went out everywhere on campus, and when they went up other football players and the coaches got involved.”
That was why Ty Gregorak was there, stuffing his feet into a pair of size 16 red high heels.
After taking his first steps, the Griz football assistant coach grimaced and said aloud: “I'm amazed women walk in these things. This is unbelievable.
“I have a whole new appreciation for the shoes my wife wears,” he said.
Not all of the men wore heels. Some chose flip-flops decorated with feathers and flowers, others wore Birkenstocks to show off fabulously painted toenails, and some wore their everyday man shoes and walked the walk with pride and commitment to its serious message.
As the men looped around and around the UC a full eight times, they chanted their protest: “One in four is one too many.”
One in four is the number of women who will experience sexual assault in their lifetime, Hauck told the crowd when the march concluded.
As the father of three girls, Hauck said the issue is of great concern to him, and that he was honored to be guest speaker at the event.
His goal is to help create a community where women are safe from violence, where men and women work together to eliminate sexual assault and gender violence, and where “consent and respect are the norm,” Hauck said.
Erin Scott said she was thrilled with the turnout, and clearly the concept hit home for everyone who participated and for everyone who stood aside to let the men march and chant.
“It was a fun way to make the point that you don't know someone else's experience until you walk a mile in their shoes,” said Scott, outreach coordinator for the Student Assault Resource Center.
