Some high-heeled prancers welcomed the stares they got on the UA Mall yesterday - they were men donning ladies' pumps, sandals and platforms for a good cause.
In observance of Sexual Abuse Awareness Month, Residence Life's El Mundo Diversity Committee sponsored the first annual Walk to Stop Sexual Violence at noon on the Mall.
About 30 women and men, some donning ladies' shoes, walked a mile in laps around the south portion of the Mall, sporting a banner asking campus-millers to "put yourself in her shoes."
Brian Shimamoto, assistant director of multicultural education and advocacy for Residence Life, said El Mundo held the walk to raise awareness of violence against women, and asked men to wear heels to grab the attention of passers-by.
"It's symbolic because we don't really know what its like to be a woman, but we wanted to promote awareness and have a little fun," said Shimamoto, who admitted his fluorescent-striped kitten heels were bothering his feet even before the mile walk began.
Shimamoto said the group hopes to integrate the walk into their spectrum of yearly diversity workshops and events, which include the Tunnel of Oppression in February and the Hunger Banquet, which was held this year in March.
Shimamoto said he purchased some of the women's shoes with program funds, but requested participants donate shoes for the event to keep in surplus for successive years.
Members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity led activists around the Mall, carrying the banner but sporting their original shoes.
"Its not that I don't want people to see me, but that would hurt," said Jake Bayham, business freshman, about wearing heels.
Bayham, a member of SAE, said this semester, the fraternity doubled its community service efforts, volunteering at the Ronald McDonald house, local libraries and cleaning up a community gym and boxing rink.
Anthony Skevakis, program coordinator for judicial affairs in the Dean of Students Office, strutted the mile-walk in a pair of two-inch black heels.
"My calves are tight and my right ass cheek hurts," Skevakis said. "It's obvious a man invented these (high heels)."
Skevakis said in the judicial affairs department, he works with students who have been sexually assaulted and the walk could only have a positive affect on the campus.
"We're here promoting awareness, which ultimately leads to thought, which generally leads to conversation, and once people talk they tend to become educated about what's going on," Skevakis said.
Environmental science senior Chandler Birch and junior Todd Gaston said they wandered into the walking group after they left their environmental science class.
Birch said he walked a lap in "very comfortable" ladies' gold sandals in respect for activism of any kind.
"They were drawing attention to themselves, which is cool that they're not stagnant sitting in a booth," Birch said.
Shimamoto distributed T-shirts to everyone who participated in the walk, and said Residence Life will also sponsor Diva La Paz, a drag show, in the La Paz Residence Hall Tuesday at 8 p.m.