“We must become involved in saving lives.”

Teresa Espino
Director
UNT Dallas Counseling & Wellness Center
.…on the university hosting a “Walk A Mile In Her Shoes” event Wednesday to take a stance against sexualized violence.

Teresa Espino

To understand what women face in the world, men need to walk in their shoes. On Wednesday October 11 at the University of North Texas at Dallas, they’ll get the chance to do just that—literally.

UNT Dallas is hosting a “Walk A Mile In Her Shoes” event to enable people to take a stance against sexualized violence. It will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the university campus at 7300 University Hills Blvd. in Dallas. The public is invited to participate or attend the free event, with no registration required.

The event will involve men walking a mile around the campus in high-heeled shoes provided by the UNT Dallas Counseling & Wellness Center. The event will begin in front of the UNT Dallas Student Center.

Since 2001, men, women, and families worldwide have joined the award-winning “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes: The International Men’s March to Stop Rape, Sexual Assault & Gender Violence” to raise awareness about the causes, effects, and remediations to men’s sexualized violence.

UNT Dallas is joining forces with community partners to host the event. Participants are encouraged to bring their own heels if preferred, which can be donated afterwards to Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support, a local agency in Dallas dedicated to eradicating domestic violence and supporting survivors and their children.

The event is being held in recognition of October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month. To help increase awareness, UNT Dallsa will offer an open Q & A session on domestic violence statistics and the dynamics of abuse, and provide university and community resources from partner organizations including Hopes Door New Beginning, Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support, The Family Place, UNT Dallas Office of University Community Standards, and more.

Founders Hall at UNT Dallas. [Photo: Beck Construction]

UNT Dallas expects dozens of students, faculty and staff, and local men to tackle the 5,280-foot challenge, including UNT Dallas President Bob Mong.

“With the prevalence of domestic violence in our communities and across our nation, it’s more important than ever to become an active member in the eradication of family violence through awareness, intervention, support services, and providing our students access to community resources,” Espino, said in a statement. “By participating in and bringing ‘Walk A Mile in Her Shoes’ to our campus, we’re doing our part in this important and life-saving effort.”

“UNT Dallas has lost students to family and domestic violence,” Espino added, “and based on the current national statistics, there are many others suffering in silence. We must become involved in saving lives.”

Sexualized violence is any act of physical or psychological violence targeting sexuality or gender and used to undermine a person’s sexual or gender integrity, the university noted, adding that “sexualized violence is a deadly virus lurking in everyday cultural beliefs, attitudes, and practices, and, while hidden, is immune to prevention, treatment, and cure.”

The university added that “anyone can fall victim to sexualized violence regardless of gender identity. Sexualized violence devalues women, female practices, feminine ways of thinking, feeling and being, feminine energy, and femme presentation. The target of sexualized violence can be a female body, the body of someone presenting as female or femme, or a male-bodied or male-presenting person insufficiently performing masculinity.”

All men and women are invited to participate or attend the event and cheer on family, colleagues and friends, UNT Dallas said. For more information about the organization, visit WalkAMileInHerShoes.org.

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